Below is a list of just some of the projects we have undertaken over the past 5 years.
This needs editing…
Guess the first would be Corrales where we first stayed in 2002/ 03…. You can change any of this you like.. I can supply the photos when I get near my computer..
After Margarito showed us Cabo Corrientes after the hurricane had hit , we delivered school supplies etc, to 6 villages and could see that they needed much more than what we brought… I asked Margarito if there was a chance we could go stay in a village for awhile to fix the school up..He met with the Elders of the area and we were giventhe Okay and come and stay and work on the school…
We hauled paint and buliding supplies in and Margarito supplied all new windows.. What a 2 weeks that was we knew no Spanish , Margarito made little cards up for us..Where is the bathroom…We are hungry etc but we made out just fine.. Everyone was so helpful..
We slept in one big room all 10 of us kids, Grandmas, chickens you name it and soon found out that the roof leaked as a fluke rain storm moved in for four days ,,We were lucky to escape on the washed out roads and over flowing rivers with our lives but that is a whole other story..
2… Aquiles Serdan 2004 / 05 This was our first buiding project with the government, the community and the teacher all involved and what a disaster it started out to be..The government had contacted us and wanted to know if we were interested in helping with building projects, bathrooms etc.. and we were.. It was the first time that the government had actually helped in the rural areas for years..usually money did not trickle down this far..
The project was to fix up the existing school and bathroom , build a set of stairs to the schooland the teacher wanted a small platform where he could do plays etc, with the children..Well everyone wanted to do their best so the government sent out a huge workforce including engineers… They decided the stairs to the school should go up the same side as the bathroom was on the only thing was the kids had been using the other side since the beginning of time.. The teacher was beside himself and the towns people wanted to do the work.. Well we got everyone together and everyone had a good laugh as everyone was trying so hard… and the kids still go up the side of the school with no stairs..
3. .. Tehuamixtle…2005/06.. Remodel existing school and build new washrooms The picture explains the state of the washrooms for this school in the tiny fishing village ( 4 poles and some heavy black plastic) The whole community was out to rebuild the school.. and help build the new bathrooms. This was our biggest project to date…
4,,,Tehuamixtle 2007 Build a new Kindergarten school….This was a project we wanted to do for so long as this stick school just kept getting beat up by the winter storms every year until there was almost nothing left. Scorpions are also a huge problem in wooden and thatched structures like this especially if young children get bitten…I was invited to a Christmas party that I will never forget.. in this 8 by 10 structure.The teacher never let anything get her down.. What an Amazing time everyone had..
5…The Manta and the Rogue Wave…..We had been staying in Tehua at the school teachers house and were asked if we wanted to go out and help check the fishing ntes in the morning…Being an old fisherman who can not swim I jumped at the chance but remembered I had no life jacket.. Out we went to sea 5 of us and all was going as planned until the captain spotted a net he did not recognize.. we tied onto it and tried to bring it in with no luck and noticed that what ever was in the net was trying to bring us into the sea.. The motor was burning blue smoke in reverse , the Captain was yelling for someone to cut the line and in a Hurry, and I looked down in the water and noticed a huge manta much larger than ouir boat that was caught in the net and pulling us down..
Finally like an elastic stretched to the Max we were cut free..Everyone looked at each other just glad to be alive when out of no where a rogue wave hit the boat and sent everyone flying..Not a good day for the captain as he broke his arm.. but it is a story they still tell when they are telling fish stories.. and we still go out and check nets together..
