Building capacity, one dance move at a time

It has been an interesting transition. Less than two weeks ago I was an intern with the largest Christian development organization in the history of the universe, out of an office in the capital of the world's largest superpower. Now I'm working with a small, exciting, chaotic start-up NGO in a town most people have never heard of, out of an office in a basement of a house on the side of a volcano. There are pros and cons with both, of course, but there's definitely something to be said for the chance to help teach English via Cha Cha Slide (disclaimer: I only dance at weddings and in Latin America).

In the weeks before I arrived, ADE staff completed a census of everyone in San Rafael, gathering key data about all sorts of things. One of the most striking findings was that 98% of the population had only a sixth grade education or less. This in a middle-income country in an increasingly globalized - and educated - world.

This finding confirmed the importance of one of ADE's main projects: opening a secondary school in which students from the community have the opportunity to receive a world-class education that fits into the broader goal of local capacity building. Take this week as a snapshot of what that might look like.

On Monday ADE students and staff headed over to the local elementary school to weatherize their classrooms. After the earthquake damaged their building and rendered it useless, they moved into temporary wooden structures meant for emergency housing. More than a year later permanent solutions have remained frustratingly elusive, and when it rains, water comes in through the doors and windows.

So, using a donated sheet of clear plastic and pieces of scrap wood from a neighbor, we weatherized the classrooms with these simple ingredients in such a way that when it's sunny, they can be rolled back to let in fresh air. Today, despite driving diagonal rain, the classrooms stayed dry.

On Tuesday, we set out in our 12-passenger van along the road through the earthquake-affected area, stopping along the way with digital photo and video cameras, which students used to document reconstruction efforts.

This was an opportunity for students to learn more about what is happening in their community and to ask questions they may have never been invited to ask before, such as: Will bags filled with dirt really work to hold a road in place if/when another earthquake comes? Would I want to live in the valley below that sort of structure? Did this construction company ask anyone who lives here before making their decisions?

These are just preliminary questions; the beginning of a new way of thinking in which everyone - even a seventh grader - is a key community stakeholder.

All of this is in keeping with the belief that any sort of healthy and sustainable development (or redevelopment, in this case) must involve local capacity building, and that few endeavors build capacity quite like an innovative and interactive education - whether within or without the classroom, using pens, pencils, books, hammers, nails, cameras, and killer dance moves.