February Project

UPDATE- April 18  2008!!!

Building a School in Santa Cruz de Yojoa- 2008

The seven room building was started in late January 2008. Plymouth Rotarians Tom Kennendy and Russ Jones were there to get things started in January. They organized efforts to dig out the massive plot for the school buidling and also to get the footings in for the new 12 stall bathroom. They even had to coordinate the movement of a small  Pepsi buidling that sells snacks, drinks, and soda to the local families.  Their efforts were the starting point for what is becoming an enormous Rotary project. They had to work through the locals and mayor to accomplish all that needed to be done...in a week. The entire plot had to be dug down and leveled. The land where the bathroom is being built also had to have several trees removed and the land leveled and the footings set. A large back hoe was given by the local Mayor to move the massive amounts of earth to level the grounds. More pictures of the beginning excavation and construction that took place in late January can be found HERE.

After all the work in clearing the land and moving the trees, it was time to start the construction and to make the steel. To build a block building in Honduras, there is a need for a large amount of steel rebar to add additional support. Thi support is in place to help the structure during severe weather like huricanes and earthquakes. 

Rick Perry of the Romulus Rotary Club arrived in Honduras on Feb 10, 2008. Rick showed up by himself with his tools and very little (actually NONE) spanish.  When he arrived the contractor and work crew asked what Rick wanted to do.  Through a translator, Rick explained that he had come to work. They asked, did he want to paint or something. Rick said, "No, I came to work!" So from that time on, Rick gained the repect of all the Honduran workers by working non-stop. The contractor and foreman spoke no english and Rick spoke no spanish, but regardless, they were able to communicate with each other and began a great working team. Rick was set to cutting and tying steel and became the steel tying guru. In this time he formed a bond with the work crew. For almost 5 days, Rick worked on twisting, cutting, moving, and tying steel rebar. The steel structures are important to the construction. And even though Rick works consistently and quickly, there was no end in sight for how much steel needed to be made. Each 20 foot steel structure each required 44 hand-bent steel square supports to be hand tied at all four corners. There were more than 100 steel structures needed for the school building and the bathrooms. Needless to say, Rick was relieved to get some help on Friday, February 15. During this same time, construction started on the land to prepare for the school. The land was cleaned up and the school rooms were "scratched out." All six classrooms were dug out (mostly by han with shovels and wheel barrels). Some initial cement footings were poured and the building construction began.

On Friday, a large wave of District 6400 Rotarians arrived in Honduras. Joe Diaz , the mayor of Carleton, Michigan, along with son William Diaz arrived at the work site in Santa Cruz around 3:00pm. In addition, Garden City Rotarians Steve Kelly and Jack Pelon along with Jack's wife Pam Pelon arrived around the same time. They started working with Rick and the contractors immediately, despite the fact that only HALF of their luggage made it. Chris Hardy and Brian Oakley from the Romulus Rotary Club along with past District Governor Dave Carpenter from the Wayne Rotary club arrived on the work site around 4:30pm. They arrive just in time to dig a few holes and bust a few boulders.  For the remainder of Friday and through Saturday and Sunday, the new District 6400 work crew were set to either moving dirt or tying steel. Saturday and Sunday the "sun crew" had to move all the dirt that in the school rooms out of the rooms to make them level. The other group, called the "shade crew" (compliments of a large palm tree) worked on cutting and tying steel.  In addition, more Rotarians from District 6400 arrived in Honduras and made their way to the work site. Rotarians Harlan Whichello from Romulus, Mary and Pat Kehoe from Carleton, John and Lois VanStipdonk from Wayne, Peggy Sexton from Garden City, JayLee Lynch from Wayne, Dave and Kathy Flavin from Maine, and Tom and Janice Kennedy from Plymouth came out to the work site and helped in the sun and in the shade. For pictures documenting all of this click HERE!