Summer 2023, News from the Jungle: Health center walls, Starlink, life in the Amazon, and school in Macedonia

We give a warm thank you to every one of our sponsors and donors. Without their help, our progress in supporting the students of La Libertad and their families would not have been possible!

Please enjoy these updates from our work during the past six months.  We will be returning to the village during July and August of 2023.

Larry, our contractor, with Ben, the project director.

HEALTH CARE CENTER WORK CONTINUES

This August 2023, we plan to plaster the walls.

We have built the walls of our health care center.  It was more difficult than planned.  A high inflation rate added at least 25% to our costs.  The low level of the river made transportation difficult.  Finding a reliable mason was a challenge.  And now, the story.

Moving 1,300 brick construction blocks was very labor intensive.  After ordering the bricks at the business of Bom Jesus across the shared border of Tabating... READ MORE 

STARLINK INTERNET IN THE COMMUNITY

Starlink unboxing.

At last, we have internet connectivity.  This will allow us to connect to the outside world for education, employment, and emergencies and to keep in touch with family and friends.

After six months of being unable to sign up for the service, they finally solved the problems and sent us the equipment.  It arrived well-packed.  After a two-week setup and test in Leticia, we brought it to the village of La Libertad...  READ MORE

THE DANGERS OF RIVER TRAVEL

Passing through a floating debris zone.

In January, the river was rising.  The river may rise by up to 25 feet between its lowest (dry season) and highest (rainy season).  We had just taken our boat out of storage and traveled to Leticia to resupply.

It had been raining for the past three days.  The river was rising rapidly.  When it rises, vegetation, sticks, and logs along the river banks and tributaries are carried downriver with the current.  Depending on the current, it collects into dense patches in some places.  We always drive more slowly through these zones. READ MORE

PHOTOS OF DAILY LIFE IN THE AMAZON

Cookies!

After our more intense blog posts about the project, we decided to have pictures of things we see in our daily life around the Amazon.  SEE MORE

STUDENT SCHOLARSHIPS

We are pleased to have presented 37 scholarships this year!  Each scholarship, $130/year, allows the students to buy the basic necessities they need to attend school.

We currently have 13 students on the waiting list for scholarships.  To learn more about the program, please visit our website.

 

THE SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM AND PROBLEMS IN MACEDONIA

One of our Macedonian students.

A third of our scholarship students are in the upper grades of school.  But they have no good, consistent school to attend.  Many of the students are leaving school.  This is for three main reasons.  1) Problems with the school construction in Macedonia.  2) The need to provide for themselves and their family.  3) The need to be occupied with something.

When a student who has received a scholarship from a sponsor leaves school, we try to convince the student that this is only temporary.  The scholarship is then temporarily passed to a younger sibling or cousin studying in the village of La Libertad.  When the construction in Macedonia is finished and full-time school resumes, we hope they will return to school.

We encourage the sponsors to stay with their students (and the temporary alternate family member) until they return to school.  READ MORE

CRAFT FAIRS

To raise funds, we attended two craft fairs this spring.  One in Seasport, Maine, and the other in the project's hometown, Thomaston, Maine.  We sold handcrafts from the village and Colombian emerald jewelry.  Thank you, Dianne!

The first fair was at Searsport Elementary School.

And last, a couple of photos of the city

Aerial shot of the Port of Leticia

Night at Parque Santander in Leticia.

To sponsor a student or to help us with our work, please visit the link:

https://amazonpueblo.org/give/

Thank you!

Our scholarship program and the Macedonia school problems.

A third of our scholarship students are in the upper grades of school.  But they have no good, consistent school to attend.  Many of the students are leaving school.  This is for three main reasons.  1) Problems with the school construction in Macedonia.  2) The need to provide for themselves and their family.  3) The need to be occupied with something.

It is the decision of the students to do what they must do.  We are supportive of their decisions.  We understand the pressures which they face.  We strongly encourage them to return to school when the construction of the Macedonian school is complete.

One of our Macedonia students.

When a student who has received a scholarship from a sponsor leaves school, we try to convince the student that this is only temporary.  The scholarship is then temporarily passed to a younger sibling or cousin studying in the village of La Libertad.  When the construction in Macedonia is finished and full-time school resumes, we hope they will return to school.

We encourage the sponsors to stay with their students (and the temporary alternate family member) until they return to school.

School Problems in Macedonia

The school in Macedonia is under construction.  Half of the classrooms were demolished in 2019.  The demolition and construction were supposed to start simultaneously, with the buildings finished in 2020.  The company then filed for bankruptcy.  Then Covid hit.  As of Spring 2022, no construction had started.  A lawsuit was brought by the people of Macedonia.  Our project helped with spreading the news in the Amazon with social media.

After much effort, construction on the school resumed in late 2022.

The village sign in the port of Macedonia.

During the construction, many students have school only two days a week.  Sometimes, due to lack of gasoline or teachers, not even that.  Many days, after waiting over 1 1/2 hours (sometimes in driving rain and always with biting insects), the school boat does not pick them up.  Our students are frustrated.

School shopping with two of our students.

The Need to Provide

Our students' families live in extreme poverty.  When one of our students works in Peru, there is one less child to feed and cloth.  At best, a working child provides money for the household to buy food, clothes, and other essential needs.

Many of our upper school students have gone to work in cultivation in Peru.  The money they earn goes a long way to provide the necessities they and their families must have.

Working in the cultivations of Peru.

The Need to be Occupied

They have little to do around the house on their non-school days (after fishing, collecting wood, or tending small cultivations).  

The parents have told us they don't want their children wandering around the village unoccupied, getting into trouble, hanging around older kids who are out of school, drinking, and smoking.

Our project does not want or encourage the students to work in Peru.  However, we do recognize the reality of their situation.

School Construction in Macedonia

These pictures are from the Spring of 2023.  The work has progressed further from what is shown.  The school is expected to be ready in early 2024, depending on the rain and the river level.  The building supplies cannot be transported if the river is too low.  When the rain is too heavy, work is suspended.

Work on the new school begins.

In the port of Macedonia in front of the new school.

The land is being cleared and prepared.

The beams are going up.

Thank you very much to our sponsors for this and previous years' scholarships and all our donors who have made our work possible!

Would you like to sponsor a student or help with another area of our programs?  If so, thank you!  Please follow the link below:

https://amazonpueblo.org/give/