The new High School in El Pital has made incredible progress; the second phase is just about finished with only small details required before classes can be held in the new three-classroom building.  We’ve run into obstacles with the price of building materials constantly rising, although, the Director/contractor has found ways to cut costs and finish the project on budget. 

Community participation with this project is necessary in order for the funding to come through so the Transparency Committee, whose job is to make sure money is being spent wisely, has also made it a priority to organize the people of El Pital and the surrounding communities to donate labor to the school.  On August 8th, 45 people from the community came out and volunteered their time from 5am to 6pm in order to lay the roof.  

With the recent additions to the High School the number of students have increased, leading the Ministry of Education to allocate funds for more teachers and for the formation of a career specific education (trade school).  Students at the High School will now have the opportunity to learn many skills that were previously only offered in the city of La Ceiba.  Classes offered at the school include electrical engineering, carpentry, metallurgy, computer literacy and home education. 

Following the completion of the first phase of the project the Departmental Chair for the Ministry of Education came out to the community of El Pital to inaugurate the formation of the trade school.  The town of El Pital and surrounding communities are excited for the improved educational system in the Cangrejal River Watershed. 

We’ve had a busy couple of months, during April and May; we worked hard on a community survey to assess the needs in the towns of El Pital and La Lucinda.  We surveyed every single house in both communities, gathering census, needs, and assets data, a task no other local organization had ever done.  Visiting every house in El Pital was a fun but daunting task.  Many people were so welcoming and forth-giving with information, which sometimes made it difficult to leave. 

   Mapping El Pital with local kids to prepare for implementing survey

We’re compiling the data as I write this, so keep an eye out in the near future for the results on our website.  Once we obtain GIS (Geographical Information Systems) software we plan on mapping the areas of assessment.  We feel that this information will be beneficial when applying for grants and when writing reports on the work we do.  We plan on surveying one more community before the year is over and three in the coming year.  With these results we plan on developing programs in the villages farther up and down the valley based on the needs identified by each community.  

Rob Tuebner, Un Mundo Co-Director

It’s been seven months since Elly and I arrived in Honduras to begin working in the Cangrejal Watershed.  During our time here we’ve witnessed many changes to the Un Mundo building, we’ve had some set backs but we’ve also had some pleasant surprises.  Our next major project is constructing a retaining wall below the building so that when the rains come in October all the hard work will not be destroyed.

The building looks great though, the interior is painted, there’s a full kitchen, a composting toilet, an outdoor shower, an office and the most recent addition was a much needed fan. 

Getting electricity connected to the house was difficult to say the least, but after hassling the electrical company and having to deal with the bureaucratic paperwork, a team finally came out and connected us to the grid.  The new high school students who recently began their electricity program have been kind enough to come out on their Saturdays and donate their time to wire the inside of the building.  

Now with the building is pretty much finished and our lives some what in order, we’ve been able to concentrate on much more important issues around the work Un Mundo does in the River Valley.

Rob Tuebner, Un Mundo Co-Director

Once the Un Mundo building is finished and we will be in El Pital full-time, we plan on beginning our entry into the community by going door to door to meet each family and conduct an informal survey while introducing ourselves.  We hope to gather information on who and where everyone lives and what their main concerns and needs are.  We recently meet with some local youth who are receiving a local scholarship to attend universities in La Ceiba.  As a part of their scholarships, they are required to conduct community service projects, therefore, they will be volunteering with Un Mundo to assist with this community assessment.  We hope that this initial involvement will generate greater project leadership amongst these youth as it becomes clearer what projects we will focus on for the year.