29 Jul Candelaria (phase II)
Candelaria is a small town of approximately 500 people, just about 3 miles outside the municipality of San Martín Jilotepeque. The people of this community are largely engaged in agriculture and dairy farming. The community takes the name of a virgin called The Virgin of Candelaria, who is celebrated on February 2 each year.
Before construction can be started on new classrooms, a contention wall must be built. When Hug It Forward worked with the community of Candelaria in their first phase of building bottle classrooms, the kindergarten students did not have a classroom. Instead, these children were using a small shed attached to the principal’s office which was not a comfortable environment for both the children and the teacher. The lack of classrooms in Candelaria caused students, like the 4th graders, to be put into one room, teachers were dealing with overcrowded classes. At that time, the kitchen was also being used for storage, not allowing the kitchen to have proper cooking conditions for all the meals served to students.
The second phase of two additional bottle classrooms will benefit 6 teachers, 157 students and Candelaria’s growing population. Some elementary school children were still having classes held in very limited spaces like a long narrow, and dark hallway. With new classrooms, this elementary school will not only have safe, spacious classrooms, but also will be able to address the issue of overcrowded grade levels.
Elementary School
Population (approximately): 125
Construction Started: February 3, 2016
Classrooms: 2
Bottle School: 75