La Manz Primary School
Posted by Liat  on October 22, 2014, 6:15 am
Edited by board administrator October 23, 2014, 11:30 am
A talk with Maestra Adela.
Maestra Adela has been a teacher at the La Manzanilla primary school for many years. This year she was about to retire. The mothers, who were also once her students, convinced her to stay and become the school Director. Adela was always the most active, passionate, loving, big Mama of the school. This year she promised to actively involve the parents and work together to improve the school studying level and infrastructure.
The parent's committee has decided that our first priority is to repair the toilets. To accomplish this the parents have started gathering funds, each family will give some money and donate food for events which will bring some profit towards these goals.
Unfortunately, the condition of the toilets is very bad. It's been patched over again and again, but now it needs full renovation. It's a big project and Maestra Adela came and asked for help.
Anything that the generous community of La Manzanilla can donate will be welcome! A toilet seat, a sink, tiles, paints,or some money.
All donations will be documented and controlled by the director Adela and the parents committee president Lilana ( who is also the ejido's secretary). Donations may be given personally to them, or if it's more convenient to use PayPal (and since it is a bank transfer that does not charge for the transfer), then please click on the envelope icon next to my name to get a private e.mail with the information.
Our goal is to complete this during the Christmas vacation so the workmen can complete this without interruption, and the kids get a great Christmas present.
Here are the pictures showing the current conditions, (broken sinks and tubes, most toilets do not flush...no windows for ventilation), and also a picture of our big mama Adela.
|
-----------------------------Re: La Manz Primary School
Posted by Pablo on October 22, 2014, 8:44 am, in reply to "La Manz Primary School"
96.50.109.80
Yeah, not at all a good situation for the kids to deal with at school. I can't imagine I'd miss $25 a year from now if I sent it off to help out a bit with such an obviously worthy cause. Anyone else feel the same out there??
So, I do have a Paypal account and I'm sure it would be very convenient to use it to send this donation. Would you know how I and others can do this thru Paypal, Liat? Otherwise it's kind of a long way to go from BC to personally give this to Adela... Okay, I'm flying down right now then! Don't I wish...
And thanks for posting this. Hoping the response to this is as big as the smiles on those kids' faces could be when they return after the christmas break this year
|
-----------------------------Re: La Manz Primary School
Posted by Dave Collins on October 22, 2014, 6:02 pm, in reply to "Re: La Manz Primary School"
Tierralegre, A.C. has offered the primary school the opportunity to enter the "Eco-Schools" initiative through the Foundation for Environmental Education with which we are associated. Up to this point, which is a year since we began the implementing the program into 10 different school in the municipality of La Huerta , we have distributed $1,500 USD each to two different schools and $500 USD each to the other eight schools to implement a methodology that empowers the schools to improve their existing conditions. They come up with these projects collectively utilizing this methodology. Improving the horrid state of the bathrooms certainly sounds like an more-than-appopriate project to me under the rubric of this initiative.
Yet, the La Manzanilla Primary School has turned down the offer on two separate occasions.
But if you think the new Director is interested then please do get in touch with me and we´ll see if it´s not too late to get them on board for the upcoming campaign. The link to check out the Eco-Schools initiative is: http://www.eco-schools.org/.
|
-----------------------------Re: La Manz Primary School
Posted by Liat on October 22, 2014, 7:59 pm, in reply to "Re: La Manz Primary School"
Thank you, Pablo, for your response! I will inform you of the PayPal account that can be used for donations.and as I wrote before, anyone who is interested to help us, can send me a mail and I will respond to his personal e.mail.
Also I want to thank Stephanie, Rhonda, and Hannah, for contacting me today!
Hi ,Dave. Welcome back to the heat! I will ask the new director if she is interested in your wonderful program. There is always hope, it takes sometimes generations to open up our minds to the light. I guess the previous director thought it's easier to hook up to the "new" sewage system, which doesn't work really, and keeps on flowing happily ever after directly to the lagoon and to our sad ocean...and that is the main BIG project this village has to solve, hopefully in our life time... We did have a long conversation about it, some years ago, remember? Since then I talked about it with many of the people in charge and the excuses are as many..I still believe that people like you, Dave, are the ones that can and will make a change to a more ecological future for our kids here!
|
-----------------------------Re: La Manz Primary School
Posted by Pablo on October 23, 2014, 3:09 am, in reply to "Re: La Manz Primary School"
96.50.109.80|
De nada, Liat. And gracias to you for emailing me the Paypal account to use - you'll see I've emailed back to you and mis 300 pesos or so will be en route to you muy pronto! C'mon everyone... let's reach behind those couch cushions (ewww...) and make that lost change make a change. Hey, kind of catchy - like that... Anyone got a spare pulpit?
|
-----------------------------Re: La Manz Primary School
Posted by Dave Collins on October 23, 2014, 7:15 pm, in reply to "Re: La Manz Primary School"
Hola, Liat! O.K., let me know if the new Director is interested in the program and we´ll get in touch with her if so.
Thanks for your kind words and support! It often seems like an uphill battle, but we´re really starting to seem some amazing results with the students involved in the "YES" (Youth Ecology and Sustainability) Inititative. And the Tierralegre Applied Ecology Center located at the parcela escolar in La Manzanilla is really coming along nicely with new composting toilets and a new outdoor kitchen with an attached bio-filter system. Both these structures were built mainly with bamboo, which is one of the most renewable and sustainable building materials on the planet!
Also, a special thanks to La Manzanilla resident Dennis Kalston for his support with the bio-filter workshop yesterday. I´m attaching a photo from that event with the La Manzanilla secondary school students which I hope serves as an inspiration of what we can create if we put our hearts and minds to it:
|
-----------------------------
|
|
|
|
|
|