In
Nueva Prosperina,
a large
shanty town on the outskirts of Guayaquil, in southern Ecuador,
which houses around 70,000 people, we have helped to rebuild a
primary/secondary school which has 620 children attending daily. We
replaced 6 bamboo classrooms, which houses 350 of those infants,
with a 2 storey concrete block of classrooms - which will greatly
alleviate the problems that both the rainy and hot seasons bring.
It will also provide all the pupils with an equal
learning environment,
plus, they will be able to wash, and to play safely. The
school will also provide a lunch which will, for many children, be
their only meal for the day.
One of the most incredible factors in this project is
that for just £35,000 we
have provided a fully equipped school - real value for money - and
we
handed over the final instalment in March.
The building
work started at the end of 2007 with anticipation of it being
completed before the rainy season started in Spring. This school
block has 8 classrooms; toilet and washing facilities; a room for
the head teacher; and a staff room.
The building work was
completed in time and the pupils and teachers are settling into, and
loving their new classrooms.
'It was with great pride',
said Adela the head teacher, 'that the school was inaugurated and
opened for business in time for the start of the new term at the
beginning of April - there are many happy pupils who would like to
say thank you!'
And we would also like to
say a big thank you to all who have contributed to this very
successful project.
