A Costa Rican Mardi Gras Extravaganza

Written by Megan Hettwer

Directly translated Mardi Gras means "Fat Tuesday" in French, and it refers to the practice of indulging before Lent begins the next day on Ash Wednesday. Mardi Gras tends to conjure up images of crazy celebrations, particularly of the New Orleans variety. But don't be fooled- we also celebrated the event this past Tuesday here in Costa Rica.

Yes, you read that correctly! On Tuesday March 8, 2011 Playa Flamingo hosted its own Mardi Gras float parade and celebration. All of us at Abriendo Mentes were thrilled to join in on the fun. With a team of thirty kids and volunteers we decorated a beach-themed float for the parade. As if a fun parade wasn't incentive enough to participate, we were also getting "points" toward acquiring Playa Potrero's status as a Blue Flag beach. Floats were also charged a fee to participate, with all of the proceeds going to local charities and nonprofits. We owe a huge "thank you" to Las Catalinas and Jorge Mendez for donating the money for our entrance fee, as well as to Las Catalinas again for donating the use of their truck for our float!

One of the floats featured in the parade- Marie's Restaurant.

The day began normally enough. The volunteers and students met in the Salon to begin the decorating process. We cut waves out of the blue posters the students had painted the day before, blew up tons of balloons to tie around the truck (accidentally popping quite a few along the way), and painted some awesome signs.

The students and volunteers worked together to get the float decorated quickly.

Upon completion, we loaded up the truck with volunteers (in addition to 3 'regulars,' we also had 12 UNC students with us for the week!) and the students rode with Meradith and Drew. We began the drive and reached Flamingo, but then our driver kept going, and going, and going...all the way past Brasilito! We finally realized what was going on and made the trek back to Flamingo, arriving just in time for the parade to begin. Phew!

The beginning of the parade.

The procession of floats began driving down the road, with music blasting, people dancing, and candy being thrown everywhere. The students had a blast throwing candy to the crowds following the floats, and the crowds had an equally great time scrambling to see who could grab the most candy.

Some of the volunteers from UNC staffing the float and throwing candy!

Johnny and Drew representing AM!

After a long and sweaty march from the Banco Nacional to Flamingo Beach the parade was finally over, and we gathered the kids to head back to Potrero. Everyone had a great time, and this time we even made it to our destination without getting lost!

The students were more than happy to spend the afternoon participating in the Mardi Gras parade!

We Couldn't do it without Them! A "Thank You!" to our Supporters

By: Megan Hettwer

Simply put, the generosity and selflessness of people can be amazing. The continuous outpouring of support that Abriendo Mentes has received from the community of Potrero, and from around the world, is truly inspirational. Today we wanted to take a moment to recognize and thank the many groups and individuals who have recently donated supplies, time and other resources to help advance our mission. Abriendo Mentes wouldn't be nearly as successful as it is today without the benevolence that these wonderful people have shown us.

Terry, Ava, Dylan, Chloe and Chantel Romanow visit Potrero.

On February 14th and 15th we welcomed the Romanow family to our classes. Terry, Chantel, Dylan, Chloe and Ava ventured to Potrero all the way from Canada! In July 2010 Terry and his family generously donated to us the use of their office space in the Casa del Sol complex. It's been wonderful to have a space to house all of our supplies and teaching materials. Speaking of supplies, the Romanows also brought two HUGE suitcases filled with school supplies. Thankfully we have the office to store everything!

Two suitcases of supplies from the Romanows spread out over the office floor!

Just when we thought that things couldn't possibly get any better, AM received yet another supplies surprise. Matt and Natasha Craig, owners of Point Break Surf, have been organizing an outreach program to help the communities of Brasilito, Flamingo and Potrero, and their current program is geared toward helping Abriendo Mentes. They worked with Pastor Patricia Covington, whose congregations in Virginia donated FOUR massive suitcases of school and art supplies to us. The students were absolutely delighted when Meradith revealed the contents of the bag to them. Take a look at this short video to see just how elated they were, and don't forget to check out the Point Break Surf outreach mission!

http://www.pointbreaksurf.com/site/outreach/

Since we had such a myriad of resources, we also wanted to "pay it forward" to the local Potrero school, and so Abriendo Mentes donated supply packets to each of the four classrooms. These packets included folders, notebooks, pencils, pens, erasers, pencil sharpeners, geometry sets, crayons and colored pencils for the students to use in class. This has created a new partnership with the school, where they feel comfortable asking us for any supplies that they might need.

Some of the supplies from the Point Break Outreach program that AM donated to the Potrero School.

We've been extremely lucky to have so much donated to us this year, and being able to share everything that we have received has allowed us to continue moving toward our mission of enhancing education awareness, increasing education opportunities, and empowering students within Playa Potrero.

Vamos a Fantástico Mundo! -- We're going to Fantastic World!

Written by Megan Hettwer

This past Friday, Abriendo Mentes made an exciting announcement to its English class students- there would be a field trip to Fantastic World this weekend! Sunday February 20th finally arrived and 50 students, parents and volunteers met bright and early at the A.M. office to hop on a bus and head out of Potrero for a day full of fun. Thanks to generous support from Bahia del Sol and Elizabeth Cole and transportation provided by Las Catalinas Development, Abriendo Mentes was able to take the children to nearby Fantastic World- home to many different types of inflatables (some even boasting water!). Full of energy, the kids boarded the bus with anticipation for the great day ahead of us.

Despite their intense excitement, the students patiently waited in line

We arrived at Fantastic World around 10:00 am. The children quickly changed into their bathing suits and ran to the back of the park, toward the inflatables with water. A break from the heat was just what everyone needed! The giant waterslide was a huge hit, and the kids barreled down it at top speeds.

Racing toward the giant waterslide!

It's hard to tell from pictures, but this slide was fast!

The dragon slide and pool were also popular. Luckily, we had volunteer Emily to monitor how many kids were on the slide at once- too many and the inflatable might collapse! We also used the trip to continue working on the action words we had practiced in class throughout the week. The kids had a great time showing and telling us how to swim, jump, bounce, and slide. It's amazing how well they retain information when they can use their knowledge to talk about activities that they enjoy.

The dragon may look a bit scary, but looks can be deceiving!

The pool at the bottom of the dragon slide was very cool and refreshing

The students spent the morning excitedly running around from one inflatable to the next, playing happily with each other and all of the volunteers. After everyone was done eating lunch the volunteers and parents began rounding up the kids to return home. The students obediently boarded the bus to head back to Potrero, noticeably sleepier then they were when we had arrived . . .

Melissa had so much fun she fell asleep on the bus ride home

As the bus dropped everyone off in Potrero, all of the students thanked A.M. profusely for putting on such a fun field trip. But, we couldn't have done it without all of the help and support we received from Bahia del Sol, Elizabeth Cole and Las Catalinas Development. Thanks for making this field trip so wonderful!

Everyone had a blast!

Libros para Todos - Books for Everyone!

By: Meradith Leebrick

Friday, February 11th kicked off the distribution of the Libros para Todos book drive, organized in our area by Las Catalinas Development and Bahia del Sol Hotel.

The national Libros para Todos poster

Libros Para Todos is a national effort, spearheaded by Grupo La Nacion, the national Costa Rican newspaper. The ultimate goal is to provide every child with donated books in the four core subjects, Spanish, Math, Science and Social Studies, for the 2011 year. Abriendo Mentes helped this goal become reality for Potrero, Tempate and Huacas.

All of the Puerto Potrero primary school students

The day could not have been better. Drew and I were invited to the book distribution event in the Potrero primary school, and we were greeted with smiles, hugs and "how are you"s from all of the A.M. students. We were also joined by Charles Brewer, the President of Las Catalinas Development, Michael Garcia, also from Las Catalinas , and Maria Fernanda Esquivel from Bahia del Sol Hotel.

Stacks of the donated books!

It was an action packed morning; the third graders sang (featuring Cindy Yuelka with a solo), the dance troop did a routine (of course, with Austin as the signature boy dancer) and we all presented the books to the school and students - over 400 books in total! After the presentation of books, all the students and guests enjoyed a proper Tico breakfast of gallo pinto and squeaky cheese to celebrate the book donation.

The third graders singing

What a great dance!

I can honestly say that I have never seen children so happy to start a new year of school and receive text books. Friday made everything worth it.

Barbara, Nayelli, Valentine and Cesar greet us in school

Welcome 2011!

As we gear up for a new year of Abriendo Mentes classes in 2011, I wanted to take some time to recap the end of 2010. November and December came and went quickly, but these months were packed full of events, activities and wonderful volunteers.

The end of November closed with a farewell to volunteer Bonnie and her two sons, Adam and Ian. The three had been volunteering with Abriendo Mentes for three months, since the end of August, and were very much a part of the Abriendo Mentes family by the end of their stay. Together, we all experienced rainy season, classroom and class changes, a backpack drive courtesy of Bonnie and the boys, a trip to try to see the turtles in Ostional, and much more. Thank you to Bonnie, Adam and Ian for all they contributed to Abriendo Mentes. To read Bonnie's testimonial, follow this link.

Donald and Estiven model their new backpacks. Bonnie, Adam and Ian donated 22 backpacks to the AM students.

One farewell brought in a new introduction, when Brett arrived to help for the last three weeks of classes. Brett was enthusiastic, adventurous and caring. She was only here for a short time but was able to help us with our end of the year pool party, hosted by friend Elizabeth Cole at Cabinas Estival. Fifty Abriendo Mentes kids came together to celebrate another successful year of Abriendo Mentes classes. I have never seen kids so happy, they could have played in the pool all day long, which they did until dark. We were able to drag them out for food (side dishes made by all the moms and the largest pot of arroz con pollo made by wonderful Margarita), a pinata, water balloons and three legged races.

Cinthya and Brett rush to the finish line in the three legged race!

Prizes were contributed by two more dedicated volunteers, Steve and Jenn, who were with us for one month. Straight from Toronto, they brought loads of Canadian gear - t shirts, teddy bears, baseballs and more. Steve was a huge help in successfully getting us started on our grant research and proposal writing, which we will pursue further this year.

Jenn with Cinthya and her prize for winning, a Canada shirt, very cool.

We were also able to squeeze in one last local field trip to Hotel Sugar Beach - a huge and continued supporter of Abriendo Mentes. Abriendo Mentes is one of three local organizations that is supported by Sugar Beach who donates 1% of their monthly profit towards worthy local causes. We packed into 3 cars and Jose Pablo, manager and friend, met us at the entrance of the hotel. He gave us the grand tour, explaining along the way the different positions available in the hotel and why knowledge of the English language is important in these different jobs. We ended the day by playing on the beautiful Sugar Beach.

The group on Sugar Beach

Classes officially ended on December 7th, but Abriendo Mentes volunteer Charlotte, along with new friends and volunteers, Tom and Katie, kept the adult classes running throughout the holiday break. We are very lucky to have such dedicated volunteers! Charlotte has been with us since September, and will be starting the new year with us, focusing on planning extra-curricular events, workshops, guest speakers and field trips as our community coordinator.

Charlotte with a few Abriendo Mentes students, during her surprise, Halloween themed birthday bash.

Abriendo Mentes classes start again on Monday, January 17th. We are very excited about this year. We will welcome new volunteers Jan, Emily, Johnny and Ericka in the next three weeks. Sara Littlefield, who did a Story Literacy Project with Abriendo Mentes last Spring, will be back in February to do a second workshop with the same adult students one year later. We will also welcome Terry and his family from Canada, who have generously donated us our official Abriendo Mentes office space and private classroom. And I am personally very excited to have the Kenan-Flagler Business School Fraternity from my alma mater, UNC Chapel Hill, visit us for a week during their Spring Break at the beginning of March! It is shaping up to be a great first session!

3 Months of Change: A Volunteer's Perspective

Written by Bonnie Ditlevsen

When we arrived in Potrero, it was in late August and in the throes of the rainy season.

Bonnie, Adam, and Ian arrive in Potrero with school supplies to donate to the students

When we left for Portland, it was Thanksgiving back home, but in Potrero, many of the little rivulets, creeks and potholes had gone from gushing with mud to completely bone dry, dusty like somewhere in the American Southwest.

This change came about quickly, after a long period in which the norm was for us to make our way through the village in sandals coated with mud. All of a sudden, Potrero sprang into summer season: Tourists began arriving in greater numbers. Businesses that had been closed for the green season opened up. The afternoons became less rainy and more conducive for walks, a swim at the beach, or an excursion to somewhere fascinating.

Drew, Adam, and Ian searching for baby sea turtles on Playa Ostional

And so it was for the Abriendo Mentes program. When we arrived, there was the miracle of the Salon Comunal having been given a beautiful terra cotta red coat of paint, and this open-air facility made for convenient large-group lessons. As our weeks with the program continued, we found ourselves witnessing the inauguration of the new Kids' Club next door, an indoor classroom with electricity, greater whiteboard space, room for computers, and a spacious storage area for program materials. The children were very excited about this new learning space; what only needed work was the sound-damping of the classroom, particularly for such young learners who have not learned to modulate their voices.

The donation of Casa del Sol office space to Abriendo Mentes was, and is, a huge step for the program. During our stay in Potrero, we often walked by the new office.
Yet electricity was still something out of reach; a series of bureaucratic hurdles needed jumping. I was reminded of a funny, tongue-in-cheek bumper sticker I saw in the village: "Costa Rica: We Make Easy Hard." In Western countries, people too often take for granted how electricity service can be initiated or closed out in the space of a day and with one phone call. Abriendo Mentes didn't have it so easy. But we saw how they never gave up.

Bonnie leads a group class using an interactive ESL program in the office

In our last few weeks, the office came to life. Electricity service meant that an oscillating fan could keep temperatures bearable. Better yet, the program could begin to offer small-group lessons using language learning software. Seeing the kids try their hand at using laptops and professional language software was a great thrill for us teachers as well as for the kids. Computer literacy, after all, is an essential component of the developing tourism industry; combining it with regular English as a Second Language instruction will serve the youth of Potrero on both fronts.

Ian, Adam and Bonnie on Playa Ostional for Adam's 10th birthday

We left Potrero after having seen all of these changes—in nature as well as and in the program—and gained an appreciation for the power of both. It is an honor to have served with and learned from the patience and perseverance of this literacy program, one which Potrero, Guanacaste is indeed very lucky to have.

Abriendo Mentes - now a partner of GoodSearch!

Here's a new easy way to raise money for Abriendo Mentes. Just start using Yahoo! powered GoodSearch.com as your search engine and they'll donate about a penny to our cause every time you do a search! This link will take you straight to our GoodSearch page:

http://www.goodsearch.com/?charityid=926253

In addition, do all of your shopping through their online shopping mall, GoodShop.com, where you can shop at more than 900 top online retailers and a percentage of your purchases will go to Abriendo Mentes as well. You pay the same price as you normally would, but a donation goes to our cause.

To give you a sense of how the money can add up, the ASPCA has already earned more than $30,000!

Here's the web site — http://www.goodsearch.com. You can also read about GoodSearch in the NY Times, Oprah Magazine, CNN, ABC News and the Wall Street Journal.

Thanks for your continued support.

Happy Holidays,

Meradith & Drew and the AM team

Raise money for Abriendo Mentes just by searching the web and shopping online!

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