Every group of StoveTeam volunteers helps at a factory or helps in the local community. On this trip we were asked to help by painting a new preschool in the community of La Cieneguita near our new factory.
La Cieneguita was very anxious to have a school for their children located closer to home. However, the community is located outside of San Miguel de Allende, and there is no governmental support for a school building. Thus, the community gathered together and built the school themselves.
Then they had to find a teacher. Again, as they are located outside of San Miguel de Allende near the town of Cieniguitas, there was no government funding for a teacher's salary. The community again found a solution.
They found a local community organization to pay for the teacher's salary. Since the salary is meager, the teacher comes on Monday and stays with a different family each night to save on transportation costs. Collectively the community is paying her lodging and meals to show their support for their childrens' education. This has been working well, and recently they decided to build a preschool.
They have worked on this project for a year and a half, and now the school has been completed and painted inside and out. The outside is painted in good Oregon Duck colors - yellow and green-by our StoveTeam volunteers. Now it's just a matter of finding another teacher, but knowing the community of La Cieneguita, they'll find a solution.
Each day for about a week, volunteers will visit El Tigre to conduct