Vintage

I just got back from my second visit to Santa Teresita, Costa Rica a few weeks ago. I always return from these trips with this overwhelming feeling to change my life and do whatever I can to help these communities we have met thus far. This recent return was no different than the others, except I now had one of my family members feeling the same way.

About a week before I left for Costa Rica, my sister Paulette called to say she wanted to join me on this trip. Although Costa Rica is "developed" in many travelers eyes, there are still communities that are is great need. I was worried how she would react to what I am trying to do. My sister and her family go on pretty nice vacations. I was concerned that she was going to be too uncomfortable being out of her element. I was pleasantly surprised to say that just the opposite happened. When we arrived at the primary school in Sta. Teresita the entire community came out to welcome us. It was great to see familiar faces and meet new ones. We briefly spoke with the teachers and the town leaders about the following day's activites. I walked my sister around to show her how everyone lives and to drop by a kids home who I met last time. Fernando stole my heart! He is the sweetest kid you will ever meet. He has suffered most of his life with bone disease in his lower right leg. He just finished his 2nd surgery a few months ago. He has a halo on his leg that he will wear for another 2 years. His families home has a dirt floor, other than the pieces of drift wood they found to try and cover it. The dirt is bad for Fernando's leg and keeps it from healing faster. It is my personal goal to help Fernando live more comfortably and hopefully heal faster.

When we finished the first day my sister looked at me and asked how she could start to help. That is when I knew CAF had something special. We are truly helping those in need in Central America and it is starting to make sense. From all of the letters I've written to the fundraisers to the many times I've cried and asked myself "what am I doing?"...it is starting to make sense. We are finding others who share the same passion (helping others) and things are starting to happen.

We brought school books and tons of supplies the following day. We discussed the building of the retaining wall and how we would like to build more rooms to fit 90 kids. We are planning to bring each student the books they need to get a good primary education in February (the start of their school year). I mean, imagine, out of 80 students they had this past year, only 6 or so kids could afford just one out of four books they need. It blew my mind and therefor, I will be back VERY soon

I want to thank the community of Nosara, Jason, Tiffany, Meghan and the staff at the Guilded Iguana for taking care of me and my sister. I also want to thank my Board of Directors and my family for their continued support and energy. I look forward to returning to Santa Teresita soon and continuing this amazing journey.