Great kindness from Italy, Brasil, Germany...

Ciao, amici d'Italia! Grazie per la vostra contribuzione. Thank you. Obrigada! Your contribution will surely help us finish our new classroom! Aos amigos do Brasil, especiais agradecimentos à galera do Bacen que tem nos apoiado nesta empreitada. A grana de vocês se junta a este bolinho e poderemos terminar nossa salinha. Finally, lots of thanks to our friends from Germany, who took active part on the so fair book fair and donated money to our new classroom. We are very very sure that every brick on these walls will play a wonderful role in all these kids' lives. Each brick will never be just another brick on these walls, but everybody's bricks on these walls. And yes: we do need more education!

A Fair Book Fair

The Better World Club friends, from Eumetsat, gave a great push this week. A nice book fair was organized to raise money for the project. Click to read more: http://www.betterworldclub.org/

Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, a number of Brazilian friends started to collaborate with our project. It feels like everybody is so connected with this cause, that we now believe the children will gain a better quality environment.

Thank you, people from Europe! Obrigada, galera do Brasil! Vamos terminar nossa obra!

Project update December 9

Today we have good news: the roof is ready, and the walls are being prepared for the tiles. A group of Brazilian volunteers has visited the site during the week and decided to make a change in scope, donating pillars to lift the veranda's roof and cover the patio in front of the new room, not just a veranda as planned. Unfortunatelly, we still need money to finish this, and we also decided to improve the conditions of the draining of the existing ceiling (older building), which is fragile and improvised.

Many many thanks to our friends in Germany who donated by giving and buying books at the Eumetsat book fair this week. Their money will help us pay part of the labour. We are looking forward to receive more donations from our Brazilian friends, so that we can give a last Chrismas push on this project, and finish the room and the bathrooms before Christmas!

Hoje tivemos boas novas: o telhado está pronto, bem como o reboco das paredes internas do banheiro e da sala. Um grupo de voluntários visitou a obra durante a semana, e sugeriu uma alteração no escopo do projeto: em vez de uma pequena varanda, cobrir todo o vão em frente à sala até a construção existente, para fazer um grande pátio coberto. Foram lá e doaram esses pilares de ferro que são mostrados em primeiro plano, na primeira foto. O espaço a ser coberto pode ser visto na penúltima imagem. Vamos precisar de ajuda para as telhas e o contrapiso. Também verificamos que a cobertura existente carece de um sistema adequado de drenagem de águas pluviais, como se vê na última foto. Por isso, e para finalizarmos nossa obra com qualidade, estamos em campanha aqui no Brasil. Os amigos da Europa se mobilizaram num bazar, e arrecadaram fundos para a mão de obra da próxima semana e mais metade da seguinte. Vamos nos unir para dar este presente de Natal à nossa querida escolinha?

Construction update: Nov 25, 2012

Second phase almost complete! On the pictures below, it is possible to see that the walls are all ready, and so are the plumbing (water and sewer), the frames, including some windows that have been fixed (the others were achieved), and the structure for the roof has been prepared for receiving the wood beams. It is also possible to see that a great part of the material has been achieved, including for the third phase. The last picture shows the sign saying that the school is open for registration for 2013, including the 4rth grade! This will only be possible because the new room will be ready for the kids next year!

First pictures and follow up

This week, we started the first phase. Check the pictures of the building site and the timeline.

Project Phase	Date Money available in Brazil	From	To	Duration (Days)	Activities	Cost Involved (Brazilian Real)	Cost Involved(Euro, Real/Euro conversion rate from date 16/11/2012)
I	41214	01/11/12	16/11/12	16	Purchase and storage of material, preparation of the site and started the foundations	R$ 6.190,00	€2.392,67
II		16/11/2012	16/12/2012	30	Foundation, structure, masonry (walls) Electrical wiring, plumbing (water and sewer), frames (windows and openings) and coverage (structure and roof, lined)	R$ 3.500,00	€1.500,00
III		16/12/2012	15/01/2013	30	Plastering, painting, flooring, finishes, doors, baseboards, light fixtures, outlets and switches, installation of sanitary wares and metals. Clean the work	R$ 2.810,00	€1.107,33
						R$ 12.500,00	€5.000,00
Project Kick-off date	01/11/2012

Starting to buy building stuff

The money has finally reached the project's account, and we started to buy the material. Soon we will be publishing the receipts.

Preparing to start up

This week we received great news: our sponsor informs that the money for the first phase was credited to the project's account. While we wait for the money to arrive, we are comparing prices for the material to be used in the construction.