Abriendo Mentes welcomes a new office AND a new classroom

And not in the same space!

Two new opportunities presented themselves to us in the past 2 months. A very generous man named Terry who owns an office in the Casa del Sol office complex in Potrero offered us the use of his office space! This has been one of our dreams from the beginning, to have our own private space to house all the supplies, do small classes and in the future, create a computer lab for computer classes.

Downstairs in the new office space!

It was a far off dream that would have taken a lot of capital, but Terry made this dream come true for us. He had the idea of donating the use of his unused office space for the benefit of the community, and of course we accepted with much gratitude. The space is coming together nicely, electricity just turned on, furniture slowly rolling in; it is becoming our own. We plan to start the pre-school classes there next week, and are collecting funds and computers (we already have one donated!) for our computer lab, slated to be up and running by the beginning of 2011. Thank you Terry for making our dream a reality.

The upstairs arts and crafts area

On top of this great news, Potrero also welcomed the opening of a new Youth Center this month. Built in the place of the old dilapidated Police Station, the Youth Center was built with funds raised by the Potrero Association within the community of Potrero and Flamingo. It is truly a community project. The new space is open, airy and bright; a great environment for learning.

Mateo, Sofia and Nayelli in the new Youth Center!

We are fortunate enough to be included on the list of groups that have access to operate in the Youth Center. We currently split our time between this new space and the Salon Comunal beside it. If nothing else, this building is a monument to the progress that Potrero is making and shows the community's dedication to enhancing education and opportunities for the future.

Drew, Geral and Brandon doing a worksheet in the new Youth Center

If you are interested in donating resources of money to support the creation of a computer lab in Potrero, or to help add interior improvements to the Youth Center (noise canceling wall fixtures are a must) please contact us at opening.minds.project@gmail.com or visit http://www.omprakash.org/partner_profile/p/65 to make a tax deductible donation.

Community art workshop with visiting artist Narda Boughton

During August, we were thrilled to welcome Narda Boughton to Potrero for a two-week long art workshop designed for the children of Playa Potrero and implemented in Abriendo Mentes classes.

Instantly, Narda captured the attention, minds and hearts of the students with her compassion, care, and knowledge of the fine arts. Adding to the success of the workshop, Narda's fluency in Spanish allowed her to explain the detailed art concepts to the children in Spanish, while incorporating English vocabulary such as colors, shapes, etc... into the lessons. The attendance was outstanding; we had students attend that had never been to Abriendo Mentes classes before, and thanks to the workshop, are still attending regular classes to this day.

Narda covered topics from sketching, making shapes and mixing colors, to drawing and painting self portraits, creating skin color, and paper mache. Throughout the workshop, Narda emphasized life lessons as well; the importance of taking care of your belongings, respecting your environment and respecting others.

To say the children enjoyed these two weeks would be an understatement. For a group of children that have never participated in a structured art class in their lives, this was a little slice of paradise for them. On the day we were drawing self-portraits, Melanny [an outgoing 11 year old girl] looked at her self-portrait in astonishment "I never thought I could do something like this, I am so proud of myself"...

What a wonderful collaboration that ended up exceeding all of our expectations, even the children's expectations of themselves. A huge thank you to Narda for her time, expertise and passion, and to Hotel Sugar Beach for sponsoring this art workshop.

~

In Narda's words

At the beginning of August, I had the wonderful experience of collaborating with Abriendo Mentes, offering a two week Art Program to the town of Potreros, Guanacaste.

Working with kids from 3-17 y/o's, we covered a lot of ground- from drawing to painting, learning about shapes and colors, self portraits to papier mache. All classes were conducted in Spanish with English words taught throughout. So, while learning about different aspects of art, they continued expanding their English vocabulary. The artwork they created was full of imagination and fun, beautiful and mischievous. We had a ball!

In a village of 1000 (or so) people- where the soccer field is at the very center of town and resources are slim, Abriendo Mentes offers a much needed program that touches the lives of kids and adults alike- beginning through education, but resulting in being an integral part of the neighborhood, caring about it's growth and expansion.

It was a pleasure and a privilege to be a part of this exciting project!

This outreach program is the result of the generous efforts and resources of Sugar Beach Hotel's owner, Sarah Pfeiffer, whose continued interest in community outreach for the town of Potreros has made this Art Workshop possible. Thank you!

Through the volunteers' eyes

Although we only spent a short time with Abriendo Mentes, we immediately sensed the students’ enthusiasm to learn as they flooded through the doors of the classroom with bright, smiling faces. Their dedication to expanding their knowledge is something we will never forget and are thrilled to have taken part.

This excitement, however, is largely a result of their mentors. The commitment of Abriendo Mentes’ teachers and founders, Drew and Meradith has inspired each of us. Their kind support and leadership provides a strong role model for these children, and helps them to expand their language skills, creativity and to foster new friendships.

We also had the opportunity to participate in a few adult English classes, where three working mothers devote what little free time they have to learn how to read, write and speak a new language. They worked patiently, hoping to gain skills that will improve their quality of life and set positive examples for their children.

In the small town of Playa Potrero where continuing education is not a priority, Abriendo Mentes emphasizes the importance of learning, and developing to ones full potential. The three of us have had a great experience working with this organization and encourage others to help Abriendo Mentes achieve their goals.

Thanks Drew and Meradith,

Stephanie, Meghan and Christina

Community Service Day with Tamarindo Surf

A little late on the update, but we wanted to share all the same since we just received the pictures.

On July 5th Abriendo Mentes teamed with Tamarindo Surf school - http://www.tamarindosurfschool.com/ - in Tamarindo to bring a group of teenagers from across the US to Potrero for a service day. They came, they ate, they taught and they played.

This was a neat group of teenagers; unlike some of their peers who would have signed up for the CR surf tour summer camp, they signed up for the package that included community service and Spanish lessons (with a little bit of surfing too). But honestly, I bet the time they spent with the AM students was equally as rewarding as surfing was.

This 4-hour long activity was kicked off with a picnic prepared by AM student moms, followed by English classes, songs, games, arts and soccer. It was a wonderful way to close out the first half of the 2010 year before vacation.

The following day, the same group reconvened in the Salon Comunal to give a face-lift to the trashcans in Potrero with an environmental theme.

Classes are back in action now, we will have an update soon of current happenings. But with 6 volunteers currently in Potrero and 5 planning to come over the next 3 months, we should be in store for some great activities and progress.

Pen pals in Potrero

Do you remember having pen pals as a child? You wrote back and forth through old fashioned snail mail; sometimes you sent each other pencils or little treats. I had a pen pal in Latvia (of all places!). I waited with bated breath for my friend to send me letters in her perfect handwriting and perfect English (I was not at the time studying Latvian).

So now imagine that you are an 11 year old girl, born and raised in a little village on the Guanacaste coast of Costa Rica, having barely ever left your small 300 person town. And you have a pen pal from the US who emails letters to you which you receive in Abriendo Mentes class AND you find out that your pen pal is coming to visit you in Potrero. Imagine what a cool feeling that must be for a young child that rarely ventures out of town

After 2 – 3 months of exchanging letters, on July 1^st 4 pen pals from across the US came to visit 4 Abriendo Mentes students in Potrero. This is a wonderful cross-cultural program organized by Thompson Family Adventures and Unique Adventure Costa Rica. Abriendo Mentes is fortunate enough to be in collaboration with Unique Adventures who (with Thompson Family) matches up students in the US with AM students. Unique Adventures CR is a company that specializes in travels through Costa Rica that emphasize the natural beauty and resources of Costa Rica and personal interaction with the culture and people.

We worked with these organizations to plan an afternoon activity for the visiting families and the AM students. The pen pals came to the [newly painted] community center to meet their Costa Rican friends. They interacted through a “get to know you” worksheet which was in both English and Spanish, and then bonded over ice cream and a game of what could only be called indoor soccer, sans rules.

It was a great day for the families, and both sets of pen pals. We truly hope that we can continue and expand this program and match each of our students with a pen pal in the future. Who knows, maybe little Jenifer will go to North Carolina one day to visit her pen pal Rylan! Vamos a ver.

June 30th 2010 - Farewell Kate and Todd!

As a tribute to our dedicated Abriendo Mentes volunteers Kate and Todd, on their last day of classes we planned a carnival for the A.M. students!

When Kate brought up the idea of a carnival, we were thrilled! We got a little carried away (dunk tank? Where can we find one of those in Guanacaste?), but Drew and Todd brought us back to reality (no pie toss girls).

The carnival was our way of sharing the celebration of U.S. Independence Day with the students, as well as an opportunity to involve them in all the awesome carnival games we knew as kids.

We had everything from pin the tail on the donkey, to water balloon toss, to a make shift cake walk (brownie and rice krispy treat walk) to go fishing! It was a huge success. We all ate, played games, won prizes and learned about U.S. Independence.

Once again a huge "Thank you" to all of our wonderful volunteers from the month of June, Kate and Todd from Michigan, Mary and Sarina from Florida and Caroline from Massachusetts. You will all be missed!

Foot note: I can confidently say that this was the most organized balloon toss anyone could have executed in Potrero - ever.

Video of Painting the Community Center in Playa Potrero

A huge thank you to Kate and Todd, two Abriendo Mentes volunteers who traveled all the way from Michigan to dedicate a month to helping the children in Playa Potrero. Kate and Todd made this great time lapse video of the transformation of the Salon Comunal. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KibhNuyTvo4&feature=email