Help Mountainside School Fight Illiteracy

Bonswa GlobalGiving Community!

We hope this report finds you well. For the last 12 years, our Mountainside Partner Community has battled against an earthquake and multiple hurricanes destroying three temporary school shelters to ensure the children within the community could have access to consistent, quality education. Prior to the establishment of the Saul Louis Community School, the children living in the mountainside community had to travel almost two hours down the mountain, braving rough terrain and the dangers of city life on their own, to attend school. Due to these arduous conditions, the Peasant Association leadership established the Saul Louis Community School on the mountain to mitigate travel time and ensure the safety of the children.

The 2010 earthquake destroyed the makeshift school. Through the mountainside community’s partnership with C2C, the community constructed a temporary shelter to house the school to ensure the children could continue their education. The temporary school shelter consisted of wooden poles and tarps, to provide shade and protection from the sun and other natural elements. As hurricane season occurs yearly from June to November, and with the strong gale force winds of four hurricanes in particular, the three temporary school shelters constructed, were repeatedly destroyed. With the inconsistency of attaining large amounts of funding for the community to construct a permanent school building, there have been many ups and downs in providing consistent and quality education to the children. However, C2C and the Peasant Association remained determined and steadfast toward the end goal of a permanent school building.

When the Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020, work on C2C’s project initiatives paused, but our first-time donors and C2C Neighbors’ (monthly donors) support did not waver. Thanks to their continuous financial support, we were able to raise the funds needed for our Mountainside Partner Community to break ground on building the multifunctional permanent school building in December 2021. During the first six months of 2022, the community constructed the building, see pics below, that currently operates as the Saul Louis Community School during the day, a vocational school at night, a church on Sundays, and will act as a shelter during hurricanes and other emergencies!

This permanent building was a long time coming and has brought much joy to the community, as they now have a permanent and safe place to come together. The structure is designed to be earthquake and hurricane resistant. Although this is a huge feat, there is still more work to be done! We now need to equip this building with the proper school equipment (i.e. desks, chairs, whiteboards, and other school supplies) to allow these children to truly thrive during their educational pursuits. To date, the Saul Louis Community School has educated over 3286 children who will be future doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers, midwives, musicians, chefs, agronomists, and nurses within this thriving mountainside community.