MISSION TEAM REPORT FOR APRIL 1

Tuesday is another beautiful, hot day in Quimistan. We enjoy seeing feedback on our blogs.

This morning Tommy, Lorraine, and Maxine visited Banderas elementary school, which is about 20 minutes from Quimistan. They took gifts of clothing, toys, and personal care items to the children. All of these items were collected in Aiken and brought here by the team. Forty-six children attend the one-room school house that has no running water or electricity. Because of the possibility of the children falling through the rotten floor of the outhouse, the children must go home or use a neighbor’s outhouse. The teacher’s desire for improvement of her school was very evident and obvious to the team members.

The main needs of the school are a new outhouse, renovation of the kindergarten room, and a better place to prepare lunch meals for the kids. Currently, each parent must provide lunch for all of the students on a rotation basis.

The only public source of drinking water in Banderas is from a hand-pumped well at least about 0.2 miles from the school. The photos below show how the locals get this water to their homes. The school is considering a project to pipe this water closer.

As a way to show their appreciation to the team, two boys pulled their shoes off and climbed a cocoanut tree to retrieve several cocoanuts and loaded them into the team’s pickup truck. .

Lee completed installation of ceiling fans in the women’s dorm. The fans make it much easier to sleep during these hot nights.

Tommy and Lee installed screen wire over several ventilation openings in the mission dorm building.

Bruce and Jim completed the first phase of the project to construct and install shelving and doors at the Light of the Valley elementary school. They will complete this project by installing doors on shelving that was built by a previous team.

Jim, Maxine, & Tommy