Elementary, Mr. Watson

Thursday- I met this morning with Brian Watson, principal of the Armenia Government Elementary School. By his count, he has 404 students in his charge. They call him Sir Brian or Mr. Watson, and they always say please if they expect to get anywhere with him. We first met Brian when he was principal of La Gracia Elementary near Yalbac where we installed our first water system. We were surprised and delighted when we discovered that he had been transferred to Armenia. He was impressive in La Gracia and he's impressive in Armenia.
A year ago, Peggy met with Brian and asked what he needed. He said white boards. We raised $600 from you, the congregation, and began exploring white board quality and shipping options. Ultimately we decided it was better to trust Brian to know what he needed and to purchase them in country. We transferred the funds to Brian last fall and waited to hear what he did with them.
This morning Brian apologetically explained to me that he and Marin Rosado, his vice principal, had spent a good deal of time researching white board quality, both in various retail outlets and other schools. They ultimately decided to build their own. We sent them money expecting to finance two 4x8 foot white boards. Instead, he and Mr. Rosado built one 4x12 white board and installed it in a new classroom. They have money left to build two more for classrooms that don't yet have windows.
I asked him how we could help with additional white boards. By way of answer, he told me a story. He explained that the second floor of the school was scheduled to be built eventually by the government. There were no immediate plans or funds available and he needed the classroom space. He went to his parents and said we need to build it. Many said it's a government school, that's the government's job. He said you're the government; you elected them, you pay their salaries through your taxes, you have the power to build the second floor of this building. He found funding for materials from a variety of sources, and got the community to do much of the work on weekends alongside him. It's almost finished, and lacking only windows and doors for one more classroom and several offices. He said the estimates came in at $16,000 Belize for the rest of the materials. He told his parents that if they could raise $8,000 of that, he had an American donor who would match it. The fund-raising thermometer outside his office currently stands just below the $8,000 mark. He says there are a number of pledges still out.
I asked the obvious question: would a dollar match work for white boards? He answered with an emphatic yes. He says it's critical to get buy-in from his teachers and parents, even if it'll take longer. I asked how many and how much. He did some quick calculations: 11 boards at $400 Bz each is $4400; divide by two for your share is $2200 Bz, or $1100 US. Doing things indecently and out-of-order, I committed our congregation to that amount on the spot. He said don't hold your breath, we need to recover from our building drive. I said we'd wait to hear from him. He promised: you will. And he grinned.
- dan