Celebrating Thanksgiving in Potrero!

Written by: Anna Hergt

Some United States holidays aren't commonly celebrated in Potrero, but for the sake of fun, we like to spread the word. On Thanksgiving, that word was “THANKS!”. We started off the day with Kindergarten kids, who had been learning about the letter N, so we decided to make Native American headdresses. They wrote their names and colored nature-related things on their headbands and then taped on the "feathers." It’s quite nice how excited they were to tape on their scrap paper triangles and celebrate proudly with us.

Kinder with their head dresses!

Grades 3^rd, 5^th, and 6^th were all in the next class, so we made a Tree of Thanks! Up on their mural they each posted colorful fall leaves, a strange concept here, and effortlessly wrote in English, “I am thankful for...” Most of them said "friends" and "family" and "my house," all blessings we sometimes take for granted.

Tree of Thanks!

Color-by-Number rainbow turkeys was the last activity for the 1^st, 2^nd, and 4^th graders. Colors and numbers are subjects that they are especially good at so they had a blast and kept very quiet as they concentrated. A quiet classroom is rare here at Abriendo Mentes! When they were done the noise began again as we talked about how to say "thank you" in different languages. Our German volunteer Lynn taught them “Danke!” and we continued on to try and pronounce many other world languages.

Nayelli coloring her rainbow turkey

This Thanksgiving, we’d all like to say Gracias, Merci, Arigato, and any other way we could possibly let you know how thankful we are that there are people out there supporting AM even by something as simple as reading this. Salud!

A Healthy Community is a Happy Community

Written by: Shannon Ghere

When it comes to health and nutrition, Potrero is struggling like communities all over the world. Obesity is an epidemic among adults and is creeping into the lives of children. Diabetes is becoming more and more common and many people in Potrero are unsure exactly what the disease is or how to address it. It is because of this that the women of the AM women’s group, Mujeres Activas de Potrero (MAP), asked for more information on nutrition. We invited Dr. Judith Lipton to join us at a MAP meeting and share information on nutrition and healthy habits.

Traditional Costa Rican food provides a healthy and balanced diet. The province of Nicoya, just about an hour from Potrero, was named one of the 5 “Blue Zones” in the earth. The five Blue Zones include: Sardinia, Italy; Okinawa, Japan; Loma Linda, California; Nicoya, Costa Rica; and Icaria, Greece. The populations in these regions commonly live active lives over 100 years old and suffer from a small fraction of diseases that commonly plague other communities. While a traditional Costa Rican diet is nutritious and healthy, here in Potrero processed, fatty, salt and sugar heavy foods have filled our shelves and our bellies, creating an epidemic of obesity and diabetes. Living in poverty, many families do not have the knowledge or opportunity to change their current path and their children are beginning a similar pattern at a young age.

Dr. Lipton shared healthy eating tips with MAP, taught us how to read product labels effectively, and answered our questions about our own nutrition and child nutrition. She stressed the simple rule that we should all try to follow: Eat like your grandmother ate as she was growing up.

This information can be especially powerful and effective in the hands of women. In an epidemic such as this, the women of MAP can be crucial in changing the eating habits of the community as they are primarily responsible for the food in their households. Dr. Lipton will continue to join MAP to discuss other health related topics in the future including self breast exams and sexual health. Following up on our nutrition class, Dr. Lipton will be joining us early January to help us make healthy New Year’s resolutions and take our weight, measurements, and blood pressure to track our progress each month.

A Fun Filled Trip to the Feria Forestal

Written by Caroline Kirkendoll

The first Saturday in November marked the inaugural outing for our freshly restarted women's group, now known as Mujeres Activas del Potrero (Active Women of Potrero). After an early morning departure from Potrero we made the 2 hour drive south into the mountains to a town called Hojancha. Hoja Ancha literally translates into "wide leaf" and was named by the locals after a tree with large leaves that is found throughout the area.

Hojancha is known throughout Costa Rica for its incredible biodiversity, so it was fitting that this feria forestal (forest fair) took place in an area well-practiced in the art of forest sustainability and Eco-conservation. Six Potrero women and their eight children accompanied the Abriendo Mentes volunteers as we went about exploring the rows of booths inside sun-shaded tents. Although we visited on the last day of a 3-day festival there was still lots to be seen!

Verenice, Dilan and Emanuel on the park slide!

We were instantly mesmerized by an eye-popping display of dozens of butterfly specimens and a fish tank full of live koi. Each booth had representatives ready to pass out information and we walked away with lots of brochures, and a desire to make a trip back to the area to explore the underground caves of Barra Honda!

Anna & Ilene browsing the booths

What was particularly encouraging to us was the number of booths manne d by single women selling everything from rosaries made from tree seeds to jewelry made from painted glass. We learned that Hojancha also has a women's group, called Hojarte - get it?! - and they sell all kinds of handmade items, such as bags and jewelry, made from recycled goods. It was very inspirational to see how successful they are!

Judit with some of the beautiful jewelry

After a morning exploring we loaded everyone up and set off back to Potrero, full of ideas and inspiration for our mujeres activas! We are very excited to continue expanding the horizons of our local women, and hopefully sometime soon we'll have our own booth at a local feria! Many thanks to Andres of Bahia del Sol for organizing transportation and making this trip

Caroline and Andres enjoy some traditional meat on a stick