The following text is adapted from email sent to us by Kathy Powell-Larson, an EWB professional member who has visited Luis Garcia recently with a few other EWB-USA members volunteering in Honduras. She is heavily involved in other projects in the surrounding area.
Luis Garcia is a community located in the Marinon sector of Villanueva. This community was displaced after Hurricane Mitch when their community disappeared during the flooding of the river Chamelecon/Ulua. The community picked themselves up as a community and moved to their present location. They came with nothing since they had lost everything in flooding. There was no planning or development done. There are approximately 375 families and each family has between 3 and 4 children and the population is increasing at a rate of 27% per year. It was estimated that the average age is 35 years old but do not yet have data to validate this. They have built shacks into the hillside with some new housing structures beginning to appear.
Between December of 2007 and June 2008 the community came together and raised 45,000.00 Lempiras (About 2,400.00 USD) to build classrooms. The municipality donated the land and another NGO provided the difference in what was need to build these classrooms and the community did 100% of the labor. The school has 308 children and is at max capacity already. To help with the capacity issues, the do classes in the morning and different classes in the afternoon. One and four children are in school approximately.
The community is currently requesting two additional classrooms, a separate building for a kindergarten, a soccer field and the school yard encased with a fence. In adding two additional classrooms will help but they will be at capacity again next year. A much larger plan should be created with the community so all children can attend school and have adequate facilities. The kindergarten class is 42 children taught in a small room with one teacher. The Maestro(schoolmaster) and the kindergarten teacher are dedicated to this community in helping.
Prior to these classrooms being built, the community rented houses in the community for classes for the students. They are in the process of building a small house that for now they will use as a kindergarten. This is a very young and motivated community that is willing to do anything they can to help.
There are some places in the community that have electricity but they are running their own lines from the communities below. Their water supply is not reliable - while there is a municipality water tank in their community it goes to other communities before theirs and often the tank runs out of water before they receive any water. The Denver team from CDM is working on water for Marinon. We will be in contact with them about their thoughts and priorities.
Additional things that can be done in the community:
- Add more bathrooms and places to wash hands for the school. There are two stalls for 308 kids.
- Add the number of classrooms they requested and more since they will be immediately out of capacity. A larger plan needs to be created.
- Add a feeding program in the school (This can increase the participation in the school from 1 in 4 to 100%).
- Add adult classes at night for reading and writing and include a feeding program. Would need to look at day care while adults are in school.
- Add a playground
- Add solar electricity to the school
- Add solar flood lights for the playground and the soccer field
- Educate on nutrition and health.
- Look for a corporation to sponsor this community and provide uniforms, school supplies and more teachers.
- Add a clinic in Luis Garcia or somewhere else in the sector of Marinon. A location needs to be defined.
- Add a community center for addditional classes and learning.
Action
During the assessment trip, September 15-22, 2008, EWB-Walla Walla University members gathered the data they needed to expand the school. They took a health assessment, and with the community and leaders of Luis Garcia determined the needs for additional projects in the community.