Update - 21 May 2002
from Matthew "Mateo" Rutman

Our school supplies have arrived! Seventeen large boxes of school, medical, clothing, shoes and all sorts of essential supplies have finally arrived. About 40 people, most kids from the village, helped unload the container in record time. It was a beautiful sight, a moment of international solidarity, with volunteers from N. America, Spain, Holland, Germany, and Guatemala. The supplies will be given to over 30 different NGOs, rural schools, clinics, and orphanages. A huge thank you to every person involved in helping to make this project a success (you know who you are!) The only way things like this happen is with teamwork and solidarity. Let's do this again some time. . . . Mateo

Update - 15 May 2002
from Matthew "Mateo" Rutman

It is a beautiful two-story, six-classroom building. The floors are concrete, great lighting, windows that open up, and working electrical outlets. The classrooms are spacious, and the kids are very happy and proud of their new school. In the afternoons, they are starting Basico (middle school for the older kids). They hope to have an established program for them by next year. At the present, the government is not funding the Basico in the afternoons.

The bathrooms are quite a sight!!! flushing toilets, private stalls, a boys and and a girls bathroom . . . quite the improvement form the hole in the ground they were using the year before . . . . The kitchen is also being used as a classroom. They are not receiving government funding to provide food for the kids.

They have big plans for the future: a library, clinic, basketball court!!!!! Elizabeth and Jennifer Nettle's band is coming down again to help with land purchase and some mural painting. . . Mateo

Update - December 2001
from Tom Barwick

CLEA donated an additional $1000 to the Pasac Segundo School Building Project on 6 December 2001. The check was presented by SIT graduate student Tom Barwick in a ceremony at the building site. The organization Inter Vida has picked up construction efforts in Pasac and hopes to complete the school in February 2002. See Tom Barwick's December report report below the pictures.

Pasac Segundo School Building Progress Report
by Tom Barwick
December 2001- Pasac Segundo, Guatemala

When I went to the site back in August, little had changed as far as the looks of everything, but clearly things were in the works behind the scenes. Somehow the community hooked up with the organization Inter Vida, and they agreed to work with the Comite de Padres. Since then progress has been fantastic and if things continue as planned, the school will be completed by the middle of February.

The architectural plans have changed a bit, but the same basic idea remains. The back of the lot, closest to the road, will be one building with three classrooms down and three upstairs. The classrooms are going to be considerably larger than I remember as originally planned. That is really a good thing. To the left and toward the community is a new Cocina and tienda. This is a stand alone building which at the moment is ready for the roof. It is pretty big, about 18x16 feet. Big windows and proper drainage make it really special. To the other side, the location of the previous sixth grade and the tienda, now stands a building that will have 6 bathroom stalls in it. The building is extra tall, and I'm not certain exactly how it will look and what will be in the upper half, but surely storage space would be a good thing. I'll let you know if I find out more before I head out of here.

The rest of the lot is still pretty much a mess. Last week a group of students from Xela went with me to clear the rocks and debris from the path that will eventually get dug up and laid with pipe between the bathrooms and kitchen. Remember that big rock, okay boulder? Well, that is what we moved. Good thing is, it's now in about 100 pieces, some the size of a shoe box, and some the size of a 55 gallon drum. Moving those was really fun, but we managed. Evin told me a great story about that rock. At the beginning they thought they could break it up bit by bit and move it away. Wrong. So the ideas began to flow, and eventually the winning idea was to use dynamite. Yes, its true. So they dug a big hole under the rock and placed a few sticks. I'm glad I was not there for this part. Anyway, it worked. The rock broke nicely, except for the piece that flew 100 yards and entered someone's house through the corrugated roof. Fortunately no one was in the kitchen, because the piece was the size of a football and certainly would have killed someone. Lucky.

Today the work crew was putting the finishing touches on the metal and wood work necessary to complete the second floor concrete. Some time this week a special crew will come and mix the massive amount of concrete it will take to raise to the next level. There will be a 4-foot walkway across the front of the second floor and I assume stairs somewhere to get people up there. In a week they will begin to stack the second floor blocks. Those classrooms are going to have the best view of Santa Maria of any building in Guatemala. The second story will also make the school the tallest building in Pasac. Pretty impressive.

I have yet to get information about the courtyard. They are hoping to eventually raise enough funds to put a perimeter fence around the whole property. Why? Well because the school will probably be very well equipped. At present Mateo is in Oregon and has made arrangements to ship a canister filled with books, computers and other school supplies. He will return in late March. He is looking for people to join him as a few of the things will need installation. I'll give you his email if you don't have it already.

Evin and Rosalia now have a phone and a computer so people can contact them more handily. Unfortunately I don't have that info with me at this moment, but if you would like it, I'm happy to pass it on to you. Elizabeth and Stephanie tell me they are about to put up a web site and I'll be sure to pass that info on too.

The students in Brattleboro are poised to send another 1000 dollars to help with the construction costs. Turns out Inter Vida supplies the materials and the community is responsible for finding, paying, and feeding the laborers. To complete the building they will need about 3000 dollars after the BUHS money. The crew the community found to build the school is doing a fantastic job. The block work is perfect, and the finishing concrete touches make it look extra special, which it is.

What else?? Oh yes, turns out that because the school will be large enough, they will begin a secondary program at the site as well. Little kids during the day, and secondary kids in the afternoon. But there are so many students they will still have to keep two of the temporary buildings in the back to house the extra kids. Seems that the six classrooms are not going to be enough for the amount of students wanting to attend classes. So they have come up with another scheme to buy more land and build another school building and a women's cooperative building. The women's cooperative already exists, but they are looking for a facility and a community meeting place.

It was fun to walk around the site and community and have people come up and say hello and welcome back. The community is really remarkable and so behind this project. With everything I have seen in Mexico and Guatemala, and knowing what a wonder it is to see anything actually get accomplished, it is truly a miracle to see the school coming to life. This is due mostly to the will power and drive of the community and in small part due to the contributions we have all made. In the future it would be wonderful if we could replicate this idea in other communities. But for today we can be happy to see this project as a reality and not just a dream. We have so much to be thankful for.