Walter has notified us that the roof (techo) over the play area (cancha) is officially complete. Thanks to the generosity of one woman, Mrs. Regina Johnson from Father Keane’s diocese in North Carolina, this school is equipped and ready to help hundreds of children grow into responsible, hard-working, faithful adults. To recap the project, TLAU has paid for the raw materials and specialized labor to build the covered play area, four classrooms, one library, computer lab with computers, and chapel. I am not very good with computers, so once Leonard reminds me how to do so, I will post the comprehensive expense accounts.

For more photos, click the picture to the left or here.

During a recent conference call, TLAU employee Walter Ulloa, or as I call him “Everready,” laid out our options for future projects. They are as follows:

• Construct a library at the Centro Escolar Monseñor Romero in La Libertad (see previous post).
• Construct a covered play area at the Centro Escolar Catolico San Andres in Apaneca (Walter’s hometown).
• Construct two classrooms at the Centro Escolar Catolico Nuestra Señora del Refugio in Ahuachapan (near Walter’s hometown).
• Construct a computer lab with ten computers at the Centro Escolar Catolico San Patricio (see “completed projects” page on website).

It was such a hard decision, and we wanted to work Walter a little harder, so we decided to to three projects at once! No, really, we are going ahead with three of these four projects, but not because we want to work Walter harder. He already works harder than any hombre I know, and I’m serious when I say this. Visiting El Salvador and living life at Walter’s pace is too much for my bourgeois temperament, and at the end of a day I often find myself cowering in the corner with a bag of mamones. Anyways, two of the projects, the covered play area and the two classrooms, are located in Walter’s department (or county) so he won’t have to travel very far to oversee them. The third project, the library, is located in La Libertad. I can’t remember exactly how far that is from his home, but I’m sure that travel time plus the time needed to oversee the projects in his department won’t amount to anything near some past projects, when he had to drive five hours, both ways, multiple times a week.

So to sum up, we have decided to start

1. The library
2. The covered play area
3. The two classrooms

We decided that the computer lab can wait, even though we had a long discussion about why computers actually are very necessary for a well-rounded education in El Salvador, but not so necessary in America. Maybe I’ll write a post on that sometime. But for now, stay tuned, as I’m sure Walter will be sending more photos and perhaps some estimated budgets. Those are always fun.

This school has requested materials and labor for the construction of two classrooms to be completed by the end of the summer. Nuestra Señora del Refugio is 14 years old and currently occupies eight classrooms, three constructed by the government, three constructed with outside funding, and the other two funded and constructed by parents of the schoolchildren. Its 368 students range from preschool age to 9th grade, and even with 8 classrooms, half the children must attend classes in the morning and the other half in the afternoon (which I can imagine becomes quite a punishment during the warmer months).

This school does not charge tuition, and it is run by Father Jesus Samarron of the Guadalupan Eucharistic Missionaries of San Jose. As you can tell from these photos, the two classrooms will be constructed atop two others, and will serve preschool and first grade children.

Walter sent some new photos of the play area, and it looks like its coming along superbly. Some of the photos even give you a sense of the size of the play area, which is important because in El Salvador, boys are boys, and boy are they rough! Notice the thank-you poster for Mrs. Regina Johnson held by several well-dressed students, the nice banner Walter had made recently, and the Salvadoran workers perched atop the enormous metal structure under some very ominous clouds that could very well be building up a strong negative charge. You see, Salvadorans always play games with danger, but because they don’t pay any attention to the danger, they always win. If you have the privilege of traveling down to El Salvador, take a look at a) their corn-grinders and b) their ferris wheels and you will see what I mean.

One of our donors suggested that we post a list of items widely needed by the poor in El Salvador, so we asked Walter to think of all the items he could and their usual price. Here goes:

Wheelchair $450

5 lb can of powdered milk $18

Folding bed $45

Corrugated roofing metal for houses $70/dozen sheets

Children’s shoes $15

100 lbs. beans $60

100 lbs. rice $60

100 lbs. sugar $100

School notebooks $.50 each

Bottle of children’s vitamins $5.00

Wood planks for houses $35/dozen

School desk and chair $35

Box of 100 medical exam gloves $7.50

One-year scholarship for high school student $750 for full, $250 “media beca”

One classroom $5000

One library with books $10000

So whether you choose to mail your donations or donate online, just send us a note telling us what you would like to pay for (I don’t know if one is able to send a message with online donations). Then perhaps you’ll have the privilege of seeing photos like these result from your gift: here is a seasoned Salvadoran sitting in his new wheelchair courtesy of a generous TLAU donor.

The Centro Escolar Catolico Monseñor Arnulfo Romero is currently soliciting help from TLAU. It is a relatively large school (950 students) located in Zaragoza in the department of La Libertad. Their situation is not especially urgent; they actually appear to be blessed with a problem. You see, they have a “gran cantidad de libros,” but nowhere to put them. Therefore, they are asking for your help to build a 10×12 meter library.

Want more pictures? Click.

The gracious Mrs. Regina Johnson requested that in addition to the several classrooms, the library, and the computer room, a large covered play area for the children should be built to keep them out of the merciless equatorial sun. It should be up and functional in time to keep the students out of the winter monsoons, as well.

Want more photos? Click.