Welcoming ceremony
Signing of the buildOn Covenant by a villager. The Covenant outlines certain responsibilities of the community as well as the mayor, including the dedication of 6 men and 6 women by the village to work every day, the promise of the village to maintain the school after completion, and the provision of basic materials like sand and gravel as well as their transportation by the Mayor's office.
A typical Santa Maria house
Demolition of a previous structural foundation.
Tying rebar for the school's columns
Guillermo, the village leader, carrying wood to the worksite
The LC in the shop, as usual
Taylor with his house brothers and sister.
Evan with his house brothers and sister
Cows are infrequently slaughtered for sale by the villagers. Here, the owner of the cow, to the right, sells the meat from his front porch.
In the background to the left you can see the advanced way of harvesting power for the welding machine, straight from the power lines
The temporary school, which is in the small, dark living room of a house.
Ilder, the phenomenal teacher for Santa Maria's youngest children.
Evaluating buildOn's next site with the Mayor of Yali, Victor. The precarious wooden structure is more than 10 years old and rapidly falling apart.
Discussion of education and local politics with the mayor of Yali, Santa Maria's municipality.
Children of the village attempted to help out whenever they could. Some of the older, high school aged students contributed significantly to the construction of the school, while young ones shown here, while generally ineffective in terms of physical labor, were very helpful with their efforts by showing their enthusiasm for a new place of learning.
Evan cooking dinner for us and the skilled labor crew.
Closing remarks at the Completion Ceremony
Dancing at the Completion Ceremony
