Painting on the Walls

El Colectivo de Muralistas David Alfaro Sigueiros is named for the famous Mexican muralist whose work covers a lot of walls in Mexico city. Here in Esteli the tradition is kept alive by a talented group of painters working for the Colectivo, run by Julio Moreno. Their latest work is represented by a couple of massive murals at the new health centre just out of town. One of the murals is in a large assembly hall, the other in a long corridor running the length of the hospital. The first celebrates the lives of health workers in Nicaragua, alongside pictures of two famous figures from Nicaragua's revolutionary past - Augusto Sandino and Esteli's own poet, Leonel Rugama. There is also a portrait of Hugo Chavez, who donated large sums of money to Nicaragua from Venezuela.
The other mural reflects child health from birth - Mama Licha is there again -  through childhood vaccinations.Both murals are intended to be educative, showing the value of healthcare for the nation.
The colours are always bright, the painting hard edged and resolute. They will remain this way in the hospital but outside in the streets the colours fade in the sun. Some of the murals are also defaced by graffiti. The artists from the Colectivo from time to time renovate old murals but money is tighter now than in the past and the renovation of old murals may not be top priority. The Fund provides a small amount of money to the Colectivo on the basis that their work is important in getting across the message about the health of children and women.