The story
New dormitories expand a working coffee farm’s capacity to welcome young people.
Vida Joven’s La Finca near Jinotega operates as both a youth camp and a working coffee farm. Coffee sales help make camp attendance possible, tying the productive landscape directly to the organization’s programs. The expansion proposed two dormitories and a staff center with housing, increasing the number of young people the farm could host while giving resident leaders a more dependable base for care and operations. Confined masonry and other earthquake-conscious construction guidance point to a central technical concern in Nicaragua: sleeping buildings must be simple to build, carefully reinforced, and durable in a seismic region.
Dormitory life also depends on shade, ventilation, sanitation, supervision, and shared outdoor space—not beds alone. The expansion was targeted for completion in 2015. The dormitories remain a planned project. Its strength is the relationship between place and program: the farm helps fund camp, and the buildings allow that welcome to grow.
