Donna Tabor: Nurturing Hope and Health in Nicaragua

By M. Jessica Rowe

This is the second in a series of articles written to update our readers on the six honorees of the 2008 National Awards for Citizen Diplomacy.  Each feature will highlight activities of one of the following honorees: Anjali Bhatia of Kinnelon, New Jersey; Tarik Daoud of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan; Greg Mortenson of Bozeman, Montana; Kris Nedam of Livonia, Michigan; Jillian H. Poole of Arlington, Virginia; and Donna Tabor of Granada, Nicaragua.

Donna Tabor with boys at the filming to document Café Chavalos project in Nicaragua.

The reach of Donna Tabor’s heart and her infectious optimism are a blessing to Building New Hope, the small, non-profit organization based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Granada, Nicaragua.

With optimism Donna reached out to local street gangs in Granada and challenged some of the young men and boys (‘los chavalos’) to exchange their street lives for culinary training. They received cooking and restaurant service skills taught by professionals. With Building New Hope's financial backing and volunteers, a small café was set up—Café Chavalos.  
Today, Café Chavalos is a self-sustaining business and one of Granada’s best-known restaurant attractions. It is famous for its authentic sauces and inspired dishes of chicken and fish filets, cream soups, and indulgent desserts.  A professional chef newly joined the staff as trainer, and a new restaurant space opened in June 2008.

Café Chavalos is an atypical Nicaraguan restaurant with a world of ingredients and complicated culinary goal.  It is said that ‘hope’ is what is prepared for many young people at Café Chavalos.  The restaurant teaches high-risk teens to be chefs. Close knit relationships bind these young people into their own self-help group.  Café Chavalos is known as a welcoming place of rehabilitation and reintegration into Nicaraguan society for at-risk youth marked by a life of addiction.

The restaurant Café Chavalos is a welcoming place of rehabilitation and reintegration into Nicaraguan society for high-risk youth marked by a life of addiction. Founded by Donna Tabor, this program teaches young men and boys to be chefs and exchanges their street lives for culinary training.

"Although the subject of drugs is a global problem, and not uniquely Nicaraguan, [Donna Tabor] found a way in which these young people have an opportunity," explains Alberto Chamorro, a 25-year old film maker.  In July 2008, Chamorro’s feature length film capturing the story of Café Chavalos was awarded second place for Feature Documentary at the Philadelphia Independent Film Festival.

From inspiring projects like Café Chavalos, hope is also extended to the wellbeing of the stray animal population in Nicaragua.  Donna rallies international groups of veterinarians and animal health care workers to volunteer helping these populations. 

Reflecting on this far-reaching initiative, she grimly explains the tough realities of urban Granada: “the immense problem of starving stray cats and dogs was not going to go away. In fact, it was mushrooming into a dirty cloud of dog feces and strewn garbage in the streets, parasite illnesses spreading to the many barefoot street children that mingled with the animals.”

Donna was motivated by a staggering statistic of exponential growth of stray animal populations. In “six years one female dog’s offspring can be the source of 67,000 puppies.” Donna’s efforts established the animal clinic called Casa Lupita. Hundreds of strays—as well as domestic pets—have been treated at Casa Lupita. 

A short time ago, veterinarians who volunteer with Donna responded to an urgent plea from Islas del Maiz.  Translated “Corn Islands,” they are located off the eastern shore of Nicaragua. These lush Caribbean islands had a growing number of stray dogs, nubile pets, and no veterinary care.  The request for aid meant that a veterinary team* loaded with supplies must fly across the Nicaraguan jungles in light aircraft.  In June 2008, transportation was arranged along with water taxi service to carry the team to the destination. 

Nicaraguan school children listen to a puppy’s heart with a stethoscope and learn about animal care from doctors. Donna Tabor rallied a team of U.S. veterinarians around a plea to treat stray animal populations on Corn Islands.

Veterinarians first visited elementary school classes to explain animal care. “These doctors were an oddity to the children,” says Donna. “With stethoscopes and a puppy named Tic-Toc, children listened to Tic-Toc's heart, then their own hearts, discovering that animals were much like themselves.”

The team managed a heroic feat by treating more than 140 dogs and cats, which made an enormous difference in the community health of the Islands.  An elder on Little Corn emotionally said that this event "lifted the collective hearts of the people in a way [he had] never seen before."

“It is the collective voice of the people of the Corn Islands that tells us this is a beginning— a start—in helping children learn what a positive impact healthy, well-treated animals could have on their wellbeing,” beams Donna as she steadily nurtures hope and health in this Central American nation.

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* The veterinary team set up a clinic on both islands.  In the group was volunteer Dr. Terry Kane of Cincinnati, Ohio, with experience in post-Katrina animal rescue.  It is Dr. Kane who nominated Donna Tabor for the National Award for Citizen Diplomacy.