Project Type: Elementary School Construction
Date Begun: March 1, 2011
Date Completed: August 22, 2011
Cost: $35,000
Community Name: Martillo, Nicaragua
School Name: Escuela Los Cien Amigos
Latitude: 12.958599°
Longitude: -85.242106°
In 2011, the community of Martillo, Nicaragua and Project Schoolhouse collaborated to construct a new two-room school. Their previous school had major flooding issues. After every rain, water would run across the floor of the school coating it in an inch of mud. The students would halt classes and proceed to wash the floor clean with water they had to haul a quarter mile from a river. Because of the constant flow of water inside the school, the entire structure was rotten and falling down.
The existing school site was unsuitable for a new construction and so a land swap was negotiated with a community member and the new school was situated further uphill on a larger and more level piece of ground.
Project Schoolhouse had constructed a community wide water system the previous year, so water was already available in the new construction area.
The new school is secure, well-lit, and dry, like all of our schools. Currently, three students from this school receive scholarships from Project Schoolhouse and are attending secondary school in nearby Rio Blanco.