| A school emerges |
Making contact
In principle, a school construction project is only realised by Esperanza in areas where the villagers have filed an application. Esperanza attaches great importance to the villagers taking initiative themselves. Only in this way a steady commitment of the local population for the school can be guaranteed.It is possible to make contact in different ways. Often our architect Luis Alberto Palacios is visited in his office by representatives of the communities. But it also occurs that he or members of the organisation are contacted in public, e.g. at the market, in busses or when on visits in villages. During an interview Esperanza is looking for information about the village structure and the motivation of the village community. An essential requirement for the realisation of a school project is always the participation of the community in the form of labour as well as the availability of building materials, such as sand, gravel, building wood and stones. Another condition is that employment contracts with teachers still exist, so that the servicing of the school can be guaranteed after completion of the project.
The written application
After the first interview, a written application must be send to us, which normally contains the individual needs of each village regarding education as well as statistics about the number of students, teachers and villagers. At first the application is registered in our application list. That sounds very bureaucratic, but it is necessary in order not to lose the overview of the applications due to the high number send to us.Of course, all facts of the applications are carefully checked either by board members or Luis Alberto Palacios, our local architect. Often the first impression and the personal interview tell us a lot about the commitment of the village.
Decision making
To decide in which village the next school will be constructed, all information about the school projects being applied for are collected. Therefore, urgency and budget available play an important role during this decision making process. Normally, the board of Esperanza and Luis Alberto Palacios decide together which project shall be realised. After that our architect has the pleasure to inform the village about the positive news and about all measures that are necessary to start the building process as soon as possible.
School construction
Probably, it is hard to imagine that neither a steam shuffle nor a building vehicle nor any other building machines have to be transported to the building site. To equip a Guatemalan building site you only need plumbline, wood, sews, hammers, levels, buckets, wheel-barrow, measuring device, pleasers.
Main materials are bricks, a lot of concrete steel to restand earthquakes, cement, sand, gravel, broken rocks for the foundation and lime for the stucco. In further constructing stations doors and window frames of metal are put in and necessary electrical installations are made - if the village has access to electricity.
Continue to read how a school is officially opened -> A school emerges - Part 2
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