Progress

We made our first visit to the barrio today, where we will shall continue work on the daycare. It is a distance from where we are staying, and as you leave the city the economic disparities of the neighborhoods become apparent through the buildings' construction. When moving from the center you begin to see homes that are in a constant state of construction, where the first level was completed, but the additional stories are still being constructed. In the further periphery, houses are missing walls and roofs. The latter characterizes the "new neighborhood" in which we will be working.

Picture: neighborhoods we drove through leaving the city. U.N.O was here last year on the same trip. They built a small structure used for a day care . This year we are adding to that by building another structure directly across from the existing school.

The local government is full of unfulfilled promises, so instead of waiting for them to clean the area for construction and lay the foundation the mothers pitched in to buy and pour the cement. I was proud to find out that my payment for this trip contributed to foundation and frame of the new school.

Students, teachers and parents were there to welcome us when we got off the bus. They were so grateful and excited. The kids even had a song prepared to thank the gringos for their help.
The of the purposes of today's visit was to have a discussion to identify the needs and desires of the community. A bathroom is what they requested, with plumbing and child-size toilets, as well as a wall around the premises so that the students can play outside safe from cars and gangs.

The bathroom, though unexpected, was added to the budget, and the wall will temporarily be built from scrap.

Clare Watson: BA International Studies: BS Environmental Studies