Thomas Barker

I stopped in Austin in 2003 for the weekend on my way to play jazz in New Orleans and never left. Raised on a turf farm and cattle ranch in Wyoming, I’ve always felt well suited to lead Project Schoolhouse’s mission to deliver essential educational and health infrastructure to rural communities in Nicaragua. I think the communities Project Schoolhouse serves are just like Wyoming 150 years ago plus cell phones and lots more water. The bottom up development approach we use has its roots in an economics degree from Carleton College and a year in Buenos Aires on a Fulbright Grant studying their 1991 economic stabilization. What keeps me going year after year is certainly the thrill of helping remote communities make their dreams of schools and water come true.