Sisters need school supplies

My neighbors

Nahima and Yare school fund

I'm going to help but need help helping. Both need backpacks (mochilas) and the older needs lots of notebooks. Nahima just graduated from Kinder so needs a first grade uniform and shoes. Yare needs another uniform after two years. Both Yare and Nahima are doing well in school

One more week of school

Last year summer vacation

For most the last day is next Thursday and then Melaque will fill up. Parts of the almost two months will be as busy as Semana Santa. Nahima is really looking forward to it because in the Fall she will enter first grade and can walk to school rather than riding a bike with mom to Jaluco.

Mexican Rodeo Party in Villa Obregon

Mexican Rodeo Party coming up this Saturday (Feb 13) in Villa Obregon! Tickets are 250 pesos and proceeds go to support a new charro (horsemanship) school opening in Melaque. This will be a fantastic display of traditional Mexican horsemanship and cowboy skills, featuring talented men & women (google "escaramuza") and their beautiful horses from around Jalisco. Tickets can be purchased at Beto the vet in Melaque.

CAM Fund Raiser tomorrow in Villa Obregon

Event on Alvaro Obregon near Villas Camino del Mar.  Starts at 4PM with a 60 peso entrance. Great event that helps support CAM (Centro de Atención Múltiple), a school in Barra de Navidad for kids with special needs.

Last week of Summer Vacation

Melaque beach from Sirenitas

Just about a week left of Summer Vacation though all schools don't start at the same time. Prepa (high school) starts before Secondaria and Kinder after that. Tourism has been good this summer even seeing a number of young Gringos on vacation. Start up the school bus again.

CAM Special Needs School Fundraiser

January 23rd at 3PM there will be a live auction, artistic performances by the students of CAM, food and much more. Entry is 60 pesos. Really a great school with great teachers and administration. Alvaro Obregon near Villas Camino del Mar, Villa Obregon, Melaque

Melaque new Secondaria

This week is sign up for first year kids at the new Secondaria so we took Yari and we got our first good look. Very nice and definitely will be ready for the coming school year. Two large 2 story buildings and 4-5 smaller single story. I thought the overall property was much smaller but there is a full sized basketball court, a large tree lined drainage canal that looks like a stream, a huge open space in the direction of the highway for a soccer field and a very large "parade ground" for the 'marchando' they like to do. There is also a ramp for wheelchairs or disabled on the Melaque entrance.

Looking down from the largest building

Future campo de futbol

Stairs

Parade ground

San Patricio Secondaria

I got about 5 not very good pictures of current school construction and decided on these two.  Basically there are two very large classroom buildings and four smaller buildings. They all have roofs, floors and 3/4's of them are painted. Windows and doors are in all but the last large one below.   Both Yari and Euriel are excited that the new school may be ready for them next Fall.

New Secondaria construction

Stopped by to check out the new school construction and they are sinking pilings for the foundation. The holes are 6 meters deep with a large 'tube' of re-bar down the middle later to be filled with cement. The old play field was over a meter higher than the old school but they have added another meter of crushed rock on top of that to avoid any chance of flooding. Much more work to go but they haven't stopped for the last month. Hope the money hold out.

Secondary School Fundraiser

Construction has already started on the new site directly behind the old school but with a meter or two higher elevation. The main problem with the old school was flooding, but it's also getting tired and is too small for the current population. The construction has Federal, State and Municipal funding but your contribution will help San Patricio/Melaque fulfill it's portion of the project. 100 pesos for dinner and entertainment and it helps the school. March 5th at 5PM.

CAM Benefit and school fotos

Here's some fotos of the CAM (Centro de Atención Múltiple) School in Barra de Navidad where I have been every Friday with a kid for his physical therapy. The exercise pool below was donated by the local Rotary group and will be inaugurated next week along with the benefit. A very good school and worthy cause.  The school is located about 3 blocks past the pavement on Nueva Espana behind the primary school on the right.

Everyone is invited to attend the 4rd Annual Benefit Event for CAM Cihuatlán. This event, which supports local handicapped children will be held at Restaurant Esmeralda in Melaque on January 25th. 2013 starting at 4:00pm. Come out to enjoy delicious food, live music, dancing, auction and much more. Tickets are only $60 pesos and available at these locations.

Barra de Navidad: Hotel Alondra, CAM Cihuatlán
San Patricio - Melaque: Mex-Eco Tours, Restaurant Esmeralda

The school

Lunch and meeting area

The new exercise pool

CamCihuatlan.org

Another video of the indigenous school in Pinal Villa

La Escuela #3 - Overview of indigenous school, medical, housing, and music event. This school is just outside Melaque Jalisco on the Costalegre.

Pinal Villa school for migrant kids

Nice video of the migrant school project in Pinal Villa

Children, who work all day in the fields near Melaque, Mexico, go to school for a couple of hours in the evening. They are driven to and from the school by John LaPointe. In this clip, musician Miguel visits the kids to sing and teach guitar.

Villa Pinal Primary School

A group in the Melaque area that doesn't seem to need to broadcast it's good deeds to the Gringo community is San Patricio by the Sea, an interdenominational church located bewteen San Particio and Villa Obregon. This project particularly interested me because this school is about three blocks from the house I'm building in Pinal Villa. A link to their web site is below if you want to look further into their projects.

Villa Pinal Primary School:

The Community Support Fund task force, with church board approval, agreed to take on the 4 priorities that the 3 teachers at the school determined to be of high priority:

1. A consistent water supply. A new water pump was installed by the principal and a teacher

2. Ceiling fans for one of the classrooms. A new ceiling fan was installed

3. Paint for the existing classrooms. Paint was purchased and the actual painting was done by volunteers from the community

4. Improvements to the open, tin-roof, cardboard walled "classroom".

The task force and church board deemed the classroom unsuitable for repair and recommended replacing it with a new classroom.

Preparations, plans and permits made with the approval of educational authorities led to the building of a concrete, post and beam classroom, with a reinforced roof which will allow for a second story classroom at a future date.

Original classroom

Building the new one

Offical opening

Inside new classroom

Kids lined up for inauguration 
San Patricio by the Sea