By Susanne Jarnryd, Bacaanda Foundation & Britt Jarnryd, El Sueño Zapoteco

Dear Friends and Supporters of the Adopt a Rural School Program,

On behalf of the Bacaanda Foundation and El Sueño Zapoteco, we would like to thank you for your support of the Adopt a Rural School program. We sincerely appreciate your commitment to help people of need in rural Mexico. Each year the foundation continues to advance its mission to alleviate poverty through community, education and health initiatives. Through our dental, literacy, recreation and vocational programs we have seen many lives change for the better.

It is our privilege to share with you some details on the construction of the teacher training center at Conafe in Santa Maria Huatulco. After months of hard work by our many committed volunteers, the two-classroom structure is almost complete, pending only windows and a few finishing touches. With the support of the World Wildlife Fund, we are also hoping to add wastewater treatment, rainwater storage, green areas, shade trees and fruit and vegetable plants over the next few months.

The Conafe site was chosen because of immediate need, ease of access for materials and accessibility for community members, donors and prospective donors. As you can see, within 24 hours of the roof being completed the classrooms were immediately put to good use. The next site, and first actual school building, will be in the community of Derramadero. We look forward to sharing details of this exciting project with you.

Thanks again for your generous support of our efforts.