Sister Beania´s choice:
The last time Sister Beania organized the building of a school, she worked with an engineer. He slowed the entire process by not purchasing materials, not supervising and taking money even when he did not work. That was the school in El Pley. Not this time around! Faced with the difficult goal of building a school in El Toro, sister Beania went with a master builder and his team from Ojeda. Since she is from Ojeda, and knew the family, this choice had strong elements to it. Now we see the results!
Speed:
As soon as the Spanish municipality handed over the initial funds for the school (8 thousand euros), Sister Beania went to work organizing the logistics of purchasing and then sending all of the materials up the mountains. It takes an hour and a half of careful, slow driving in a 4x4 to reach El Toro. When the materials for each phase were ready, the building team went up the mountain and stayed with the project overnight. They returned to town on the weekends. This way they advanced at a speed that is incredible for this area.
Crisis:
Every major intervention in a small community usually produces a crisis. This time the local farmers say the lack of support from the Haitian families in the school area has been the major setback. We have no one on hand who has interviewed the Haitian families to get their side of the story, so one can only guess as to what has happened: when the work dries up, the Haitian families have to move to another zone. They own no property and have no cash flow. They rarely own animals since that would require permission to grow them on someone else´s land. If the area around El Toro has little work for sustenance, then the Haitian families will be on the move. Another factor is the lack of birth certificates for higher education. The immigrant children can only attend a few grades without a birth certificate. But that document is very hard for them to obtain since proof of birth in the Dominican Republic and of legal residence continues to be a thorny problem.
School shelter:
This school will provide shelter in the face of strong storms and hurricanes. Other structures in the area offer little protection. The children in the pictures will learn to run for the school when a huge storm approaches. They will huddle inside its strong walls as the wind howls and the rains pound upon the cement roof. How beautiful is the gift of shelter.
