La vida es como una caja de chocolates: School Construction Underway

Hey guys! On Tuesday we broke ground on the "Bottle School" we are building in Chilasco! (see post:http://agbrindisi.blogspot.com/2010/03/lets-talk-about-education-and-stuff.html for more info on what this project is all about.) I will try and load quick updates periodically throughout the process.

As the frame of the school quickly comes together you can feel the energy in the town rising. Just a few days into construction and we are already way ahead of schedule do to an outpouring of support from the community. A local association, ADESOCHI (The Association for the Sustainable Development of Chilasco) has been tremendously helpful. This grassroots organization of local leaders manages the tourism project in Chilasco. A brisk 3 km hike outside of town brings you to one of the tallest waterfalls in Central America, El Salto de Chilasco. ADESOCHI works hard to build infrastructure, train the community and promote tourism on an international level in order to bring new income streams into the town and help to raise its standard of living. They have also been helping to manage this project from day one. They are helping to coordinate the collection of bottles, oversee the construction, and are pitching in what they can to help cover extra expenses that arise throughout the process.

As the masons and welders do their job, each day we are working with a different classroom to get them ready for their part. We are giving more environmental education lessons, taking hikes out into the wilderness surrounding the community to clean up the trash that has been marring the landscape for years and stuffing the last couple thousand bottles. Like watching a flower bloom in the springtime,you can see the belief in the project change from hesitant skepticism to hopeful belief. Everyone is very excited and already starting to think forward about the other possibilities this inventive construction can bring. "When you open up your mind and you work with your heart", I tell them, "the possibilities are limitless!"

Cheers to Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation,

Tony Brindisi

Don Tono giving a tour of the schoolyard to Molly as some curious kids follow us around.

Everyone pitching in to help unload the construction materials.

Bennett doing his part!

Juan dropping off another load of sand at the construction site.

The frame of the school quickly rising out of the earth.

Don Tono hauling sand to the construction site. A quick note on this: I believe the first and best step in being a leader is setting the example. With this in mind I took it upon myself to do the most strenuous part of the labor in the first couple of days. In two days I hauled about 100 wheelbarrows the 3 country blocks from the house we bought them from to the school. Not only was the whole town talking about what a hard worker Don Tono is ("don't you get tired?" I was asked many times), but it set the pace and work ethic for everyone else involved in the project.

One of the private schools from the capital got involved and saved a huge truckload of bottles for us. With Siggy's help we brought them up to Chilasco and even did some artisan training to boot. This is me and Ash, one of the teachers that helped organize her school's contribution.