Help Nicaraguan Parents Build 5 Rural Preschools

News from Sister Sandy, who is working to help parents build 5 preschools in the Múlukuku area, deep in the mountainous jungle areas of Nicaragua:   She is listening to the hope of the parents motivated  to build preschools for their children.  They believe in the power of preschools but lack resources for construction materials.

   The parents of preschoolers at Cristóbal Colón have finished the construction of two rooms for the sixty children that until now were sharing the second grade classroom in the primary school and a leaky storehouse.  The classrooms were finished in one month.  This week they will inaugurate the new classrooms which are still without tables or chairs.  But they say that is the least of their difficulties.  “We will find a way to solve that one way or another, but now it is time to celebrate.” 

   Visiting one of the preschools located in the town of Múlukuku I found thirty preschool children and their teacher sharing the back of the second grade classroom where another thirty children were also studying.   The noise level of the second graders drowned out the voice of the preschool teacher who is almost oblivious to the background noise and so continues helping the preschoolers color pictures of the Nicaraguan flag, bird, flower and national tree.  I talked with the teacher and the school director after class about the noise and the almost impossible task of conducting class in such an environment and they proudly showed me two small spaces where the parents had begun the construction of walls.  They were so excited because they could finally get started but they only had enough materials to get two walls built. The teachers and parents continue to hope for a real classroom.

   Meanwhile in the indigenous Mayangna territories the families of the newly constructed preschool in Kiulnawás, are struggling to repair the muddy road into the zone to be able to bring the cement for the floor of the school.  Once materials can reach the school and the floor is finished other parents will begin to build a primary multi-grade primary school in the adjoining community of Awás. Language, culture lack of paved roads, and even sufficient alimentation complicate the process.

   Santiago, our master contractor, waits anxiously for the weather to improve, and that we can raise sufficient funds.  He wants to get that call from the parents saying “all is ready for the next preschool, and we are ready to build.” 

Parents are ready because their children’s education is important, but they still lack materials to build preschools that are a necessity not a luxury.

 Sister Sandy who has her masters in Montessori and has the only Montessori Preschool in the Nicaraguan mountains, has been giving workshops to preschool teachers in the rural area of Mulkúku.  This is where the five preschools will be built in communities outside this rural town.   While she is giving the workshops she visits the parents and keeps the hope alive that together we will build the preschools that these communities need. According to Maria Montessori: “The most important period of life is not the time of university studies rather it is the first years.  The time between birth and 6 years of age.”

The parents are very anxious because they see the real need for their children, but they are also enthusiastic at the prospect of building the school.  The most enthusiastic is the Director of Cristobal Colon, preschool, he is not waiting around, he already has organized the teachers and started visiting each home of the students to form work crews of parents who will work with the master carpenter to complete the construction.  They have started preparing the ground for the preschool building. It is the rainy season in Nicaragua and the children, three, four, and five years olds are having to walk through mud puddles each morning to get to class.  There are almost 60 preschoolers who are now studying in a wooden shed with leaking roof and rotted boards for walls.  Everyone is hopeful that this new school will very soon receive the remaining funds  so they can complete the building. 

While she was visiting the community of St. Rita, she asked the parents how they were doing.  “Well it is really a big challenge for us because we know that we do not have the economic resources to build the school and each day we see our kids sadder because we don’t have a decent place for them to study.” The children are trying hard to understand their first experience of school by sharing a tiny primary school that is  already overcrowded.  The preschoolers have no place to display their drawings or to keep their toys and supplies without those disappearing. The school belongs to the bigger kids and so they have no space of their own. The parents fear that this will turn their children off to going to school. We continue to try to keep them motivated saying, “We will soon have a good place for you to study.” 

“What we do in preschool is give every child the chance to satisfy his/hers potential to become an independent, secure and balanced person.”  These words of Maria Montessori are what these parents want for their children, but they do not have the means without a school building. Sandy’s visit motivates the parents as the told her, “Now we are really contented that you are working with us to find a way to build a school that will belong to our children and they will have a secure place to learn and play.” 

So now that the rainy season is starting in Nicaragua the parents have to double down on motivating their children to attend preschool in less than decent conditions, but they have hope that they can soon start building their own schools. The parents themselves will do the work but this can only happen if they have the materials to build with and that is where we all come in by funding these five preschools. It is a proven fact that early intervention in education makes all the difference for the students. “Do you realize that from the time of conception to four years of age individuals develop 50% of their intelligence.  Between 4 and 8 years of age they develop 30% more and from 8 years on they develop the other 20%.” Maria Montessori.