Over 2, 400 small and medium producers have lost their crops in the province of Limon due to the last  flooding this first week of February 2009. A total of more than 6,400 acres were affected. This number  doesn’t include the banana fields from the big banana companies in the country. Winds were up to the speed of 100 kilometers per hour. Temperatures reached  13 degrees Celsius were usually the temperature is 25 degrees. This phenomenon has affected all of Central America, but Costa Rica has borne the brunt of it since the country was hit really hard by catastrophic flooding barely two months ago.

After three days of endless rain, 18 shelters were opened last week to welcome rescued people from their endangered areas. In total 18,000 people were affected by the flooding, 125 communities are under water, 3,500 people were affected directly and another 15,000 indirectly according to the National Emergency Committee in Costa Rica. Three people were killed by being dragged by the current of the water, not in or near the rivers, but on the main road between San Jose and Limón. One of the rivers submerged the highway and trapped a motorcycle driver. He just couldn’t fight against the power of the current.

An entire bus was dragged down the main highway when a “rush of water” covered it with 30 passengers.  Fortunately nobody died as the survivors were forced to swim away between plantain trees. One person is still missing, and that’s without counting the Indigenous territory where the news reporters haven’t gone because access is nearly impossible.

 
 

These incredible news stories are all over the local TV stations in the country. We watch them in shock and we pray for all these people who have lost so much. Yet at the same time, we’re complaining and suffering ourselves from the cold weather conditions. However at least we’re safe, as we’re in a different part of the country. 

Costa Rica has always been a country that knows how to respond to these kinds of problems. Solidarity is part of our culture, even when you hear about all these crazy events where crime, drugs and insecurity present problems. Supposedly, we’re growing more and more distant from each other as a culture. Not because we don’t want to talk, but because we feel safer avoiding other people. At least that’s what they tell us. 

           

The recent earthquake that brought us all to tears killed 23 people. Seven are still missing. Damages are estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Four towns have been completely wiped off the map. One of the most visited waterfalls in the country doesn’t exist anymore. And now, for the second time in less than 2 months, flooding hits the same area.  All these natural disasters have reminded us how vulnerable we are and how everything can change in just one day. And at same time, these disasters bring us closer together as a community.

The Bank of Costa Rica, along with channel 6 and other radio stations started a campaign to raise funds for the people affected by the earthquake. The bank pledged to match the amount of money raised by the campaign. More than $ 900,000 USD was raised in just a week. On top of this, more than 364 millions of colones ($661.000 USD) were received in international help. China, Spain, USA and the World Bank were the first to respond to the requests.

Spain donated $200,000 USD, China $100,000 USD, USA $50,000 and the World Bank $200,000.

For the flooding on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica last November, tons of donations were received through local organizations and even the USA. Through seemingly endless helicopter hours, food packages and water were delivered to the mountains of the indigenous territory where people were trapped with nothing to eat or drink.

For the earthquake, the Colombian government brought a special team with a helicopter to rescue people from the mountains who were trapped in the landslides and underground. 

This is just the way it is when you live in a country like Costa Rica. We appeal to other countries’ hearts for special help. Even when there's a crisis, we still need to ask for help.

Being a very small, “third world” country with no army (since 1948), asking for help from more developed countries is sometimes our only option.

When we all hear about the economic crisis around the world, do we really think about how this is affecting the poorest countries in the world? To some, economic crisis means to sacrifice a vacation or to eat out less often. To less fortunate countries it means to sacrifice food at home. And what does it mean to the people affected by these natural disasters?

They say that it’s during tough times people are willing to give more. If you try to make sense of this, you may find yourself confused. Why would anyone, knowing that everything can just collapse in a few months, still be willing to give more instead of saving more to secure their future? Why would I want to share what I have if I don’t know if I’m going to lose it because of this economic crisis?  Would it be because we still have hopes about the world? Do we all need these events to remind us that we’re all sharing the same planet? What is the world trying to tell us all? Are we listening to what’s happening or are these events just news on the TV? Who are we nowadays? Is it too hard to cooperate “just because?” What can we do? How can we be proactive in our relationship with the world?

Shelter in Cinchona for the people affected by the earthquake

All of us at Tropical Adventures are appealing to the core heart of the people reading this. We’re looking for help from those willing to share this story with others and do something about it.  Tropical Adventures has been sharing three beautiful years with the people of Bambu, one of the areas most affected by the flooding. More than 100 volunteers have chosen this area as their project. Here we have created beautiful unconditional friends who are happy to share their love and humbleness with others. This is the way people live their lives in the indigenous communities here. They just open their arms to their brothers. We’re all humans and we’re all the same. Whatever you have, you just share it. This speaks to the essence of the costarican people. This is why our volunteers love spending time with our host families, getting to know the communities and experiencing a sense of belonging. If you visit these areas, this is what you get. Is this worth saving? Are they worth helping?

 Once, the president of Uruguay in 1989 said: “Wherever there’s a costarican, wherever he is, there’s freedom.”

Help us again to bring joy and hope to the people affected by the flooding in Talamanca. Please, give us a chance to let these people know that, even in spirit, you’re with them and that you don’t feel sorry for them. You share in their pain and you support them.

If you’re reading this and want to help out here are some suggestions.

·         Daily Food supplies (rice, beans, grains, pasta, salt, coffee, sugar, toilet paper, cans, oil, and     cookies)

·         First aid kits and basic medicines

·         Clothes for all sizes

Please contact us toll-free at 1-800-832-9419 from the US or Canada, or internationally at +(506) 25-74-4412, or send us an email to info@tropicaladventures.com

God Bless you all!

Last week we published the story of Alto Katsi, where we described the school and the kids’ health conditions. Just one day later, the Saint Patrick School in Chesterton, Indiana, USA was already willing to help us out with this humanitarian cause. 

 

They’re always open to helping us and to coming forward when is time to make a difference in the rural communities where we work in Costa Rica.

 

Kathi Mudd is a currently a teacher aide at the Saint Patrick School. She came down to Costa Rica with her family to volunteer with Tropical Adventures twice. The first time they worked in the Bambu Indigenous Community and the Puerto Viejo beach area and the second time, they volunteered at our wildlife rescue center.

Read Kathi's testimonial here

During our last holiday campaign in 2008, Kathi introduced the idea of our Christmas Parties to her principal, Ruth McCullough, who became excited about the idea and encouraged all the students at the school to collaborate in collecting endless toys, gift bags, new school backpacks and all the necessary school supplies for all the 6^th graders at the Bratsi School in Bambu. Their campaign was incredible and, thanks to their beautiful gesture, we provided joy to more than 250 kids in the indigenous area, where the kids were very grateful and enjoyed an amazing day.

See Bambu Christmas Party Pictures here

Simple ideas can make a big difference in another part of the world. At the Saint Patrick School, students can choose to wear jeans once a month instead of the daily school uniform. If they want to wear jeans they have to pay the amount of $1 USD. This money goes towards different school projects. In this case, the school has chosen to use the money that will be raised on March 16^th to help out the Alto Katsi community. Tropical Adventures’ idea is to buy the injections and pills necessary to treat the flesh-eating worm called “papalomoyo.” We also hope to deliver enough school supplies for all 22 kids and to finally get some money to help rebuild the precarious school.

Like we mentioned in our last blog entry, Nidia Bonilla, in Costa Rica, has already raised the amount of $800 to put towards the school.

We want to express our gratitude to the Saint Patrick School for always being so open to help us make a difference in these small communities. Our appreciation is endless and we have no words to describe how much it means for us to have people like them on our side.

Besides the Saint Patrick School, several Tropical Adventures’ friends have offered to help with clothes, food packages, medicines, rubber boots and school supplies.

 We just can’t say thank you enough for helping us to bring joy to the Alto Katsi community.

If you’re reading this and want to help out here are some suggestions.

·       Daily Food supplies (rice, beans, grains, pasta, salt, coffee, sugar, toilet paper, cans, oil, and cookies)

·       Construction material for the school.   

·        First aid kits

·        School supplies.

·        Rubber boots - all sizes

Donate Here to help the Alto Katsi Comunity

See Alto Katsi Pictures here

Please contact us toll-free at 1-800-832-9419 from the US or Canada,  or internationally at +(506) 25-74-4412, or send us an email to info@tropicaladventures.com

In Costa Rica the Indigenous territory of Talamanca covers 43,643 hectares. Tropical  Adventures has been working in the Bribri area of Talamanca, specifically in the community of Bambu for over three years already.  Click on the pictures to enlarge.

Here we have been lucky enough to  find people who are natural leaders, like Danilo Layan Gabb. Thanks to his desire to see Bambu grow, improve and become self-sufficient, Tropical Adventures has been able to gain access to the areas where real needs are waiting for an urgent solution.

    

Last week, we visited for the first time, the community of Alto Katsi. We crossed the Telire River by boat, and then we traveled in the back of an old truck for about 45 minutes going up towards the mountains. Then, at the end of the road, we had to walk, carrying boxes with donations, for about an hour through rivers and trails. Even after two days of sunshine, we were hiking all the way through deep in mud.

 

Danilo’s idea was to show us the elementary school and the kids’ health conditions.  Both of them were very shocking. Living in a country like Costa Rica, little by little we start getting used to seeing poverty, pretty much everywhere. People dealing with low or no salaries, kids going to school where they don’t receive a good education, teenagers quitting high school because they need to make money to help their parents, and the stories keep on going. 

At some point in our lives here in Costa Rica, I don’t know when it happens, but we start thinking that these situations are normal.  We lose our sense of community and we just choose to believe that it’s “just the way it is” and there’s nothing we can do about it. Sometimes, we don’t even like to hear these stories so that we can pretend everything is fine.

When I arrived to Alto Katsi, my first thought was to stay in a loving space and to remind myself that there’s no “right” or “wrong” in Alto Katsi. It’s just the way it is there and we’re all humans having different life experiences, but we’re still the same. Like Danilo reminds me all the time, “we’re all humans.” 

The school is nothing more than a shack – if you can call it that. It is falling apart completely. One of the main bases that holds the structure is sinking due to the heavy rains the entire country received in November of 2008. The roof built out of the traditional indigenous leaves has holes everywhere and, finally, the floor is totally rotted out.

The building is very simple. What looks like a wall is what separates the area where the kids receive the lessons and what is meant to be a storage area. There are no seats or desks for the kids, just a tiny blackboard containing this message: “The decision made by all the parents is to pay the man who cut and finished the wood the amount of 1,100 colones (an equivalent of $1.98 USD).” The restroom was destroyed by the heavy rains and winds. There’s no running water at the school, not to mention a dining area for the kids who desperately need some nutritional attention. After two days of beautiful sunshine, the entrance of the school was still full of mud as if it just rained an hour ago.

All of the kids were wearing old rubber boots, some of those were already broken because that’s the only pair of shoes they have. You could see that some of the clothes they were wearing were not their size anymore, but maybe they keep using them because they don’t have other option. They were all very shy at the beginning. Danilo directed the activity speaking to them in the beautiful Bribri Language. The entire time I was there they only spoke in Bribri. It’s a weird sensation to be in your own country and not to understand a word of what people are saying right next to you.  All I could do was to be quite and then I took some pictures while they were talking.  While I was doing this, something called my attention. The kids’ faces were all turned towards the boxes that we brought with us. They didn’t say a word to me; they just keep staring at me. But as soon as I would glance at them, they’d quickly look towards the ground.

After Danilo finished talking to them, he finally told me they all speak Spanish (this is unusual for a remote location like this). So I introduced myself and explained to them the purpose of my trip to their community. You could see they were very grateful. They all started to talk to me, welcoming me with big hugs and smiles. First, they just wanted to express their gratitude for my going there and taking the time to meet them in person.  To be honest, I felt like I was the lucky one!

As I explained earlier, we carried some boxes with us all that way. The boxes were full of clothes and toys for the kids (donated by the Chamber of Tourism of Puerto Viejo). It was hard enough just walking to get there and trying to keep myself from falling in the mud, but carrying the boxes certainly didn’t help at all.  To keep myself going, I had to keep thinking of the kids’ faces when they’d see the clothes and toys.

 When Danilo told me to start giving away the toys, the kids faces lit up. They were very respectful, always thinking first of their siblings or the younger kids before themselves. It was really nice to see how ready and willing to share they were.

There were more than enough clothes for all the kids, especially the small ones. The smallest one received tons of clothes, so many that the mom felt embarrassed at some point. 

At least half of the kids in the school had scars on their faces. When I asked Danilo about those, he told me it was a flesh-eating worm called “papalomoyo.” Being from Costa Rica I hear about this kind of stuff, but I’ve never seen the incredible scars they can provoke if you don’t treat them on time or at all. Those marks are going to stay with those kids for the rest of their lives.  The only way to treat the worm is with an injection called Glucantine. A daily dose is necessary to administer for a full month until it dissolves and kills the worm completely. Then some kind of antibacterial cream can be applied on the scar.

Of course these kinds of medicines can’t be found there. The closest EBAI (small, free medical clinics located throughout the country) is in Amubre, which is like an hour away by horse, crossing several rivers and mountains. The next closest EBAI is in Suretka, several hours by foot or a combination of hiking, a truck ride that costs the equivalent of about $6 USD (who has that kind of money there?) and a boat ride across the Telire river (another $1.10 USD). 

The people from Alto Katsi used to work in the plantain fields in the area. Now they are all out of work because of the flooding. And, according to Danilo, they used to make an average of 1,500 colones per day ($3 USD).

So, what this means is if they want to buy the medicine to treat the papolomoyo, they have to be ready to spend more than $50 USD. Again, who has that kind of money there?

Before even posting this story on our website, Nidia Bonilla, a woman from San Jose, got together 450,000 colones ( $818 USD) to use toward  rebuilding the school.

She is taking a trip this next Wednesday, February 11^th, to Alto Katsi with some volunteer engineers to see what it is that they can do with that amount to rebuild the school. 

Our goal is to prepare enough schools supply packages for the 20 kids and hopefully help Nidia with more money to build something decent for the kids where they can receive classes and have a working bathroom.

Thanks to the Saint Patrick School in Chesterton Indiana and their successful Holiday Campaign, we have some of the school supplies we need for these kids in Alto Katsi. But what we have is not enough.  If you’re reading this and there’s a way in which you can help us out to bring some joy to these kids please, contact us toll-free at 1-800-832-9419 from the US or Canada, or internationally at  +(506) 25-74-4412, or send us an email to info@tropicaladventures.com

    DONATE HERE

Thank you so much for your endless support. It’s because of people like you that we can continue doing our work.

Visit our Photo Gallery for more pics of this story: Alto Katsi Pics

Tropical Adventures have been providing services to this Institution for more than three years. More than 50 volunteers have offered to share their love with the residents. Reading them, playing with them, exercising, walking, making crafts, celebrating the Holidays, beautifying the building,  their rooms and more.

Juan Antonio was a man who was not easy to access but when He was in the playroom with the other folks and the volunteers, He always brought enthusiasm, joy and a desire to live.
We will miss you Juan Antonio.
Rest in peace.