I'm
sorry that it's been awhile since my last blog. Things have been
rolling along just fine here in Messica! We're well into the second
trimester now, and will be finishing up with provincial exams in just
a few weeks. Though I am less than excited for provincial exams, I
am extremely excited to finish up the trimester so that I can head to
South Africa to meet up with my dad and brother on August 6th!
I can't believe that it's only about a month away!
So
to catch up on the events of June, there were many things going on
including but not limited to planning for JUNTOS workshops, 3 out of
the 4 JUNTOS workshops happening, and the implementation of Projeto
Embelezamento at our school here in Messica!
My
JUNTOS workshop fun will be next weekend in Gondola, so hopefully I
will be posting a blog after about how things went. I'm hoping for
the best this year, since my workshop last year had more than a few
problems. I'm optimistic that this year will be much better, as long
as the counterparts are all involved and ready to give their sessions
on topics such as HIV/AIDS, violence, leadership, diversity, malaria,
and more. There are 5 students from Messica that will be attending
the Workshop, including two of my 12th grade students,
that were so excited that they were chosen that they started jumping
up and down...not joking. It was adorable, and I can't wait to see
all that they will learn and contribute to the conversation next
weekend.
Moving
on to the most important thing that has been happening here in
Messica over the last month and the reason that I'm writing this
blog. Projeto Embelezamento!
Last
year, Sarah and I took two of our colleagues to a conference put on
by Peace Corps called Project Design and Management. This conference
taught us how to plan and implement a project. We learned how to do
a needs assessment of the community, how to plan a budget, how to
apply for grants, etc. Over the two day conference, we came up with
many ideas about how we could improve our school, and we decided that
we should survey the students, teachers, community, and school
direction to find out what our priority project would be. The
results of the survey told us that our community's number one
preference was a computer lab for the school. This all happened in
August and September of last year.
Sarah
and I worked on writing a grant, and eventually submitted it to Peace
Corps. After waiting awhile and getting some feedback, we had to
make some changes to our application. We resubmitted it, and waited
approximately FOREVER to hear anything.
While
I was home in December/January, we finally got word that upon
changing a few more things, our grant application would be approved.
Sarah and I talked in depth about the project and whether we thought
it would be realistic to try to construct a whole building, and then
try to find computers to fill it with in just 10 months. Based on
the fact that there are 4 classrooms at school that have been in
construction since we got here and are still not much farther to
being finished then when we arrived, we decided that it was probably
unrealistic to think that we could get it all done in such a short
time. We definitely didn't want to only do a project halfway, so we
broke the news to our colleagues that we didn't think our computer
lab project was feasible.
Our
colleagues took the news well, and insisted that we should still try
to do a small project to help the school. After brainstorming with
them, we determined that the school had a great need for benches and
tables outside. There was one double sided bench at the school for
the entire student body of about 2500 students. It was a well-used
bench, but it wasn't cutting it. Sarah and I agreed that extra
tables and benches would be extremely useful to have at the school,
and the project seemed like a very doable one with our remaining 10
months. We got to work on the grant proposal.
After
about two months, our proposal was approved. Then came the
fund-raising. Thanks to all of you that donated and made the project
possible!
When
the funds were all donated, the money was deposited into our
accounts, and we met with our colleagues to start the construction
process. Construction started on June 3rd. After only 20
days of construction, the project was finished on June 23rd.
We now have 5 tables with 6 seats each and 3 more double sided
benches on our school's campus. I was absolutely amazed at the
coordination and efficiency that our colleagues showed us throughout
the project. They worked so well together and made sure that
everything was perfect! They made sure that 25% of the cost that was
the community's responsibility was all accounted for, and all of the
money was well used. I could not be more proud to have taken part in
such a successful and well-executed project.
The
tables and benches are already being used by many students. They are
SO excited to have new places to sit and study, or just sit and chat
with friends. One student even told me, “Teacher, our school is so
nice to be building us new places to sit!” I couldn't help but
smile.
After
the construction was finished, we had a meeting with our school
director and school council president to sign the tables and benches
over to the school. The school has told us that they are looking
into buying paint to make them more pretty as well as useful. All in
all, I can't imagine the process going much smoother, or the project
turning out any better. Here are some pictures!
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| One of our newly constructed tables! |
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| Our new bench next to the only existing bench that we had only one month ago. |
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| Sarah sitting on top of one of our new double sided benches! |
Thanks again to everyone who donated! It wouldn't have been possible without you all!
