Roof Plans Change Again... and Other News

This is written on February 24th. Yesterday was a school day and it was an interesting day to say the least. Several community members had approached me with questions regarding the schools roof. Just an update, as of the most recent town meeting the town had decided that it was a good idea to change the roof of the school. They felt that although the cost would be high it was important to make sure that they school was secure from the rain before additional expensive materials were added to the building. Therefore I was a bit surprised to be approached so recently after the town meeting.

It turns out the community has decided that they are not sure how they feel about change the entire roof. They feel that the panels are structurally sound enough and will last several more years. To prove this a carpenter in the community climbed up to the roof and walked around surveying the roof itself. Just as he was telling me how structurally sound each panel was, and there was no need to worry... he fell through. He didn't fall through all the way, just a foot through the roof panel, but still, it was just perfectly appropriate. Honestly, I don't think anything better could have happened to prove my point.

However, now the problem is that I have a hole in the roof of the school directly above the classroom with the library. I have a town who does not want to change the roof to aluminum because the material is thin and they are not sure how long it will wear. I have over 1,000 screws which need to be changed in order to secure the current roof in place. I have over 216 delicate roof panels that need to be taken off in order to change the screws. And all the panels are currently made out of asbestos.

What to do what to do.... I think this project may take a bit more planning and may be waiting for next year; which is absolutely fine. I will get a very light weight person up on the roof to fix the new hole and several of the old damaged roof panels; I do not think it is even appropriate to change the screws as it will be very damaging to the roof panels itself. I hope the town understands. I will surely find out at the next meeting. Therefore, I've decided to start the bathroom, which I have been given the go ahead to use the aluminum as a trial. This way we can find out for how long an aluminum roof can last.

Other news includes school sponsorships. Tomorrow I will be heading back into Chinandega to exchange several of the uniforms which were not the right sizes, purchase one more backpack, and purchase all the shoes for the 18 students. New sponsors are continuing to join and sooner than later I think I may be able to begin sponsoring several additional children.

Uniforms and Backpacks Purchased

Quick note regarding last weeks post. I had mentioned that the government was supplying textbooks for grades 1 through 6. Please note that this is a typo and it should have read, the government is supplying textbooks for 1st grade through 3rd grade. I have been able to supply the textbooks for 4th, 5th and 6th grade. Sorry for this misunderstanding. The above picture shows Johana using one of these textbooks to work on her homework!

As for projects going this week it has been a very exciting week packed with great news. Monday I was able to get into Chinandega for several hours to begin the purchased for the students which are being sponsored this year. As I got late start due to an unexpected school meeting I was only able to purchase the uniforms, backpacks and a small start to the necessary school supplies. I am hoping to make it back into town Monday or Tuesday of next week to look for shoes, and the remaining necessary school supplies.

Other exciting news about the school includes a roof raising party. We are still working out the logistics of this party, but the community is totally behind it and I think it will work out well. The main objective is for community members to raise enough money to change the entire roof of the school. Currently we are using asbestos roofing panels held on the roof with large screws. The original idea for roof repairs was to only change the roofing screws, as the majority are rusted through. However, the more we looked at the roof we realized that to change any of the screws we would have to remove the entire roofing panel put in a new screw and then put the roof panel back on and tighten it down. Upon this discovery we, as a community, decided it would not only be damaging to the roofing panels by weakening them, but it would also create asbestos dust in all classrooms. This was unacceptable not only to me but to the community members, as it puts them and their children in danger. Therefore, we have decided to flip flop our yearly budget a bit, and have re-worked things so that we are only slightly short for the roofing materials. The community has decided to take part in raising the additional money by throwing a party and collecting money for a 50/50 raffle. All in all it seems like a great idea, but only time will tell.

For questions and comments please e-mail me at helpinginnicaragua.gmail.com

So a quick update we are now in our second week of school and attendance has increased from just a few students on the first day to around 115 students! The government has been working hard this year and has been able to provide textbooks for all students, grades 1 through 6, who were enrolled before the 1^st day of school. I have also been able to make my first trip into the city to start buying supplies for the school. Tomorrow I will be heading into the school to distribute notebooks, pencils, erasers, and pencil sharpeners for each student. The other day I purchased enough supplies for 200 students even though there are less students in the school, I figure better safe than sorry.

For the school itself I purchased 36 textbooks for 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th grade, 20 packs of modeling clay, clear tape, boxes of chalk, poster paper, markers, and plastic food storage bins for the food coming from the world food program. For the property maintenance I have purchased the first batch of fencing to keep out the animals, and did some double checking on prices for several expenses including a new aluminum roof for both the bathroom and the school which will get rid of the asbestos roof the school is currently using. The problem however is that is will cost a total of $3,535 just for the main school building. This cost includes 216 aluminum roofing panels and all necessary screws. As for the bathroom it seems that the original expenses were priced too high meaning the budget can be cut by almost half, which is exciting as it provides more money for the potential main roof project, or for the potential solar water purification project!

All in all the projects appear to have full community backing. The fencing for the school property will be put up by Maciel, her husband, and her children living directly across the street from the school. As for the roof project a committee of three have been formed to collect money from the community members in order to help pay for manual labor. Community members feel that it is very important that the lead carpenter of this roofing project feel compensated for their time and efforts. Therefore Nelson, Geronimo, and Alin will be working together on this collection, we will see if we are able to raise sufficient funds.

Next week we have another parents meeting, on the 16^th, to discuss more options and make sure we are all in agreement as to what the best plan for the school repairs are. On the 16^th we will also find out how much money the committee has been able to raise. Next week the teachers and I are hoping to have a chance to sit down and choose all the students which will be sponsored this year at the primary school. We have put if off this long so that we are able to see which students are actually interested in attending school and we have been double checking the necessity of all students. I am hoping for the best and will keep you all posted as to the progress.