The North Carolina Peace Corps Association "Bringing the World Back Home"
As the “Youth Environmental Empowerment” project comes to a close, the community of El Tejar and I would like to take this opportunity to thank you deeply for your generous contribution, which made our plans into a reality. Thanks to you, and to a community-wide effort from teachers, parents, and many students, El Tejar now has strong new waste barrels with environmentally-themed designs placed throughout the school and along the main road.
In a country known for its happy compliance for putting things off until tomorrow, I was surprised by how efficiently the project went! The school staff planned out each step, even adding additional ideas of bargaining and borrowing some materials so that other parts (like lids for certain barrels) could be fit into the budget. Even the adult environmental group, which normally depends on having a PCV present for guidance, took care of the entirety of the barrel placement (digging holes and cementing the barrels in place) in the main street: I was busy that day, picking up my mother, father, and brother at the airport as they came to visit El Salvador for the first time! My mother and father live in NC, and have never left the US, so it was a very exciting experience.
The most fun was handing off the paint to the students and watching the artists take over. It was wonderful to be able to give them a chance to participate fully and creatively in an environmental project of permanence.
Thank you again for funding this project. It will, without doubt, positively affect our community for years to come, and without you, none of this would have been possible
Sincerely, Nicole Wooten PCV – Environmental Education El Salvador & The Community of El Tejar
