Tuesday, March 4, 2008

We've had a very busy schedule since Feb. 14. A work group of 11 from Burlington, Onatario, Canada, came to work with us in Patzún. The leaders arrived Feb. 14, and the rest of the group arrived Feb. 16. While here, they worked on the prekinder/kinder room (which is almost finished) made tables for this class of 19 students, painted, and made bookshelves for several rooms.


When we had the 'dedication' of the prekinder/kinder room, the children, teacher and director were really pleased. The members of the group who were in attendance had fun too!



Here are close-ups of some of the prekinder/kinder children (The two girls are cousins.):

The group also put up sheet-rock above the block walls on the kinder room and the new 4th grade room. (The 4th grade room was originally going to be a computer room, but the 4th graders need a better room - so they get first choice.)

Something that I was excited about was that a false ceiling was put up in the kitchen. The building we are in has a metal roof. There is an open space between the roof and the walls. Consequently, a lot of the dust and dirt of Patzún comes in through the open space. Now, at least, the kitchen will be a little cleaner.

Several of the ladies in the group taught some ESL. Everyone wants to learn English, so the children enjoyed this labor of love by the ladies. I even got to take off a few minutes from cooking the meals one day and teach the youngest class!