Carol Berndt | Article and Photos

When ARTA members Dale and Lynda Lyster , retired Calgary educators , bought their beach and golf retirement property sixteen years ago outside of Mazatlán , they discovered that a few kilometres away lay Barrón , an impoverished village of four hundred families . Barrón ’ s four schools serving 250 K – 9 children were in shocking condition with crumbling walls , dirt courtyards , hot and crowded classrooms , collapsing furniture , and over-painted blackboards . The few books and four computers were inaccessible to the children . Most students quit school after Grade 9 as the cost of tuition and busing to attend high school elsewhere was prohibitive . Most went to work as labourers in the surrounding ejido-owned farms .

The Lysters initiated a fund-raising effort , the “ Friends of Barrón ” ( FOB ) among fellow residents . FOB purchased paint , roofing material , toilets and plumbing supplies , electrical wiring and coaxial cabling , furniture , whiteboards , books , computers , and classroom supplies . They created scholarships and “ adopt-a-student ” sponsorships for high school , preparatory school , and university . Over the past fifteen years , eighty scholarships have been awarded . Thus far , thirtysix students have graduated as teachers , engineers , social workers , nurses , dentists , psychologists , physiotherapists , lawyers , chefs , accountants , and merchant marines .

Since families had no access to medical care in the village , FOB arranged for volunteers to offer dental clinics in the schools and organized a medical clinic with volunteer doctors from Canada and

36 | arta . net DREAMS FOR THE FUTURE

Lynda , their “ adopted ” student Kenia who has graduated as a nurse , Dale , and the principal of the elementary school . ( Unidentified photographer ).