Monday, May 25, 2009

Kids playing

Here are pictures from the dedication of the playground on Saturday. The kids were so excited it was hard to make them wait for the prayer. The ceremony consisted of a prayer of thanks and then we served cookies and fruit punch. Then the kids played for hours! It was most fun to watch the little ones go down the slide and play on the see-saw. Thanks again for all of your support!


Doña Marta saying a prayer.



Kids playing!



Three members of the Comité Tutelar, Isa, Flor and Miriam, serving the refreshments

The moms and sisters enjoying the shade.




Osvaldo, my host cousin.



Carolina enjoying the swing.





Daniela, my host sister, having fun on the see-saw.

Friday, May 22, 2009

Playground!!!!!!

We have a playground! The men came to install it at 7am on Wednesday morning, and left my site at 9am on Thursday morning. We were all amazeded by how quickly it all went. Unfortunately the kids have to wait about 2 days to play in order to let the cement etc. dry. So the women of the Comite Tutelar have decided to have a small inauguration ceremony on Saturday right before we let the kids play. We are going to have someone say a prayer, let all of the kids know the rules, and then serve sno-cones. It should be a lot of fun...and all the kids can´t wait.


Thanks again to all of you who made this dream come true for the kids of Cristo Rey. I will definitely post pictures of tomorrow´s ceremony soon. But first, here are a few pictures of the prep of the land and the installation. Enjoy!




6am on Wednesday, finishing up leveling the land for the playground.
Unloading the wooden beams.
The four men that installed the playground, taking a break for cafecito at 4 pm.

The finished product!

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

A new skill!

Last Monday I learned how to crochet! The newly formed women's group decided a few weeks ago that one of our first activities would be crocheting. The president and a few other women in the group already know how to crochet, so they said they would help teach the rest of us. I bought my needle and a small ball of yarn for a little over 1 dollar and I was set. At first everyone was going so fast that I thought I would never learn, but with a little individual attention I was slowly getting it. I crocheted while watching tv and waiting for meetings etc. and in a week I have finished my ball of yarn! Crocheting is a actually not as hard as it looks! So here is my first crocheted item (I don't actually know what its use is, but I am still proud of it!):


So, learning to crochet has so far been a fun, bonding activity for the women's group and a way to share skills. It looks like our first real project will be to help out with the community garden that we are growing on the school grounds. We decided to join the local 4-H or Club 4-S, which means that they will come give us training on organizational skills and more technical training, such as growing vegetables etc. It should be a great opportunity for us! We will also be growing an undetermined crop (we will choose at our next meeting) on a small plot of land that a member of the community is letting us use.

I am very impressed by the sense of unity that the members of the women's group already have. I really believe that they will be successful in whatever project they decide to embark upon. The group was successful in its first fundraising activity, raising over $60 in cold drink and ice cream sales at a local soccer game. It was a very simple idea raised by a few of the women and everyone else jumped on board and offered to donate a few items to sell, such as sugar cane juice, coconut water and iced chocolate milk, each with a value of 200 colones, or about 35 cents. Needless to say, everyone was very proud of the success of the activity.

I am really excited about working with the women, not just because I am learning new skills, but because of the opportunities that this group will bring to the many women in the community.



And we have a high school!

Friday marked the end of the third week of high school classes in my town. We have over 30 students, aged 14-40, and coming from the surrounding 3 towns, enrolled in the program. The program is called tercer ciclo, or third cycle, and is available to anyone over 14 who wants to study 7th – 11th grade (this is considered high school, or colegio, here). The way the program works is that the students buy 6 work books, which basically teach each material and include practice questions. The idea of tercer ciclo is that the students do most of the studying at home, by reading the week's chapter, and then they come to class each week with their questions. The six different subjects are: Math, Science, English, Social Studies, Spanish and Civics. The students have class 3 times a week:


Wednesday, 3pm to 7:30 pm – Math and Science

Thursday, 3pm to 4:30 pm – English (with yours truly as the teacher every other week)

Friday, 3pm to 7:30 pm – Social Studies, Spanish and Civics


Here is a background of the prior educational opportunities for members of my town: The nearest official high school is 8 kms away by bus, which isn't that far, but costs each student $2 a day in travel expenses. This is extremely expense for members of my community, who on average make about $120-$150 a month. There are national scholarships for students, but not even those cover the transportation costs for the month, let alone the extra expenses like uniforms, notebooks, photocopies etc. For this reason, very few kids have continued on to high school after graduating from 6th grade. For example, last year only 1 of the 5 graduates is currently studying in the high school; and the year before that 1 out of 6 graduates went to high school. Therefore there are a lot of young people in town that were denied the opportunity to continue their studies based on financial reasons, and who are now able to study just a few blocks from their house 3 nights a week. There are also a lot of 20 and 30 year olds who have decided to study here because when they graduated 6th grade there wasn't even a bus to take them to the high school.

I have been very encouraged throughout the process of opening this high school, which took about 5 months of constant communication with the Superintendant, by the enthusiasm that everyone has to learn. I am constantly stopped on the street, on the bus, or people even come to my house, to ask how they can sign up to study. I am really happy with the success of this project, and just hope that the students keep up their motivation to learn and that this will be a permanent institution in my town.