Building a Future in Nicaragua

We are going to start with the pray, that we all know it's an obligation of all of us, right? We all deserve and need to first evoke the name of god, so then we can start any activity We are going to give the word to our brother Siriaco Albarenga to lead our pray Good afternoon all who are present on this beautiful afternoon to give a warm welcome to the people who visit us form Mexico and the united States, right? we extend a welcome to all lets give a welcome applause to the people who is present today the teacher already said it, right? we are going to start a pray evoking the name of the all mighty lord for all the things to be well, right? and handling it all to go as his will Lets pray, eternal father who are in the glory we thank you for this precious time we borrow the opportunity of being here, lord, starting a big project in our community the one we first recognize that came from you and also secondly from all the participants, donors and all the ones involved in different works that's why lord we are thanking you in this beautiful afternoon asking you to lead us in every momment in all that we are going to do we want your lead to stay always with us and with all of the participants helping and you taking care of us in every moment we ask you for this in the name of Jesus Christ our lord, amen My name is Santo Tomas Salinas, I'm the responsable of the community I feel so grateful with you and I wish this not to be the last time you visit us We will ever remain waiting for you with arms wide open. Thank you very much Good afternoon, thank you for visit the Jicaro municipality, you are welcome Partners from the United States, from Mexico for us this is really amazing to have you with us today supporting the progress in the Jicaro municipality this school has been dreamed for so many years here in the community they have been waiting so many years for this dream to be real today, thanks to god and for our brothers supporting us so this dream will come true for the Monte Rico community My name is Brian Goldfinger I'm the director of Build On Nicaragua We started the proccess to select the places to build the schools we first went at the municipality normally they have a list of the communities where exist a need of a school where there are schools, there are normally working but the school infrasctructure is totally damaged or sometimes under a tree There was a school built by the parents, covered with wood and it was too little, in bad conditions this is why we build schools to improve the lifes of the children to have a better education because sometimes the kids say "that school is too ugly", "it's falling down" "when it rains I got all wet" and now, with this new structure, the kids get a possitive inspiration to come and say "look at that beautiful school they gave us" and then also, the community commits to the work, because this is for their children well, the community makes the most important part, which is the not qualified work they support the master builder, in anyway needed, digging, making a cut on the floor also mixing the cement, helping to place the blocks, well, they make most of the work we as Build On, we just provide the material and supervision but the community does all of the work and we think that, in this way they are the real owners, because they put their sweat and blood in the project, and that way the project remains better and they really feel the owners of the school We visited about 20 communities here in Jicaro we've chosen 7 communities out of that 20 and actually, this is number 7, the one we are building in here how did we choose it? we came in bike, because it was really hard to access here we visited the houses, to see where do we gonna locate the donors sometimes we have student groups, we see the school, we take some pictures if we see that there is really a need then we say to the community about the possibility for us to come we make the enrollment, we don't build a school with less than 30 children we ask to the community people, why do they need the school? they say the children got wet, the roof is falling, it's a risk for the children there is no other organization that will come here to build a school because is too hard to access here in that moment we go back to the municipality, and we say to the mayor we saw a need in the community, we want to help to build the school but if you don't fix the road, we can´t build the school because we are not going to be able to bring the construction materials and also we need a good road to bring the donors .. say bye to the camera... bye... It's going to hit normally, if there is a group as Listen Up Español, that will come to help with the project we make the "ground break" the day they will begin building to continue working together after the holes, is the groundwork where we place the dipstick after that, we assemble the columns we assemble the seismic dipsticks, we assemble about 57 of that sometimes, when we have enought time sometimes the donor come for three weeks, sometimes for one if they come for 3 weeks, i left them the materials assembled the next is the block, we are building the block then the block beggins to stick I got a lot of support, I like it I feel happy and I can My back hurts, but it's good, it's good for... We are in the begining but we are moving forward This is the most difficult part, making holes This is too difficult The first time Lana is in a hole No, is not the first,no... segunda First, to build a school, we visit the community When we came to make the selection the kids were walking too much to get to the school and it was a school in bad conditions Sometimes the kids eat at 6 am and they have to begin walking right away They walk about 3 or 4 or 5 kilometers Those children throw up on the way Yes I was one, I use to wake up, take a shower, a coffee a tortilla with cheese and went out for the class I use to travel 45 minutes away from my home and I traveled for 2 years, first and second grade of primary school after that, I studied here at the house of one of the parents there I studied 3rd, 4th and 5th then I traveled again, to study the 6th, the last one from primary school after that we studied highschool in here, for 5 years I traveled daily for a year of "long week" It's about 30 minutes to go out there to that yellow thing, which is actually bean, there is where you go out on foot 30 minutes to get to the road and another 20 minutes on foot to get to the school At least, from here to the exit where we can take the bus, takes 30 minutes on foot From that point, in the bus it takes another 20 minutes We have worked in many communities with no access but, thanks to the management we make with the municipality Buil On enters the places with the need of building a school where many organization don't enter This is how Build On, you the donors, are giving a school to the community but not only a school, also a road, because now they have a road to go out to Jicaro and buy the things they need at least we use to have little paths, but no vehicles were not capable to enter if one was capable to enter it was but with too much struggle but now we have more access to transportation at least, now any need, for example a sick one, we can take him out easy also the other day we had an emergency a lady was sick, we called the ambulance and it came so, now, with this school, a little more near from their houses will imrpove thir situation, even in the walks and the infrastructure they will have a better school, a place to play they will have a good roof, with the right school for teaching Excellent! In Build On, our job is to build new structures to provide the best education for the children so we can have an engineer, a doctor from the community in the community we have smart kids they just need better education, motivate the parents to enroll the kids and we think will be building schools as long as we have the will of people like you in the United States to donate a school we are very grateful and I want to send a greeting to all those people who put a little of their effort, I say they are not here in person but they are in our hearts, the kids hearth and the community's heart thank you very much and keep supporting us To all of the sales agents that works at Listen Up Espanol And also to the ones that work in the United States, thank you for your support for coming to see what we do and I hope you keep supporting us it has been a pleasure to meet you all Angel, I want to congratulate your group, the mexicans for doing a good job have worked hard, thank you Thank you