The Walls Must Go Up

In preparation for graduation, we have begun rebuilding the school’s front walls. It is an annual tradition to paint the names of the graduating students on this wall. The scroll of names remains for the entire year until the next class graduates. Work will be complete enough by graduation to prepare a portion of the wall with a smooth coat of cement for the names. 

These walls are the next step in the rebuilding/rehab of the campus. Funds have already been donated specifically to repair the campus walls--we are working on the campaign to raise the funds for the building repairs which will take a lot more time and money--and will be a bit trickier to execute. The playground wall along the back of the property is also under construction. More on the special work that will be done on that wall will come in a future update. In all, we have 5 wall projects to complete. 

Each time we embark on a construction project, I am reminded that changing the future of a under-developed, disadvantaged country involves a lot of hard human labor. There are no purely intellectual solutions. Whether it is environmental cleanup or expanding educational opportunities, all change for the better requires hard, physical labor. There is no way around it. To keep that in mind, I take a turn at the shovel whenever possible. It keeps me from coming up with big ideas with no legs to support them. Although at 45, my legs are starting to get a bit shaky.

We also make sure all students and staff members take a turn as well. Constantly elevating work prevents it from being thought of in a classicist or predestined manner. To this end, our need to build again does provide an opportunity to strengthen our community through manifestation of our charism. 

On the lighter side, we have finished our second house! Thanks to the hard work of the Maintenance Group led by Patrick Faustin (LCS Head of Maintenance) and the Santo Trash Company led by Angelo Solomon, we have completed Martine's house, which consists of one bedroom, living room, bathroom and kitchen. We had a head start on this house as Martine had already arranged for the foundation. Martine had been a cook at LCS for 10 years.

We have also started work on the temporary classrooms, four of which will be built to start, in hopes of being able to save a bit of the soccer field for gym and afternoon sport. Recovery funds are being dedicated to this effort. The temporary classrooms will be made out of wood, and so should work much better than the tents--which are a bit hot to say the least. The material from these temporary classrooms will eventually be used in additional house construciton after we no longer need the classrooms. As of now, it looks like we will need these classrooms at least until the end of the first semester of 2010-2011. 

This morning, my wife Christina took her sewing trainees to job interviews. It was a bit of sunshine on a rather cloudy day to see all the men and women dressed in their best, heading off to a certified (meeting international labor standards) textile factory. Several of the trainees have been offered jobs. We will see what happens next. The group spent the last two weeks in intensive training learning how to make our school uniforms. Nicole, the head of the school kitchen, provided this training. She is a talented woman to be sure. 

We will finish the Rheto (12^th Grade) and Philo (13^th Grade) class exams this week, and school will end for them on Friday. After graduation, they will return for special exam prep for the national baccalaureate exam. The younger children will finish at the end of June.

We have not forgotten the loss of lives on January 12th. Thankfully, however, it is turning out to be a very good year for our students all in all. We pray that things can be sorted out for those in the camps. Many LCS graduates are certainly working toward that goal.  

Peace,

Patrick