2009 Elementary School Classroom for Village of San Martin, Nicaragua  

Overview
Project Name: Elementary School - San Martin, Comunidad Piedra Colorada
NGO Partner: Seeds of Learning
Project Cost: $14,725.85
Target Start Date: May 2009
Target Completion Date: August 2009
ODFL Partner Schools that contributed funds in 2008-2009 to complete this project:

• North Kansas City HS (MO)
• Olathe Northwest Senior HS (KS)
• Stockdale HS (CA)
• Winnetonka HS (MO)

Background
Nicaragua, bordered by Honduras and Costa Rica in Central America, is the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.  Over 28% of the population in Nicaragua lives in poverty with a per capita average annual income is $945.  According to UN figures, 80% of the indigenous population lives on less than $1 per day.  

The Proposed Elementary School in the Village of San Martin
ODFL, working with Seeds of Learning (SOL) in the summer of 2009, built a new elementary school classroom in the village of San Martin.  San Martin is located outside of San Ramon, a small mountain town in the department of Matagalpa.

The previous school, preschool to 6th grade, is overcrowded with over 150 enrolled students and three substandard classrooms.  Currently the school is in a condition of disrepair and consists of two classrooms which were constructed by an NGO in 1992.  One of these classrooms has been divided into two by a sheet of black plastic in order to provide a separate “third classroom” space for preschool.

The communities that this school serves are extremely poor.  They live a life based on subsistence farming and have very limited access to adequate healthcare, transportation, education, food and clean water.  This school is supported by teachers who are paid by the governmental Ministry of Education (MINED).  MINED has identified this school as the highest priority for infrastructure development in the area.  While MINED has stated that this is an urgent need; they do not currently have any amount budgeted or plans for school building infrastructure in the region.  This is a very typical scenario for rural areas in Nicaragua. As in many developing countries, more remote communities, tend to be “forgotten” by national (and many times local) government, and are not adequately supported by many (if any) governmental resources.

The direct beneficiaries of this project are the students and 97 families that live within the community of San Martin, as well as the smaller surrounding communities including Susuli, Piedra Arca, Piedra Colorada and Sarsal.  Some students walk as far as two hours away to attend this school.  The local people committed to volunteering their time to help build the needed school infrastructure thereby creating a sense ownership in these projects. This community ownership and participation ensured the success and encouraged community involvement for the long term, as it is something that the community deeply cares about and has worked hard to achieve.

A detailed project plan, including materials list, budget, and administration procedures, can be seen here soon.   ODFL hopes high schools in the U.S. will help with funding for these kinds of most worthy projects.  If students give only one dollar, we can provide generations of educational opportunity for teenagers who otherwise would have nothing.  In the process, we will make American students bigger people.  

Bigger People. Better World.  That is ODFL. Thank you for your support of our vision!

Yours in a Better World,
ODFL

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Update: May, 2009

 

 

 

More photos 1 | More photos 2

A student's reflection after the ODFL Summer Service Trip to Nicaragua

I came to Nicaragua with the intentions of building a school, and I did but it’s hard to explain how I felt seeing homes made of branches and sheet metal. Even more so when I met the inhabitants of those homes; they’d look us in the eyes and say, “buenas dias, estoy de aqui servirle”.  They would’ve given us the shirts on their backs, not because we were foreigners but because we are people.

They showed us their pets, those two green birds named Nachos and when nobody could comprehend one another’s words, there was still an understanding between us and them, between our land and theirs, that didn’t need to be spoken.  The community in San Martin knew it wasn’t really about the work we were giving them and we knew it wasn’t really about zip lining and swimming in waterfalls. While we wanted more dirt under our fingernails, they just wanted companionship.  It’s no doubt their lives are more laborious than ours and it wouldn’t be a stretch to say they’re a happier breed of people.  Even though Dona Erlinda wakes up very early in the morning to clean the house, do the laundry, cook breakfast, and get the kids up for school, there was still an air of gratitude about her. They were not resentful of our digital cameras and work gear. They did not accept gifts hastily neither.  Instead they cooked us their version of cornbread and made us coffee, besides the fact they had only two cups to go around.  Instead, they led us on a trek through the rainforest and only laughed a little when we came back caked in mud.

As a group of young people, we came together, not for ourselves but for a greater cause. We looked at the grand scheme of things and all agreed, its not about coffee or tv or drugs.  I couldn’t have had a better time with people I barely knew.

That’s something I didn’t expect. To be appreciated and respected by complete strangers. I came to Nicaragua without speaking fluent Spanish and with little education of it’s history and came home with not only a better understanding of myself but a new world view.  The power is in my words and my actions. It is sown deep in my soul not from status or birthplace and it doesn’t depend of what economic bracket I fall under. I will not be fooled to think I cannot do something any longer. Truly, I know the value of the dollar.

ODFL Nicaragua Trip ‘09
Margaux Kelly