Building Schools around the World

From a small, simple office in Valencia’s Calle Clariano small, simple projects of great human value are brought to fruition by Miguel Angel Mora, Valencian co-ordinator of FERE’s co-operation and development team, who for several years have been helping to build schools all over the world in places where they are most needed.

India, Columbia, Albania, Benin and Morocco are just a few of the countries that have gained from the religious schools federation’s determination to ensure that education reaches the neediest.

This year two schemes have been approved with financial support from the Valencian regional government, which will soon see new schools being run in Peru and Ecuador.

The scheme in Peru is already underway (see photo) and is the brainchild of a Spanish priest based in Hualmay in the province of Huacho. Father Juan Salvador has provided the land for a new school which will raise the local schooling age from the present 6 years of age to 16 by March 2011.

Hualmay is an extremely poor town with a population of 26,000 people, whose new school will consist of 3,000 square metres on three storeys with 28 classrooms, sports facilities and a swimming pool. The pool is not a luxury but a life saver, as many of coastal Hualmay’s children have been drowned in the past because they hadn’t learnt to swim.

The project in Ecuador consists of expanding an existing school with an extra three classrooms, an IT room and science labs. The present school population will consequently increase from 210 to 300.

This will be built in Imbabura, under the auspices of the Daughters of Charity religious order, and is hoped to be ready by August 2010.

Miguel Angel commented to Valencia International & Business News that there will probably be a further project for a school in Bolivia next year, despite the economic crisis.