A challenge

At times being at the river community has been discouraging, you begin to wonder if you are actually a help or a hindrance. We have realized that the more you give some people the more they take and the less grateful they become, it becomes an expectation instead of an appreciation. After much thought we have decided to keep going to the river and to keep loving on the children. It is always going to be hard to break a cycle of life and it is not something which is possible in a short period of time. I think sometimes you have to lay aside the big picture and concentrate on the now, what you can do in the moments that you have- or else in some cases nothing will ever begin. Every child deserves to experience love and to have some positive role models in their life even if it is for just a short time. Simply showing them right from wrong, disapproving of fighting, insisting on respect and showing them how to treat one another carries value and shows them that there is another way.

The heartbreaking part is that as soon as you leave your reinforcements of love and respect are replaced by another way of life. For example as I mentioned earlier we are constantly telling the children not to fight. Last week after we left the parents and grandparents marked out a fighting ring and put two of the little children inside, Tito and Manuel who are ages three and four. They forced the children to fight, the adults were laughing and cheering. Manuel took a few blows from Tito and then began crying his eyes out in pain, the grandfather marched over and began yelling and shouting at little Manuel, instructing him that men do not cry. The rest of the parents including Manuel’s mother carried on laughing and jeering for more fighting.

At times like this you feel so powerless and out of your depth. You question if there is any point to what you are doing. You have to believe that there is, you have to keep hoping and planting seeds of truth in their lives, which one-day you pray will bloom and blossom producing fruit of their own.

 Making salt dough

 Inside the Rancho playing with the salt dough- the kids loved this.

 Kaylor eating the salt dough

Kaylor eating a crayon (this is a daily occurrence)

 Tito, Kaylor and I playing with my camera

 Rob and Brian coloring

 More coloring in the rancho

 group hug..... group tackle

Kaylor being adorable as always

Who is pulling your strings?

According to an independent research group in Britain “Cost Rica is the happiest place in the world”

(http://articles.cnn.com/2009-07-05/world/costa.rica.happy.nation_1_costa-rica-climate-change-central-american-countries?_s=PM:WORLD)

Not only is it the happiest place but life expectancy is also one of the longest in the world. 

From an outsiders perspective there at times seems little to no opportunity here, the only glimmer of hope comes in the form of tourism. The wages are terrible and in comparison to wages the cost of living is high. Many families; grandparents, parents, children and in some cases their children’s children all live in the same household.

I will restate that here live some of the happiest people in the world. Did we miss something? There is no mention of college education, no elaborate health care, no high power job, no mansion and Mercedes. The pace of life glides along with the speed of a tortoise, family life is inescapable and most things steer on the side of minimalist.

In the distance I see many of us in the western world, each one of us suspended on strings.

What is controlling you? Who is pulling your strings? Is it really worth it? Are you truly happy?

The pursuit of money, social status, image, self worth, education, retirement, healthcare, career, mortgage, credit card debt, car loan, student loans, ideal family, politics, religion...

... the truth will set you free (John 8:32) 

A little update

A little update…

Firstly we are of course still thoroughly enjoying Costa Rica. The newest addition to our schedule is spending time at the ‘river community’. Every morning at nine o’clock we head to the river for a few hours, where we are greeted with beaming smiles that make every minute of your time so worth it. We spend time with the children, get to know them and work on building relationships. I am already extremely attached and it has only been a few days! I had a fleeting thought today, that eventually we are going to have to leave and the thought of never seeing the children again brought a few tears to my eyes.

 Kaylor and I

 The river houses

 Tito being Tito

 A plank becomes a slide

 Jasmine and Angie ... quite the posers

Precious little Kevin

Today I did a tiny sewing project with the kids, it was so much fun. We made finger puppets. I could not believe how well the kids picked up sewing, even the three year olds! I slightly regret the fact that the only color felt that I brought with me is blue; looks like every character we make will be half human half smurf.

 The children not only love to have their photo taken but they love to take photos of you too! we will see how long my camera lasts...

Other than that Rob is enjoying surfing a lot, unfortunately he lost his wedding ring whilst in the ocean the other day :( but I suppose that there are worse things that could have happened like being eaten by a shark, stung by a sting ray, snapped by a salt water crocodile or crushed in a humongous wave.

Nothing else really exciting happening as of the moment, just living the dream… sand, sun, sea and the occasional thunderstorm accompanied by a power cut. Well actually on the subject of exciting I did find some cheap chocolate at the super market today, which is o so good… maybe partly due to the fact that we have not had any for about a month!

Until next time! 

Lilly

I don’t know your name but I call you Lilly.

You are so precious and beautiful, as delicate and fragile as an intricate flower.

Your head is always face down weighted with untold stories and unmet pleas, you walk with the demeanor of invisibility.

You cover your’ face with your hair, you hide under it’s thick black mass, do you feel that it offers you protection?

The steady pendulum motion of the swing temporarily fills your empty void for attention. The chains you cling to appear to hold you prisoner.

You’re as quiet and still as the pale moonlight; no sound comes out from your innocent lips. Is this because you have given up on anyone listening?

I hear the cries that your dark eyes sing, I feel your loneliness that creeps out from within.

I loved you from the minute I saw you, it was love at first sight, there you were in your tiny red sundress chewing on a discarded piece of plastic retrieved from the dusty park ground.

When I hold you my soul momentarily bares your pain, I weep when I think of the life that you’re in. How can I help you? This question haunts me.

I pray that Gods’ angels carry you out of harms way! O darling Lilly what have your infant eyes seen? What have your infant ears heard? My dear little one I dread to think of the backbreaking burden that your tiny body carries already.

Precious child your situation breaks my heart. If I could take you home with me I would do it in an instant. I would steal you away from the future that awaits you riddled with traps of prostitution, alcoholism and drug abuse.

My darling Lilly all I can do for now is hold you and love you, pray that Gods’ face shines upon you, pray for a miracle.

My heart aches for you my darling Lilly.

Please pray for the children in Jaco.

Highlights and goldilocks

Where to begin… I have waited far to long to blog.

The highlight of our trip so far has to be helping out with kids club. The children jump all over you and are so attention hungry. Whilst at the park we have not seen one father. Many of the children were with grandmothers or very young teenage mums (moms). The children are so loveable we just wanted to take them all home with us. We are so excited for kids club again tomorrow.

 

Rob has been enjoying surfing and has just bought a new board he would like me specify that it is a 5”8 lost rocket, which he is completely in love with- I might be a tiny bit jealous. On the subject of Rob he has also managed to get knocked off his bike… when he first told me I thought he was exaggerating until he told me that he was on the bonnet (hood) of the car. I blame his terrible driving (bike riding) he claims the car turned directly in front of him to use a driveway.

We have now moved ‘house’ three times and are thinking that it is definitely third time lucky in this case. It feels a little like goldilocks and the three bears; the first was too dirty, the second too noisy and the third is just right- and it just happens to have a pool :)

 Here is our new apartment for the next month.

 

Other than that we have been opening up the skate park at Christian Surfers and getting to know the local kids, riding our bikes a lot and of course we have to spend some time on the beach… it would be wrong not to!

The past few days in pictures…

At the farmers market.

 A hike up the mountain for a fantastic view.

This morning we biked and walked to the end of the beach point. We had a lot of fun looking in all the rock pools (tide pools) seeing the tiny tropical fish and the abundance of crabs. We spotted a hermit crab on the sand and before we knew it we discovered that the whole area was covered with these tiny undercover agents. They were so funny to watch the minute they thought you had seen them they would stop on the spot and roll over ‘dead’. You would not believe how many there were and how small some could be, imagine the teensiest shell that you have ever seen, some of them had to be only about 3 millimeters big.

spot the hermit.

On our walk to the beach point.

Dad you would be proud... we took this photograph on a timer!

We love Costa Rica

The last few days have just been wonderful. Rob and I have been getting settled and are very happy here. We have been opening up the skate park on weekdays from 3-5 for the local kids. So far we have met some awesome kids and parents, they are such friendly and kindhearted people. We are trying to practice our Spanish and they speak a little English so we are managing to communicate quite well considering.

Even though we have only been here for 6 days, it feels like so much longer. The days seem to last forever, the pace of life glides along and Costa Rican time seems to be on it’s own unique system. We are getting used to the heat and thoroughly enjoying the sunshine. We are both looking a little less white, I have a severe heat rash and am acting as a bug repellent to Rob… the bugs’ bite me and leave Rob alone. Obviously we know who is the sweetest of the two :)

We have made some truly amazing friends who are so hospitable, down to earth and just fantastic fun to be around. They are keeping us very entertained and have revealed a few stories that I must share with you.

First up is Dot or as I like to call her Dotty. She is just such a fascinating, smart, strong, wonderful and kindhearted lady. Well Dot has officially proved to me that the breed ‘Shopoholics’ truly exists. She has a keen eye for a great deal and can bargain on anything! One time when shopping at TJ Max, Dotty began piling all her fabulous finds over her arm whilst scouring the store for more treasures. The pile grew so humungous that she snapped her wrist! Can you believe it! Surely this story must be published in something like the Guinness World Record book, I feel that she deserves some credit for her dedication to shopping and her stamina to find a great deal. And to continue, this story gets even better; the sassy Texan style queen chose a pale blue cast for her broken wrist as she felt the color coordinated with her wardrobe the best.

-Dot we think that you and Lonnie are just magnificent people and feel so privileged to have met you. We are so sad that you are leaving.

Next is the irresistible Vida, her personality is captivating and she just overflows with love and joy. There are already so many stories about Vida but I will choose one for now. Rob, Davey, Phoebe and I were on Jaco main street, walking around in the early evening. We ran into Vida and Maurice (I actually call Maurice George because the first time I saw a photograph of him I thought he was George Clooney!) They were happy and laughing (as always) and then George started to unfold their recent comedy. They were riding their bikes down main street and George was talking to Vida, when he didn’t hear a response he turned around and was baffled as to where she was “Vida where are you??” he then hears fits of laughter, Vida and fallen into an empty fountain. Apparently this is a regular occurrence for Vida, she regularly falls and disappears into ditches and such.

-Vida and George, it feels as though we have known you so much longer than we have. You are such loving, hospitable and wonderful people who are so enjoyable to be around. We look forward to spending more time with you :)

We love Costa Rica.

A few pictures for you, sorry we haven't really taken many photos yet.

This is the CS hostel where we are staying. Our place is the one level building to the left of the picture.

 The view from our window.


Kitchen.

 The coconut mission. It was a team effort from Rob and Davey.

 success.

A slice of paradise

Yesterday

Riding a bike in Jaco is like playing a video game except you are the main character. The thing that seems to work the best is to try and ignore everything that you have been taught not to do in any other country. It really is quite exciting, I think that my dawkiest moment was when I said to Rob “I feel like I am in a movie”.

This afternoon in town at about 2pm, which is one of the busiest times, two cars driving in opposite directions on the main street suddenly recognized each other and stopped in the middle of the road to have a conversation. Cars started beeping (honking for you yankees) the people carried on talking, more cars were beeping… ad least fifty by this point, but these people seemed to be having such a wonderful conversation that they appeared oblivious to the chaos that they were causing. Cars and motorcycles began mounting pavements (sidewalks) and finding their own alternative route, Rob and I watched in amusement and then decided that we should find a gap and get out of there.

At the moment we have a power outage it has been a few hours by candlelight now… which also means no fans, it’s 7.10pm and has been dark for an hour but somehow it is still 85 degrees, as I write this Rob is laying on the tiled floor seeking a little coolness!

I think that everyday in Costa Rica will be a little adventure; you never quite know what is going to happen.

 Today

Today we soaked up a little slice of paradise. We helped set up for an Easter Sunday service at a very nice hotel, which in turn meant that we got to spend a few hours swimming in their pool :)

 It was the most beautiful setting that I have ever been to church in.

We met a lot of new friends which was really great. There seems to be a good community of English speakers from all over the world… Argentina, France, Switzerland, Canada and a lot from different US States.

Today has been a great day full of lovely people and a beautiful country.