COSTA RICA TEAM IS BACK - AND WHAT A STORY TO TELL!
Posted by Marion Trummer (Highlands Ranch) m.trummer@comcast.net
Seven members of our club, along with 2 from the South Jeffco Club, teamed up with Peace Corp Volunteers (PCV) and the Give a Book Foundation to deliver books to some very needy children. This is a new partnership between Rotary and PCV.
How it works - PCV assesses the need and Rotary works to fulfill it. PCV stays with the project throughout and upon book delivery, achieves hero status in the community, making it easier to implement changes. Philip, a PCV, created “Jump Start”, which teaches English to 7th graders. The biggest school drop-out rate is after 7th grade. Students move on to a big school and must have English language skills. This program gives smaller country children a chance to succeed and build self-esteem.
Our goal was 5 schools, 300 kids. Reality added books for 5 more schools as the need is so great, then 2 more schools whom we met along the way. We traveled 7 hours south of capital, San Jose, into some of the poorest areas of Costa Rica. To quote one of the PCVs, “the level of illiteracy is blatant.” Each school greeted us with the national anthem and folk dancing performed by 6th graders. At some sites we even danced with the children. We were impressed with how proud they are of their country. Everyone was wonderful, welcoming and most grateful. We received lots of hugs. We “read” to the students and helped them look through the books. Some had never held a book before and treated them with reverence.
We visited 2 Rotary clubs. The Belen club, 15 members, hosted a pot luck BBQ. They also invited their Rotaract club. This group has so many needs. Their current project is acquiring children’s wheel chairs for a giveaway this fall. It isn’t easy to collect money there, so they are looking for partners. The Rotaract club is hoping to work with our downtown Denver Rotaract on joint projects. We also visited the Rotary Club of Garabito in Jaco, 15 strong as well. They are a new club and still working on how best to help their beach community.
 |
 |
Did we have fun? Of course. We visited the volcano, dipped our toes in the ocean, stopped at lots of roadside restaurants, visited a coffee plantation and went into Panama for a few minutes. Would we do it again? In a heartbeat.