Kim and Ela Esterberg have been called visionaries, catalysts, creators, and humanitarians. They transformed a conventional sister-island concept into a true people-to-people and community-to-community exchange by founding an organization that created a real connection between our island and the third world island of Ometepe, a poor rural community in central Nicaragua. For over twenty years the Bainbridge Ometepe Sister Island Association (BOSIA) has offered an outstanding cross-cultural learning experience and promoted solutions to world problems. The Ometepe Coffee Project not only helped stabilize the local economy but also educated Islanders about the benefits of fair trade in the third world.
Since 1990, the Esterbergs have involved Bainbridge High School students in a number of projects to benefit our sister island by raising funds at home or during visits to Ometepe. All the undertakings have had simple, achievable goals: provide clean water, build a small playground, take yearbook pictures of every child. In the process, students and adults alike have gained new appreciation of our common ties with other cultures and have been reminded of how we are linked to the world.