Our Christmas Projects need your help.

Don't waste a beautiful opportunity to share joy this holiday season! Greetings!

There are only 29 days left until our first Christmas project event where we'll be sharing with community members at La Flor. It's a day where we get to really show our appreciation to all the great people we and our volunteers get to work with - children, host families, coordinators and community members at our different projects across Costa Rica.

These are people who work incredibly hard to keep above the bread-line, usually doing hard jobs that involve long hours and low pay. But don't feel sorry for them at all. If you've been a volunteer here, you know how happy these folks are. Our goal with this event is to show our gratitude for letting us work alongside them.

We thank from the bottom of our hearts all the volunteers we have come to make the jobs of these people a little easier, and who have assisted hundreds of children by teaching and mentoring them so that they can be successful in school and enjoy better prospects than the generation before them. We are desperately in need of help (in volunteer support, donations and supplies) to ensure these Christmas projects are a success. Please read on to see how you can help us - we truly appreciate any small gesture that we receive.

Giving people something to smile about this Christmas

We have 51 volunteers attending our Christmas projects so far - including 3 families. We're really looking forward to meeting and working together with each one of them to make every one of these events a special, fun and inspiring day for all who attend. We have been humbled by their generosity, many of whom have asked us what they can do to help us in addition to their volunteer help even after having paid their fees. One of our volunteers, Silvana, will be bringing 120 pairs of flip-flops with her to hand out to children from the Cocles school in Puerto Viejo, as well as bringing a parachute to play with, while others are helping donate supplies for party decorations. Donna Crawford is bringing 200 boxes of crayons.

We have also received several kind emails from past volunteers asking us how they can help. We feel so grateful to everyone who has offered to help even in spite of the economic downturn (something which is greatly affecting people here in Costa Rica too).

Despite all these wonderful and amazing offers of help, we still really need more help. There are hundreds of children and adults who will be attending all the events and to make each day as special as it should be. We are still in great need of more supplies and money to buy all the food.

Our Puerto Viejo Christmas party will take place at the nearby Cocles school and we have invited all 150 school children. This school is a wonderful place set back frJaguar at Monkey Parkom the beach and Caribbean Sea. It sounds idyllic but the reality is that the school is so understaffed that the children can only attend school for around 3 hours each day. Without our volunteers, the children would receive no English tuition at all and when there are no volunteers, lessons simply do not take place. Many of them do not go on to further study after 6th Grade. In Costa Rica, lack of schooling has a very negative impact on the career opportunities and consequent money-earning potential of these children.

What we need to make Christmas special for our communities and children

We want to make each of the events a really special day for hundreds of children and adults. For this reason, each party is very expensive and we still don't have the resources to make each day as special as it could be.

As an example, we will have around 130 people attending the Puerto Viejo Christmas Party. For this we will need to buy:

• * 150 hot dogs and buns
• * Mustard and tomato sauce
• * 15 bottles of soft drinks
• * 2 large containers of ice-cream and 150 large cones
• * 20 small bags of pop-corn
• * A filled pinata, which will cost around $100 ($50 for the pinata and $50 for the candies)
• * Decorations in the form of balloons, crepe paper, party poppers etc
• * Party bags for each child with a few small candies and gifts inside (this is a very Costa-Rican tradition)
• * Prizes for game winners - such as hats (for sun protection), sunglasses, soccer balls, barbies, backpacks, books, stationery sets (in packs)
• * In addition we would like to give each of the 9 children who are graduating from the school a small gift. Something to encourage them in their move to a larger school would be nice such as backpacks, books, stationery etc.
• * We would like to also rent an inflatable slide for the afternoon - this will be $150. This is just what we will be buying for 1 out of the 5 Christmas parties.

In addition to these parties, we also have the Childrens' Summer Camp in Puerto Viejo. For the Childrens' Summer Camp, we will be providing lunch for around 100 children for three days. We will be making hot dogs on the first day, cheese and ham sandwiches on the second day and rice  and chicken (a traditional Costa Rican dish) on the third day.

In addition to feeding the children, we will be doing a number of fun and educational activities with them over the three days including arts and crafts workshops, sports, English and environmental education lessons. For the art workshop on the first day we will need to buy paints, white paper and colored pencils and for the environmental workshop on the second day, we'll need plenty of green, red and black paint as the children will be making masks out of recycled materials.

To provide all these things for the wonderful people who will be attending our events, we need all the support you can possibly give us. We really really really need your help and would appreciate more than you can imagine any small amount of help you give us.

What you can do to help

• ** Volunteer - Come and help us set up at one or more of the events and participate in the fun. We'll need loads of help decorating the venues, serving food, and organizing games and activities for everyone. Combined with helping at the events, you'll get to do some amazing tours so you can make the most out of your time in Costa Rica. Find out more how you can volunteer here. This is really a unique opportunity - there are no other volunteer organizations doing anything like this in Costa Rica. If you are a Costa Rican resident, please contact us to find out how you can volunteer.
• ** Donations of money - This is so that we can buy all the food, decorations and materials for the activities. If you would like to donate money for something specific (such as the hot dogs or decorations) - please let us know. If you would like to donate money for school supplies or uniform for any children (such as the school graduates at Cocles), please refer to the list and costs of items needed at the very bottom of this newsletter. We will provide you with receipts of the purchases (we go personally to buy all the items ourselves) as well as photos from the events. Since we're a non profit foundation, your donation of money is tax deductible. You can donate online or please contact us to discuss other options for donating - we would love to hear from you.
• ** Donations of supplies - If you live outside of Costa Rica, many items such as party decorations and crafts materials are actually a lot cheaper than they are in Costa Rica. If you are coming to Costa Rica or you know anyone else who is coming to Costa Rica between now and December, we would be so grateful to anyone who is able to bring some of these materials and supplies over with them. We will meet you at the airport to collect them and can supply you with official documentation from Tropical Adventures to ensure a smooth journey for whatever you bring over. Please refer to the list at the very bottom of this newsletter if you are interested in donating any school supplies or uniforms for children. Please also look at our Donation Supply Wish List for detailed information of other items you could donate. If you are a Costa Rican resident, please let us know if there is anything that you are able to donate to us or bring with you to the events.
• ** Hold a small event - such as a garage sale, coffee morning or cake sale to fundraise for our Christmas community events. We'll be more than happy to send you some information materials or handouts for the event.
• ** Past volunteers - If you are a past volunteer, something really special you could do without having to spend money is to write a Christmas letter or card to any community members, kids or project workers who really inspired or helped you whilst you were out here. Maybe you could write to your host family, or Danilo at Bambu or Dominica & Julian at the Camaronal Turtle Project. All these people are incredibly hard working and dedicated to what they do. They would love to hear from you - you have no idea how many times they ask for all of you. You can write to our address - Apartado 8-7100, Paraiso, Cartago, Costa Rica (or you could email your letter - marketing@tropicaladventures.com) and we will be sure to ensure your letter gets to the right person safely.

We truly appreciate any gestures, no matter how small, that will help us to make these events a big success by giving all these lovely hard-working and kind people who do so much to help their own under-resourced communities a day to remember.

Here are some examples of how people continue to help us:

** Silvana Clark and her husband are generously bringing with them 120 pairs of flip-flops to donate to children at the Cocles school when they arrive in December.

• ** Mark Arnowitz wrote to 15 different organizations to ask for them to donate money so that he could afford to come out to Costa Rica. Through his efforts and the kindness of the organizations he wrote to, he was able to come out here. Mark continues to offer us great support and is now raising money to help build proper bathrooms and an outdoor eating area for the children at Cocles School as well as raising money to for our Puerto Viejo Christmas party. Mark is of great help to us not only in his fundraising efforts but spends much of his time helping us out from his home in the USA.
• ** Last year the Stegehuis family donated all the supplies for the children's Summer Camp in Puerto Viejo. This great act of generosity allowed us to give the children there a wonderful three days of fun and educational activities such as arts and crafts, English and environmental education lessons, sports and games.
• ** Briana Schuck talked to fellow students at the University of Santa Monica and had them all busy bringing in donations. About four people arrived at different times, with several extra suitcases full of all kinds of donations for the children. These donations included books, pens, clothes and toiletries. Thanks to their generosity many children received useful gifts that their parents find hard or impossible to afford.
• ** The Snyder family brought a large amount of gifts for children and community members of Bambu and very generously donated us money. Their daughter, Hannah, so kindly raised this as part of her Bat Mitzvah celebrations.
• ** Phyllis and Richard Bergman volunteered with us last Christmas for a second time. Not only did they donate money but they also brought gifts for people at La Flor community.
• ** Lilly Pichardo, a personal friend and local events planner from Costa Rica helped us greatly by using her contacts to gain us discounts on decorations and stationery supplies at local outlets for our Christmas Projects. Lilly volunteered with us and brought lots of food packages for last year's Bambu Christmas party. She was also a great entertainer!!
• ** Costa Rican residents have donated supplies and provided us with equipment and materials for us to borrow for our Christmas events.
• ** Many of our past volunteers have used their connections to help us connect to important institutions (such as university volunteering departments) who offer their support. We have found on many occasions that we wouldn't have been able to meet with certain organizations without previously being recommended by people who are already associated with them - these introductions have been a great help.
• ** On many occasions, people have sent supplies over to Costa Rica with friends who are visiting. We have then been able to go and pick up these donations from the airport.
• ** Countless people have very kindly donated money to us via our online web form.

We thank you all from the bottom of our hearts. ___________________________________________________________

Thank you so much for your continued support of our work throughout Costa Rica. Please contact us if you have any questions at all about our Christmas Projects or any of our other projects or how you can help us.

We realise that not everbody has the means to actively help us and we thank you for your interest in Tropical Adventures and what we do. We hope that one day we will see you out here in Costa Rica and don't forget to tell your friends about us.

Please take a look at our video of all our wonderful projects, friends and volunteers.

Sincerly,

Isaac, Scott and the Tropical Adventures Team.

For anyone interested in supporting a child by buying or paying for some school supplies, here is an example of what a child needs to go to school for one year in Costa Rica:

Mandatory School Supplies USD

• 5 100 page notebooks $10.00
• 9 80 page notebooks $13.50
• 1 Notebook lined for Handwriting $1.00
• 2 100 Sheet Packs-printer paper $3.40
• 2 100 Sheet Packs-lined paper $3.20
• 1 Pack of Construction Paper $2.40
• 12 Letter sized folders $1.44
• 5 Black pens $2.50
• 5 Blue Pens $2.50
• 5 Red Pens $2.50
• 1 Box Color penciles (12) $2.60
• 1 Box penciles--black lead pencil $2.20
• 1 Plastic pencil sharpener $0.60
• 1 An Eraser $0.20
• 1 White glue (size 120 grams) $1.30
• 1 Geometry set $1.00
• 1 Compass $1.00
• 1 Scissors $1.00
• 1 Map of Costa Rica $0.30
• 1 Spanish Dictionary $5.00
• 1 Backpack $14.00

Total for Supplies $71.64

Uniforms:

• 2 Blouses/Shirts $4.00
• 2 Socks $2.00
• 1 Pants $10.00
• 1 Shoes $14.00

Total for uniforms: $30.00 SUPPLIES & UNIFORM: $101.64

Please also look at our Donation Supply Wish List for detailed information of other items you can donate.

 

Click  here to watch our video

The Tropical Adventures Foundation is a non-profit foundation supporting many elementary schools, a daycare center, a wildlife rescue center, a sea turtle project, an indigenous community, and several national parks in Costa Rica. We rely on the generosity and kindness of many people.

Here below is our “Wish List” of materials and supplies we would love to have in order to keep supporting all our projects. Thank you in advance for your tax-deductible contributions or either cash or supplies. If you have any questions about how to get these supplies to us, please contact us at donate@tropicaladventures.com or by calling toll-free from the US and Canada 1-800-832-9419. Our direct international number is +506 25-74-4412.


Safety issues:
* Reflectors for bicycles
* Flashing light for back of bikes.
* Safety vest
* Flashlights
* Reflector tape
* Helmets for kids.

Garden projects

We’d like to create some small vegetable plots with various schools:

* Gardening tools

* Clippers

* Gloves

* Hand shovels

Painting projects:

* Paint brushes

* Rollers

* Wire brushes for cleaning surfaces

Education projects:

Click here to see a list of school supplies needed by each student (mandatory by law).

Here is a short list of the items:

* School Uniforms

* Note books

* Kids picture books in English or Spanish.

* Pencils/Pens

* Art supplies

* Computers or computer components (mouse, keyboard, Etc)

* Color pencils

* Chalk

* Educational toys

* Sports equipment

* Rules--Metric,

* All kinds of schools supplies for the teachers as well and the students

Computers and Equipment:

* Working desktop and laptop computers

* RAM to upgrade old machines

* Printers & ink

* Digital Cameras (for our volunteers to use with kids / school projects)

* Photocopy machine

Art Projects:

We do lots of arts & crafts not only in the elementary school and daycare center, but also in our retirement home to help the residents with their dexterity.

* Carving tools (we do gourd carving here)

* Paints

* Artistic paint brushes

* Paper

* Coloring Books

* Markers

* Crayons

* Play-Doh

* Glue sticks Books—In Spanish preferably:

* DICTIONARIES -Spanish English

Any Kind of Resource Book on:

* Ecology or Wildlife

* Kids Picture Books

*Conservation

* Climate Change

* Education

* Sustainable development

* Tropical gardening

* Story books—Español o English

* Construction

* Latin American history

* Sex Education

Clothing:

* Rubber boots

* Shoes

* Kids clothes

* Clean used clothes

* Umbrellas

Sports:

* Surf Boards

* Skate Boards (there’s a new non-profit skate park)

* Skate Boarding equipment

* Soccer balls and equipment

* Baseball equipment (it’s the national sport of Nicaragua, we have lots of Nica friends)

* Binoculars

Medicinal:

* First aid kits. They are expensive and hard to find here.  We can get them here, but people really need regular treatments for flu, cold, cough, headache, body ache, toothache, body-aches, fever, diarrhea, cuts, infections, eye or ear infections, cramps, yeast infections, funguses, intestinal parasites, leishmaniasis.

* Band-Aids, thermometers, blood pressure tester, cotton balls, vitamins, aspirins, etc.

Other:

* Bicycles

* Rechargeable batteries and chargers.

* MONEY!  For emergency situations (food, water, transportation)

o For buying trees to reforest

o To buy construction materials for schools, NGO’s

o To sponsor the educational costs for students from low income families

* Your time: If you have time to volunteer from home, let us know. We can always use extra help!

For anyone interested in supporting a child by buying or paying for some school supplies, here is an example of what a child needs to go to school for one year in Costa Rica:

Mandatory School Supplies

USD

5 100 page notebooks $10.00

9 80 page notebooks $13.50

1 Notebook lined for Handwriting $1.00

2 100 Sheet Packs-printer paper $3.40

2 100 Sheet Packs-lined paper $3.20

1 Pack of Construction Paper $2.40

12 Letter sized folders $1.44

5 Black pens $2.50

5 Blue Pens $2.50

5 Red Pens $2.50

1 Box Color penciles (12) $2.60

1 Box penciles--black lead pencil $2.20

1 Plastic pencil sharpener $0.60

1 An Eraser $0.20

1 White glue (size 120 grams)

$1.30 1 Geometry set

$1.00 1 Compass

$1.00 1 Scissors

$1.00 1 Map of Costa Rica

$0.30 1 Spanish Dictionary

$5.00 1 Backpack

$14.00 Total for Supplies

$71.64

Uniform:

2 Blouses/Shirts $4.00

2 Socks $2.00

1 Pants $10.00

1 Shoes $14.00

Total for uniforms: $30.00

SUPPLIES & UNIFORM: $101.64

Thanks very much for your consideration!

1-800-832-9419

Apartado 8-7100, Paraiso, Costa Rica

volunteer@tropicaladventures.com

www.TropicalAdventures.com

It is only 32 days and counting until our first Christmas Project.  The lights and decorations are starting to go up all around Costa Rica and we are working really hard to ensure all the events are a day to remember for all the community members who will be taking part.  We want to make sure we put a smile on the face of everyone who attends - children and adults alike.  This year is set to be much bigger than last year and we are in much need of donations in the form of supplies (decorations, arts and crafts and gifts for the children) and money to buy these supplies and yummy food and drinks for everyone.  Please contact us if you would like to get involved in any way - we greatly appreciate every tiny amount of help that we receive.

This year we would like to be able to invite all the children from Cocles School in Puerto Viejo to come to the Puerto Viejo Christmas Party.  Cocles is a beautiful location - set back away from the beach and the lapping waves of the Caribbean Sea.  It sounds idyllic but the reality is that the school is so understaffed that pupils are only able to attend school for around 3 hours per day.  In Costa Rica, lack of schooling has a very negative effect on the long-term career prospects and money-earning potential of many of the children. Many children do not continue in school after 6th Grade as they go to work to gain extra income for their family household or they lack the ambition to continue with school studies.

Our goal and the goal of our volunteers at Cocles, as well as teaching English, is to mentor and act as role models to the children to encourage them to be interested in their studies and enable them to want to continue learning after they finish primary education.  Being able to speak English is a skill that greatly enhances career prospects in Costa Rica and without our volunteers, the students at the school would receive no English tuition at all.  English classes simply do not take place when there are no volunteers at the school.

 Today our Director, Isaac Garcia, is in Puerto Viejo to meet with the school head teacher to find out if we can invite all the school children.   It would be wonderful to see all the children there and we hope they will enjoy the fun and be inspired by the efforts of ourselves and our volunteers.  Following that meeting, Isaac has a big meeting with the Puerto Viejo Development Association Board.  This consists of 15 community leaders from the Puerto Viejo area.  Amongst other things, he will be presenting the plans for the Puerto Viejo school Summer Camp and discussing with the board the possibility of having the event in the town cultural center which is larger than last year's venue and will allow us to invite more children from the community.  Isaac will also be visiting some local business in the area, including some of the main hotels and restaurants, many of which are run by foreign ex-pats.  We are hoping many of them would like to donate to our two events in Puerto Viejo and help us out with materials for the events.

Also over the Christmas period, we are very much looking forward to welcoming a group of students from the  Central Michigan University.  As well as participating in our Christmas Projects, they will also be staying at the beautiful Camaronal Reserve and taking part in our Turtle Conservation Project there.  This project is particularly understaffed and in much need of volunteers to help protect the endangered sea-turtles from becoming extinct by ensuring their eggs are laid in a safe place and do not get poached.  This area is quite rustic and very remote but all the volunteers we have had there have had a wonderful time and usually wish they'd stayed longer.  You can read what some of our past volunteers have written about their experiences at Camaronal here.

Our friends from Michigan will get to fall asleep to the sound of the lapping waves, experience the rugged beauty of the area, see live turtles laying there eggs and above all - work with some amazingly friendly, dedicated and knowledgeable people.  In particular with this project, we are very grateful to Danilo Gabb, our friend and indigenous leader who runs the Indigenous Cultural Center in Bambu over on the opposite side of Costa Rica who will be lending us enough tents to host everyone from Michigan.  We are so lucky to have such great friends who are willing to help us and our friends on other projects out!

As always, please contact us if you would like any further information on our projects, what we do or to see how you can help.

Please also join us on Facebook and/or MySpace.

Pura Vida,

Sarah

The following is an entry written by our volunteer, Margherita Ladik, who came to us from Italy.  Margherita volunteered with us at Cocles School near Puerto Viejo on Costa Rica's Caribbean coast in October 2008.

A Volunteer Memory by Margherita Ladik

What can I say about my volunteer experience? I have no doubts, it was unique.  I discovered the real meaning of the Tico’s (Costa Rican people) common saying "Pura Vida"; they use that phrase to say ‘beautiful’, ‘ok’, ‘perfect’ and ‘I like’.

To me, it means that I have tried to do, to the best of my ability, something I never think to do at home:  to become a volunteer, to share with people from different parts of the world the same idea and the same dream – to work together to help somebody to make a better life.

I was a volunteer at Cocles elementary school, close to Puerto Viejo de Talamanca on the Caribbean  coast. My host family was a continual coming and going of many people: mum, dad, two daughters, the grandmother and grandfather, an uncle and a little nephew; a very "Big" family with a great sense of hospitality, kindness, generosity and affection who really made me feel part of the family.

The elementary school of Cocles consists of a little refectory, two classrooms, a big garden and 150
children. The children, all equal in their white and blue school uniform, had no English books but loved to learn by doing games and drawing. When they began to draw, they expressed a strong feeling about their country and their families. I was a little part of their world and before I came back to Italy, visibly moved, I collected messages and colored drawings... Sure I will never forget.

It wasn't a vacation, it was the desire to live a different life, a life of only a few weeks, but, for sure,  that counts more than many months made up of the same day "tainted" by a frenetic rhythm that
often brings nothing. I took a few photographs, I imprinted the best memories in my mind so that I can just take them out from a little tin-plated box and they will not be faded because there
are some events in one’s own life that we will always remember with "bright colors".

In Puerto Viejo I left my Costa Rican mum and her big family, 150 children and their contagious vitality, my new tropical friends, the ocean and its lullaby...and then I left geckos, cute sloths, little iguanas and peaceful alley dogs...catty bugs and mosquitos...very high palms and banana trees that grow up like the oleanders grow in the south of Italy.  Last but not least, I left a part of me; I can see myself riding my bike to school along the dusty road and relaxing on my favourite rocking chair whilst looking up at the night stars.  I taken with me a new Margherita, "Margherita Pura Vida"' an antidote for when the "stone" in myself struggles to win the day.

I hope you enjoy your experience in Costa Rica!

 

Pura Vida!

 

Margherita

Read about our up-coming Christmas Holiday Projects (there's still time to volunteer!) and check out our Facebook Group and Picture Gallery for more insight on Tropical Adventures.