In September 2006, she began a two-year tour in Paraguay, where she promoted sustainable agriculture through soil conservation practices. The experience opened her eyes to the poor state of education in Paraguay. “In rural areas, communities frequently lack primary and secondary schools, and children of all ages must walk from 3 to 10 miles round-trip to attend class,” the 24-year-old Schlatter recently told her Illinois hometown paper, The Pantagraph. “Many existing schools are dangerously dilapidated and do not have sanitary bathrooms or potable water, making for very poor learning environments. The average drop-out rate after the sixth grade in rural areas is over 60 percent.” Schlatter and her boyfriend, fellow Peace Corps volunteer Joel Correia, are now about a third of the way through their 9,600 kilometre bicycle journey fundraiser, which they hope to complete in June.
Even with some 3,000 kilometres already behind her, Paraguay RPCV Karen Schlatter still has a lot of pedaling left to finish her cycling journey from Tierra del Fuego to Paraguay
Pedaling through Latin America and surfing the World Wide Web
By Laurie Devine
Biking to build schools
Even with some 3,000 kilometres already behind her, McGill grad Karen Schlatter still has a lot of pedaling left to finish her cycling journey from Tierra del Fuego to Paraguay – and to raise $35,000 to help the NGO CECTEC build schools, playgrounds and bathrooms in the impoverished Tava’i district of southern Paraguay.
After finishing her degree in biology, Schlatter volunteered with the U.S. Peace Corps; in September 2006, she began a two-year tour in Paraguay, where she promoted sustainable agriculture through soil conservation practices. The experience opened her eyes to the poor state of education in Paraguay.
“In rural areas, communities frequently lack primary and secondary schools, and children of all ages must walk from 3 to 10 miles round-trip to attend class,” the 24-year-old Schlatter recently told her Illinois hometown paper, The Pantagraph. “Many existing schools are dangerously dilapidated and do not have sanitary bathrooms or potable water, making for very poor learning environments. The average drop-out rate after the sixth grade in rural areas is over 60 percent.” Schlatter and her boyfriend, fellow Peace Corps volunteer Joel Correia, are now about a third of the way through their 9,600 kilometre bicycle journey fundraiser, which they hope to complete in June.
On their blog (http://bikingtobuildschools.giving.officelive.com /), they’re tracking their progress, posting photos of their adventure, cataloguing things that have been broken (or lost, or patched) and singing the praises of collapsing into an inflatable chair after the end of a long day’s ride. The blog also includes instructions for making online donations to their cause.
