MORE ABOUT HAITI
Massacre School Expansion
Massacre was the site of the first construction project St. Mary Cathedral completed in its twinning relationship with St. Joseph and its six chapels. The new chapel and four-room school were started in late 2000 and competed in early 2001. The community has fully embraced this facility and the number of students in the school has continued to grow. There are now over 270 children that attend this school nestled on top a mountain in the northwest province of Haiti.
There is now a need to add four more classrooms as well as a room for the principal and for storage for the school. The extra classrooms that this expansion will provide space for are currently being conducted in the chapel. The extra classrooms will fit within the existing compound walls and will sit on the highest portion of the compound -- looking down on the original construction. The slope within the fairly small compound area is so steep that the foundation of the new classrooms is nearly level with the ceiling of the old classrooms!
Construction was begun in 2009 for this expansion of the school. When the December 2009 St. Mary group visited Massacre, the foundation and some of the walls were done -- but not the floors, roof or porch areas. The Haiti earthquake of January 2010 caused the construction to stop for nearly a year. While the epicenter of that tragic earthquake was over 100 miles south and east of Massacre, the entire country came to a standstill and little construction occurred for over a year. One repercussion from the earthquake was a marked increase in construction costs.
In 2011, work began once again on the new school classrooms. When the December 2011 St. Mary group visited Massacre, all the walls, the roof and most of the porch were complete. The main things left to do were the floors, smoothing the block walls and painting the finished building. The porch will provide protection for walking between rooms and the principal's office -- from both the sun and the rain!
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A six room addition to the Massacre School will be built at an angle to the end of the current school.
