Construction of the Classroom Begins !

We Made It !!! Thanks to all of your donations to my PCPP (Peace Corp Partnership Program) Project we have been able to raise over $4,700 for the classroom to be built in my community. I really appreciate all of the support which I have received and we are currently in the midst of making this project a reality.

In Mid February we were able to meet our PCPP donation goal, as well received another grant which we were applying for through CR-USA (Costa Rica United States) Foundation for another $3,500. We have thus raised over $8,200 dollars for the classroom for my community.

Construction is well on it its way and has begun in early March. We have been working for just about over a week on the project and things have been moving very fast.

The first stage required us to clear the land where the classroom was to be built on. We executed this with the help of a local community member and his tractor. He came with the tractor leveled the land and created a path through the back of the school for the material trucks to come and drop off supplies for the school.

The second stage which we completed 2 days ago consisted of constructing the outer cement shell or walls of the classroom. This classroom is considered “pre fabricated” and thus is easier to build then lining up cement blocks one buy one to create a wall. This method uses posts where we then slide giant slabs of cement between them to create the wall. So the past couple days we have been digging the holes for all the posts, lining up the posts properly, making tons of measurement to ensure perfect alignment, and then sliding the very heavy cement slabs between the posts to create the outer wall of the classroom. This has been a particularly physical part of the construction phase as we have to dig very deep holes for the posts and also align the cement slabs perfectly between the posts.

Currently we are at the point where we are sitting up the metal beam framework for the roof. We are welding metal beams to the cement base and creating a network of beams which will support the Zinc sheets which will then be secured in place to create the roof.

After the roof is in place we need to lay cement all over the walls to create a smooth surface which will join the different cement slabs into one unified wall. After that is laying cement to create the floor, lay down ceramic tiles, install the ceiling panels so we don’t see the zinc sheets and metal framework, painting everything, and then installing the electrical system.

Overall I am very surprised with the rate at which the construction is going. We are receiving a lot of support from the community and all of the children and teachers are of course very excited to see where they will be learning and teaching in the coming years.

I cannot believe that my Peace Corps experience here in Costa Rica is coming to an end, as I have been living, breathing, eating, and speaking Peace Corps for the past 2 years straight but I am extremely happy that this necessary project will very soon be completed for the community. Many years down the line I look forward to coming back to my small rural community and seeing the fruits of my labor and your generous donations still benefiting the community, and improving their quality of life.

Thanks you again for all of your support, this is a true example of people coming together donating money and immediately seeing a positive impact in the lives of many different people. I thank you for believing in me and trusting in me to complete this project with your money.

Anyways that is the situation as of right now. Check out the pictures of the whole process for the past 2 weeks as these will surely give you a greater idea of how this project is coming together. I will be posting more info throughout the coming weeks to show you more of the process of the construction.

Thanks everyone! Tuanis.

Link for Pictures : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2545306&id=2206209&l=38f68130f3