NICARAGUAN teenager Lesther Figueroa has visited Swindon to talk about how people in the town have helped his home town of Ocotal.

New College hosted Lesther's visit and he took time out from his Tourism and Hospitality degree at Esteli University in Nicaragua to help raise awareness of Swindon's twinning link with his home town.

"Ocotal has a population of about 30,000," he said. "There's a real sense of community and we're proud of our link with Swindon.

"Swindon is much bigger and lots of people don't know about Ocotal.

I've come here to help educate people about my town and country."

The Swindon Ocotal Link was established in 1986, when it was called the Thamesdown Nicaragua Link Association.

It has sought to help improve conditions in Ocotal and create opportunities for educational, cultural and social exchanges between the two towns.

Ocotal is situated in the wild, forested mountains of the northern part of Nicaragua.

The town and its residents were hit hard in 1998 by the devastating Hurricane Mitch, but the combined efforts of its four twin towns, which also include Wiesbaden, in Germany, have helped rebuild the town.

Lesther has worked on charity projects most of his life and has been able to see the benefits of SOL during his involvement in the last six years.

Since Hurricane Mitch in 1998, Swindon has put great efforts into Ocotal's emergency appeal, raising invaluable funds, as well as sending engineers to Ocotal and donating goods to help rebuild the devastated town.

"SOL has benefited my town enormously," said Lesther. "It's great to see people grow and prosper as a direct result of the work put in by the scheme.

"We've secured funds to build houses, health centres and kindergartens."

Despite these improvements, part of the purpose of Lesther's visit has been to raise awareness in Swindon about the conditions in his home town.

One problem that persists is in the health service.

"Hospitals don't have surgical equipment," he says.

"Even things like gloves they have to buy from chemists.

"What's more, most people have to travel a very long way to get to their local hospital in emergencies because they live in forests."

This, he suggests, is made worse by the lack of a viable transport system.

"Most people tend to walk everywhere, even to the hospital," he said.

"Very few are fortunate enough to have a car and a bus journey can cost up to a day's wages."

For more information about Octotal and how to help visit the website www.swindonoctotal-link.org