School Projects Over Spring Break

At the kids' school, Escuela Del Mundo, much of the effort to keep the school up is placed on the shoulders of the parents and it's expected that every family contributes in some way.  Grounds keepers, maintenance staff, custodial positions etc just aren't in the budget like they are up North.   During this years' spring break the kids were off for two weeks and Ozzy was put in charge of getting some new playground features built before the kids came back to school.  During the break many of the parents spent their spare time contributing various talents and energy to come help get these things done for the benefit of the children.  Three playground features were built, a temporary classroom was erected and a significant portion of the school's campus was reclaimed from the jungle.

The kids were eager to help.

No steel toe boots here.

Power tools and product testing.

Dragon construction complete.

The artists take over with paint.

Dragon complete with temporary fangs.

After three days of work, some of the dads have a beer.

Frank cleaning up the grounds.

Tomas, the real "pro" doing what he does best.

The temporary "yurt" classroom goes up.

The ideas for the playground elements came from the kids themselves and then the parents tried our best to build what they wanted.  Each children's group at school had it's say about what they would like to see added to the school campus.  Before construction they also designed playground "mock ups" and presented their designs to the other kids and to parents.  I was very proud of the parents and kids and what we accomplished for the school in a few short days.  Bringing together people from many different countries, experiences, backgrounds and sharing ideas about how we should get it done, choosing the best idea and implementing it successfully was a great experience.  The results speak for themselves but the biggest compliment for me may have been when a few of the local parents were speaking together in Spanish and later shared that what they were discussing was how "different" this project was compared to what they knew and considered normal.  They said basically that these projects were very organized with a plan in place, with the right tools, materials and know-how and we got the projects done efficiently, in a timely manner and with quality.  I'll take that compliment.  Big thanks to all the parents who came out to help.  That is what it's about.