Marist Brothers Anniversary

This year marks the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Marist Brothers? arrival in Uruguay. In order to mark the occasion, a special social project was undertaken: the construction of twenty sanitary units in two poor neighborhoods on the outskirts of Montevideo.

The three secondary schools heading up the Project were: Santa Maria, Juan Zorrilla, San Martin y San Luis. The students of the schools invited interested parties to a ?Weekend Work Camp,? and more than 250 young people and school staff members participated. An upbeat spirit prevailed during the construction project which took place over one weekend.

The Marist Brothers and Marist Laity are specialists in educational matters, but building sanitary units in a poor urban area, well . . . that?s a horse of a different color. In order to carry out the plan, we approached the NGO ?A Roof for my Country,? to get their advice about building the units since they are specialists in construction work. The project also required that we hunt up financial resources. To this end efforts were made in each of the schools to help the children and young people organize simple fund-raising events.

In order to carry out the work in a proficient and timely way, we had to make an intense, all-out effort. Students, families, school staff, former students: everyone got fully involved. As a result we had the satisfaction of handing over a properly finished work to the people in the two neighborhoods of Maracaná and Jardines de las Torres.