> Special Sections > Making a Difference in Ecuador > New school
New school
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Western Mass. residents donations provide new classroom. Reminder Publications submitted photo
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By Erin Duffy, correspondent
ECUADOR Well the first classroom is well underway! If the rain holds off (which it still hasn't been doing) we should be done with the classroom by early next week!
We still had some donation money left over, so we decided to sit down and see what we could use it for to most benefit the students. So on Saturday afternoon we sat down with the maestros (the bosses of the constructions crew) to see what it would cost for materials and labor to put in an addition... and it turns out we had just enough to put in a bathroom!
Monday morning when we arrived at school they had already started digging the hole for the septic system. The bathroom will have three toilets, three sinks and one urinal!
And then we were here in the internet last night when the mayor of Atacames' wife (who we worked very closely with for the first classroom) called us and said she and her husband were at our school and were wondering if we could go meet them to chat quick. So of course we went right over and were greeted with huge smiles and lots of enthusiasm.
Well.. the mayor was so impressed with everything that has happened so far that he wanted to match the first classroom! We agreed to use the same maestros and workers and Taylor and I will still be doing a lot of the material running and logistics, but all expenses paid for by the mayor and the municipality here!
We already made a list of all the materials and they should be ready by later today or tomorrow morning at the latest. At the school, the workers have already measured out where the second classroom will go and are digging the trenches for the foundation!
The mayor wants us to be able to see all the work complete, so he is making everything available as soon as we need it! The estimated finish day is May 28! Of course there is a lot that needs to happen between now and then, but we will see. It's amazing how much is changing for our school now that some people (our foundation and all of our supporters back home) have shown an interest in what's going on. So thank you!
Send us nice dry thoughts over the next couple weeks so that the construction can continue without delay!
Hope you are all well,
Erin
Duffy, an East Longmeadow resident, is a volunteer in Ecuador with United Planet. From home her family and friends are constantly raising funds to improve the quality of life for the children in Duffy's school. Her column will appear monthly in The Reminder throughout the remainder of her volunteer work.
For more information or to donate, call Marilyn Duffy at 525-7669.
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> Special Sections > Making a Difference in Ecuador > New school
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