A Day in the life of a volunteer for APAPNEM

We awoke to the winds – noticeably higher than in the past few days – a bit cooler and mostly cloudy. Rain was expected but little, if any, fell through the day.

Our 7:30 breakfast was generous and delicious, as usual, centered on scrambled eggs.

Barbara and Barbara left for CASEM and the rest of us arrived at the gym before 9:00. Our start-up was leisurely but, when the activity got going, most of us were painting tabletops. Ryan and Dave had their hands full in the afternoon with three young boys. Bernie was drawn away from painting, returning to her weaving project. Bob and Marcotulio were crafting wooden coffee brewer stands and Karen divided her time between needlework and filming of her “documentary”.

Patricia, Edith and Ruth, the resident artists, were busy through the day sketching flowers, plants, birds, frogs and other figures and forms on the tabletops. They are so talented! Their artistry combined with that of the volunteers, both Global and local, transformed the tabletops into beautiful artwork. Really special!

Lunch was great thanks to Chef Enar, who was ably supported by Ryan and several ladies. Spaghetti and a generous salad hit the spot.

I was going to report more on the group’s activities of the day. However, I choose to center much of the remainder on my activity.

Patricia paired me with Yailin, Edith’s 9 year-old daughter, at the beginning of the day. She’s a sweetie, so enthused with the painting we did together. After painting the edges of several tables, we painted a few plant stands. Then John started supplying us with napkin holders – I lost count of the number.

In the meantime we were joined by a smaller girl (or did we join her?). Leslie is 10; she scurried around getting paints, blending them with a talented eye and painting like a pro. She was decorating the pieces with flowers, trees and clouds without hesitation. She must have been painting before she was born.

Yailin and Leslie worked together so well it took the heat off of me. They painted individual pieces and did several joint projects. What a delight! I was content to be an observer and, on occasion, a color and application consultant. But then Leslie assigned me to paint a napkin holder. When I finished mine in red, white and blue, Leslie was quick to point out that these were the colors of the Costa Rican flag. Truly, that was my intent.

It was a full day for me. Those two made my day. I mentioned to Patricia that, if I were looking for more grandchildren, those two would be at the top of my list.


A lively game of “99” closed the day with Barbara H. winning the pot.-Tom M.

A day in the lif of a Volunteer at CASEM-From Journal Jan 13, 2009
We shared lunch with Doña Nery, Marina, Leidy, Monica and Rosie. Marina prepared pasta with a red tomato-meat sauce and green salad with avocado, tomato, cucumber and lettuce. And fresh pineapple for dessert. They like to sprinkle salt on the pineapple to enhance the flavor. During our lunch break we took another short walk ending at the café!

We dusted and arranged wooden sculptures and paintings in the gallery in the afternoon. It is very gratifying to be at CASEM and see the pride they take in their work. In the words of the Impressionist artist, Mary Cassatt, “Women need to be someone, not something.”

Summer Opportunities

For the summer we have the possible upcoming projects in the Costa Rica Service Program:

The village of Cebadilla is scheduled to receive funds soon from the local municipality to remodel the one room school house.  The idea is to change the roof, change the windows, paint and re-tile the floors, we will supporting this effort there.

The APAPNEM (Association of People with Special Needs and Elders of Monteverde), is still battling the donation of the land and an opportunity has come up to manage the local cultural site and to use it as storage for APAPNEM's belongings. If this site is given to them for administration them clean-up of the facilities is needed , redoing the lights , collect and store inventory, varnish furniture and continue the building of unfinished crafts to raise funds for the association.

CASEM will be receiving teams to start the digging of the land of second store location on the opposite side of town of the first store, near the Santa Elena Reserve. They hope to "catch" tourists that do not make it to the Monteverde Reserve, the first store serves this last route. The second store will also serve as a depot to collect crafts from the associates, so they can be spared the expense and time of going from remote areas all the way to downtown Monteverde.

Global Volunteers August 2008

Costa Rica Tribute to our volunteers...

Dear Volunteers,

The Costa Rica Service Program is held in the Monteverde Region and surroundings, in quite emblematic peaceful villages, where life is simple, where life is taken at a slower pace, tranquility and friendship cherished as the greatest of treasures. Help us make a difference for the kids, the hope of progress and self sufficiency of the cooperatives we serve, like the coffee and arts and crafts coops, the village that now has the first computer room in an elementary school of the region, mini health clinics, gyms, community centers, drainage pipes, thanks to all the volunteers that generously chose to serve in this program.

But there is so much more that needs to be accomplished! One of our villages is even preparing surprises for the volunteers that will come on Independence Day (Sep 15th), the ladies even meeting in their spare time, to design good meals for volunteers whose faces and names are yet to be known but that they trust will sign up to help the village… Help us make the difference in their lifes! They are eager to welcome you and greet you with a smile!

I would like to share my favorite quote from Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world …Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has”.

Come , visit, serve, leave your “soul-print” in our hearts and land!

Saludos from the Cloud Forest,

Nia Salas
Costa Rica Country Manager

Interesting links :

Quetzal and hummingbird webcam:
http://www.cloudforestalive.org/tour/hcam/

Treehouse Restaurant downtown Sta. Elena:

http://www.canopydining.com/webcam.php

Satellite image showing monteverde region and Costa Rica

http://www.monteverdeinfo.com/costa-rica-weather.htm

April 24th, Thursday

Anita

We all knew today would be a difficult day as those of us at El Colegio, would be saying goodbye to the students, and Sally to her friends at CASEM. Harold greeted us with today “it is just the details”. This involved a second coat of paint on areas of the classroom and for Dave’s group repair of the accidental hole in the girls bathroom door and completion of sanding of same. All work achieved by morning “receso”. We were treated to the creamiest hot chocolate and then had free time until 12:00. The students were eager to show us their cheese making project and introduced us to the cheese maker. David was particularly, interested in this area due to his farming background and I think that the cheese maker enjoyed talking to someone who understood his work. /we all sampled the delicious mild slightly salty cheese.

We spent the remainder of the time sitting by the pond soaking up the sunshine and chatting with the students. Isaac precariously climbed a tree to pick us all guavas. 5 pigs were pleased to see us but somewhat to our dismay preparation for the sacrifice of one chicken was being made.

The students and staff of El Colegio took us to the Sta. Elena Reserve and after a hot lunch we hit the trail climbing through the most amazing forest to 5,600. Finally we all had a view of the Arenal Volcano from one of the viewpoints. As even better view seen from the precarious climb up the observation tower.

We returned to the party center to complete our goodbyes with speeches from students, staff and volunteers. The school graciously presented us with certificates in recognition of our work to improve the school facility.

We returned to El Colegio where we gave each other another round of hugs and kisses and went in our different directions.

We then went to CASEM to meet Sally. It was clear that staff were very sorry to see her go and presented her with a lovely bag made at the site. The progress Sally has made with learning Spanish there 2 weeks seems she has inspired the staff to tackle English 101 soon.

The work day progressed as usual, pricing, cleaning, and stocking shelves. Monica heard the sweet call of the trogan and we went hunting for it. She said it was the first one she had seen here.

Nia introduced us to a really elegant restaurant “Sofia” a perfect plan to spend our last evening in Sta. Elena. It was a bitter sweet evening. Nia has been an outstanding team coordinator handling her “senior group” with grace. It is going to be like leaving a family member behind when we head home. Wisely or not, at 7:50 am in the morning we are heading off for the Zip line adventure.