Estancia Fundraiser – Bills, Bills, Bills.

There has been a lot of drama at the Estancia lately which I will try to sum up. To gloss over everything, we have a new teacher for the lower grades (the upper grades' teacher is thankfully still with us) and a new cook. I haven't gotten to know the new teacher very well but she seems to be working well with the students and has been very cooperative on Estancia projects. The new cook is fantastic. She is an older woman with lot of life experience. She responds very well to the children and has been a natural authority figure. In addition, she worked at a nursing home for years, so she has experience cooking for many people. All this has made the transition very easy.

One aspect of the Estancia administration that has not been going very well is the budget. Basically, the price of everything has gone up. Food is more expensive than it used to be, but we have struggled even more with the increasing cost of electricity. Mostly we use a lot of electricity to pump water into the school from the underground water tank. We have started to conserve a lot more electricity and our bill was cut in half last month. Needless to say, money has been a struggle.

At the beginning of the school year in February, the school administrator and I had discussed possibilities for the year and a possible field trip the children's science museum in Tegucigalpa. A few years ago, the Estancia had a singing contest to raise money and we decided to do a second one. The idea is that each school in Danli will have one participating act in the contest and buy tickets for students to come and cheer on their classmates. We will sell drinks and snacks to raise more money. The goal is to raise about $500 to cover the costs of the field trip: renting a bus, admission, and a fast food meal for each student. If we are able to raise more money, we will probably keep it on hold for when we are short on money or put it towards a larger purchase, such as a new computer. The big event is about two weeks away, so I will definitely post pictures afterward.