On wind, roofs, and entrepreneurship

June 13

Day three in Isonza. When it’s windy here – which is almost always – the people say, “el viento corre,” which translates to “the wind is running.” We were lucky that today the wind was not running, and we took advantage of the calm weather to put a roof on the greenhouse.

The greenhouse building’s walls are made of adobe bricks. The new roof is a crisscross of metal pipes covered by plastic tarp. We put on a metal door and cleaned out the junk inside the structure. It’s really coming together well. Inside the structure, it already feels warm and humid compared to outside. This is an important project because it will allow the school to grow its own food, improving the students’ nutrition. Also, it’s a great way to teach the kids the principles of gardening and farming. Right now, the school can grow almost no plants because of the persistent wind and the cold nights. This building addresses both of these limitations.

In the afternoon John and I split up and taught English classes to the kids. I had the younger group. It was fun, but slow going. At this school, the 28 students are divided into two groups based on age (older and younger). Unfortunately, this division is not very precise. There are plenty of kids in the younger class who are held up by their even younger classmates. You have 9- and 10-year-olds learning in the same classroom as 4-year-olds, which really holds up the older kids. At lunch today I asked the director what is the school’s the number one need, and she quickly replied: teachers. The students need another instructor (or two) to allow for greater specialization and closer student-teacher interaction. Teaching the 45-minute English class today to kids who range I age from 4 to 10, I saw that shortcoming up close.

I’m feeling a little under the weather today – my throat is sore and I slept poorly last night – but I’m sure this will pass quickly. I felt the same symptoms in Buenos Aires a few weeks ago and they were gone within a day or two. I wonder if this time it has to do with the higher altitude.

One thing that excites me is the possibility of turning the school’s advantages into entrepreneurial ventures. Zumilda (the director) and Gustavo also seem to like this idea. To explain it better, the idea is that the school would be able to produce a little extra and then sell it for a profit. This process would bring money back into the school, allowing for infrastructure investments and a gradually improving standard of living and education.

Some examples of how this entrepreneurial spirit could work at Isonza: the school already has a TV and a satellite dish, they just haven’t paid for satellite service yet. But last week a visitor made a donation so the school can do just that (pay for satellite service), and the idea would be that the school would invite locals to come and watch TV on special occasions (such as important soccer games), charging a small entrance fee. In time, the satellite TV service would pay for itself, and the school could put the earnings to other uses.

Another example is farming. Right now we’re working to prepare a chicken coop, and the hope is that the chickens will produce eggs (and meat) for the school. The extra eggs will be taken to town or sold to neighbors. These are the two examples we’ve discussed the most, but there are more. It’s very gratifying to see that the school’s director is taking these ideas seriously and understanding the benefits, and I would feel tremendously satisfied if we could encourage them to start one or more of these projects in the near future. In fact, I’ve even begun outlining a simple business plan that John and I hope to present to them at the end of our stay that will offer clear examples of the benefits of taking an entrepreneurial approach to running a rural school.