Tecualuya

When our West Bend group left the celebration of text books and restrooms, we went to visit another school. Tecualuya is a very small rural school in a very poor and isolated corner of the community. When our van drove into the school yard, the students and teachers were standing there waiting for us. Our friends Fredy and Leonor have visited this place in the past so they were greeted as old friends but when these little kids saw 6 North Americans get out of the van, some of the younger ones were frightened and tried to hide behind someone bigger. The older children held up a large poster thanking Fredy for the support he has already provided this school as noted below. Having just left much joyful noise and action, the stillness of this school was strange. I said to our friend Leonor this place is different. She replied these people are the poorest. A closer look at the children confirmed some of these kids are malnourished and in need of health care. Our visit here had a purpose. The ministry of education has received thousands of computers from Taiwan and is distributing them to 1,900 of the country’s 5,100 public schools. Tecualuya will be receiving 29. Upon notice of receiving 29 computers, the principal contacted our friends Fredy and Leonor for help to prepare a classroom appropriate for computer classes. Fredy engaged the Sugar Cane Association to build a storage shed, freeing up a room that was full of junk. Then he redesigned the classrooms, established a wiring diagram to accommodate the computer set-up, installed glass windows and electricity in the new computer room. They still need tables and chairs for the students and a reinforced dropped ceiling to protect the computers from theft. In addition to these immediate needs, the building long ago was divided into three classrooms by wooden dividers that have been destroyed by termites and weather rot. They need new dividers, desks, chairs, white boards, basic learning supplies and as usual, text books. Glass windows installed to protect all these improvements will vastly upgrade the educational experience for the children and teachers. During our brief time there, the principal told our group that in her 25 years at the school we were the first visitors to come to meet them. She wished we could have stayed longer but she and the children were so grateful for our presence and encouragement. It was a fun and meaningful afternoon for all of us. While this will be our seventh school and the needs are similar, the improvements require much planning for effective implementation. We will keep you informed about how these plans progress. Maybe you would like to be part of the experience. David y Nancy