Because of you, opportunities that did not exist a year ago are available to the very poor people who live in my area of rural, remote Costa Rica. Children and adults are learning English because we offer a free school to all who come. Some walk on goat trails for nearly an hour to get here. We have a volunteer American visitor teaching group classes.

My son met a man who worked for the United States government while in the airport in San Jose waiting for his flight. He promised to send my son a Rosetta Stone CD so he could learn Spanish, and he kept his promise. Because of this generous gift, a young woman is sitting at my computer right now, doing her English lessons, using the Rosetta Stone multi-language CD. Maira has never used a computer before, but she is catching on quickly.

You have made an enormous difference in the lives of so many folks. You have given them hope for a prosperous future. Your donation of items on our “Wish List” provides school supplies for the children, and so much more to families who could not otherwise afford something as simple as a pencil or crayons. We have been able to put clothes and shoes on indigenous children as they pass by our farm house.

We now have an internet connection and wifi which enables us to send the children of Esperanza and the outlying areas to 7th through 12th grade for the first time via the internet. Imagine how different their lives will now be because they can speak English, have a high school education and more if they want it. Their dreams can come true. We have already outgrown my daughter’s dining room and laundry area which is where we hold group classes. First come, first serve for the picnic table, benches and chairs, everyone else sits on the floor.

I asking my friends, strangers, everyone, to help us by donating their used computers in working order so that we can make this dream a reality and brake the cycle of poverty. Our monthly cost for the satellite internet connection is $150.00 a month, which causes me to swallow hard, but finally we have a life changing connection. When you live rural and remote, the government controlled monopoly does not serve you. This is the only possible way to send these children to school.

The government law says the children must go to school until the age of 18, but what if you don’t have a school, or transportation, and live high on a mountain? Oh well... The tourist books say education is free, well not exactly, they are nickeled and dime-ed for every piece of paper handed out, including all test papers. When you are that poor, every coin is needed for beans and rice on the table and for some there is not enough food.

Thank you, all of you, for everything you have done to change the lives of these children. You have given them hope, and provided the tools that open the doors of opportunity that break the cycle of poverty for generations to come.

We are all blessed to call you our friends.

Thank you,

Ginnee

Wish List

School supplies
Educational, CD’s, games, …
Pencils
pens
Paint
Brushes
Scissors
Pencil sharpeners
Coloring books
Spanish English dictionaries

Navy blue children’s pants
Navy blue children’s skirts
White shirts and blouses
Shoes, practical and sneakers,

Used laptop computers in working condition

Portable sewing machines, used are fine.

Sweat shirts
Ball caps

Rain gear and umbrellas

Toothpaste
Toothbrushes

Guitar
Keyboard / piano, portable electric, (really small)
Musical instruments
Drum sticks

Maira's thank you note to me, accompanied a fish from her pond.


Safiya is a volunteer at the farm who has applied for a doctorate program in the US. She does a bit of everything here and starting today she is teaching English in the afternoons. While developing her lesson plans, she has been working with Carolina, one of our employees. Carolina is quick to learn, has desire, and is a joy in general. Her sister Maira also works for us. Maira and I are together every morning and I take that opportunity to teach her English phrases and now cooking terms.

Last week we made two fresh orange cakes with oranges from the orchid. It was the first cake she had ever made, or seen made, and we made it by hand with no electrical appliances. They came out perfect and I gave her one to take home. We cushioned the hot pan and cake in newspaper so that it would not burn through the rice sack that she carefully carried it home in. Maira lives down my mountain, across the river and up a mountain. It takes her the better part of an hour to walk to work and she is never late.

She is a joy to have and at age 21 this is her first job. Maira has not had the opportunities presented to you and me. As with all of our local rural children, her education lasted only 6 years and by US standards it was maybe a 3rd grade education. The children are being cheated and everyone loses. We need these kids to have a prosperous, successful future, and they need the skills to make a living while protecting the rainforest. But it is even bigger than that, so much damage has been done as a result of deforestation for crops like cattle, coffee, and sugar. We need to teach the rural people, that they can make as much money or more than they were making with their deforested land, by reforesting with a variety of carbon sequestration tree crops.

Finca Quijote is a demonstration farm, we are leading by example while extending a helping hand, sharing knowledge and teaching what we know. Blessed with an education and opportunity, the best foreign aid we can give, is the gift of knowledge. We can see change coming, slowly, but it is coming. Maira, Carolina and the others in their pueblo, are listening and watching. Their brother wrote us a letter in Spanish, and then he looked up every word in English which does not translate perfectly, but it was an extraordinary effort to be understood. Once upon a time, they had prosperous lives, and then their employment opportunities went away. I know this to be true. Since then (20 years), they have been in survival mode and there are no jobs available for the rural people at this time. Only the rural people can protect the rainforest, we must show them how to make a living and educate their children at the same time.

You can help by donating educational supplies. We always need:

pencils
crayons
Spanish English dictionaries
used laptop computers in working order
portable sewing machines
sweat shirts
childrens shoes
good durable clothing such as blue jeans

We finally have an internet connection and wifi where we volunteer teach the children. Because we are off grid, and with no landline phones in the pueblo, this was a very expensive effort. Our monthly cost for a simple connection is $150.00 USD With laptop computers (easier to get into the country) we can give the kids the opportunity to go past 6th grade via the internet. Please tell everyone you know and ask them to donate their old computers so that we can teach children who have no other options. We need to teach them how to be prosperous again. Prosperous is a word they used when writing us, for them it means putting enough food on the table, shoes on their children, enough money to give their children an education and to afford a doctor when one is needed. Their concept of prosperous differs from yours.

Thank you for helping my neighbors.

Yesterday my friend Dan and I found shoes to fit these Cabecar indigenous children from the reservation.

Dana visited and brought clothing, shoes, and backpacks. Thanks Dana.

I also want to thank all of you who have donated, and I have no idea who you are. Thank you so much.

There are so many children in need of a helping hand, each of our received school clothes, pencils, crayons and other school supplies. We are so thankful that our friends help us gather these much needed donations.

On Saturday morning at the local one room schoolhouse in Esperanza, my daughter Erika and I disbursed gifts of school supplies, school uniforms, and shoes that were donated to us by good people doing great work. The Badgett family from New Jersey brought school uniforms that were given to them by a co worker of Randi’s. Thank you so much for all you have done. Please pass our thanks on to your generous co-worker.

Our friend Mike, my shipping agent, who lives in Cartago and his assistant Suzanne, gathered school supplies, pencils, crayons, sharpeners, notebooks and lots more. Each child received a bag to start them off that also included a toothbrush to go with the school supplies.

Suzanne gathered clothing and shoes from her relatives. Every pair found feet to fit them. Another anonymous woman delivered bags of clothing to the Pura Vida Hotel in Alejuala www. puravidahotel.com and we dispersed those items one by one to people we knew they would fit and who needed them.

Angie is in love with her black sneakers and “new” clothes. She desperately needed your help. You did all of the work, and I received the hugs, kisses and lots of warm wishes.

We have not seen shoes on Steven for some time now. His feet fit a pair of blue flip-flops and he is proud to have them.

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!

It has been cold on our mountain and because of your generosity I have been able to give sweaters and sweatshirts to cold shivering children. Last night I gave four gifts of warmth to little children who were very cold. We want to thank each one of you for enabling our project so that we can help the rural poor and indigenous.

We took photos of the children so that you could see your efforts at work. We ran out of navy blue pants and skirts. The airlines embargo on luggage has hurt the availability of donations. There appear to be more children who will attend the Esperanza school this year and there are always more that will arrive in the first week and throughout the year.

We have reserved supplies to go to the reservation with the indigenous teacher. He will pack them up on his back, an 8 hour, very difficult trip. School starts about the second week of February and ends in December. I will send my camera up with him and hope to receive some great photos.

We all thank you so very much.

It is 7:40 in the morning and here are a family of 7 indigenous going through my farm and back to the reservation. Two adults, 5 children and 3 dogs. The youngest child is set atop of the pack on her Mother’s back and tied there. The father said good bye as they passed, in Spanish of course.

They have one umbrella between them and they will walk for 8 more hours to reach their home high in the mountains. It has rained for the month of November, it was in the 50’s last night. Today they have a sunny blue sky day to make their journey to 6,000 ft. I hope the weather holds for them.

Please remember these folks and the other 10,000 plus who have nothing, struggle to survive, and need your gifts of practical warmth. Please either bring used sweatshirts to Costa Rica and donate them to my indigenous, or please send a donation and I will buy used sweatshirts at the Ropa Americana for the children. We also need crayons, pencils, and educational materials for the children. Many of the children need shoes, rubber boots, sneakers and school shoes, some children have no shoes. If you are visiting our country, pack your donations in an old suitcase, put my name on the outside and inside, print out driving instructions from www.puravidahotel.com and you can then give the directions to a cab driver and send your donations in that cab to the Pura Vida Hotel just 15 minutes from the airport. It is a small cab fee for you and the children appreciate your gift.

If you need a place to stay while coming or going, please stay at the Pura Vida Hotel, you can thank me later for this recommendation. The food is fantastic, Bernie is a historical guru, and Nhi is the best chef in Costa Rica. After one stay, you will return to them repeatedly, everyone does. They are gracious hosts and the best, most generous people. Without your help and their help, we would not be able to help the indigenous as we do. It is a combined effort of friends helping friends. Thank you for joining our team effort. Together we can make great strides forward in bringing the Cabecar Indigenous to sustainability.

If you wish to send a check, please mail it to:

Finca Quijote de Esperanza
Ginnee Hancock
Apdo 178-7150
Turrialba, Costa Rica

I will send you photos of the purchases and post photos of the children.

Thank you for your support and help. THANK YOU!!!

If you wish to know more about the indigenous there are many articles posted here on my blog. Please contact me at ginnee@gmail.com for more info regarding donations. If I do not contact you quickly it is because we do not have internet access, we live off the grid at our farm that borders the Cabecar reservation.

Everywhere I look I see need, and you can help me to help them.

The Cabecar, Costa Rica’s most primitive Indigenous group live on the Chirripo Reservation, part of which borders my farm. They have nothing, and they ask for nothing. It breaks my heart to see their children pass my house and come into my life because I can not look away.

This family came to us on their way down, an 8 hour walk from their home, and today they are returning to the reservation. They picked coffee this week to earn a little money. They just left my house, it is noon and they will walk up to 6,000 foot elevation, to their village, in the rain. It will take 8 hours which puts them there about 8 this evening, in the pitch black, cold dark. So dark, with no light pollution, that I can not see my own hand.

Please look at this typical Cabecar family. The Mother is a beautiful young girl herself, with big dimples and the most beautiful skin. She has the blue colored basket. Do you see the young child, just a baby himself, carrying the other baby tied to his body and head. They are eating a frozen iced fruit treat that Dona Carmen, a local woman makes.

I asked permission to take these photos and the father said yes. I took his photo first and when I showed him his picture he could not believe it was him. He had never seen himself before. He burst out laughing with his hand across his mouth. Really, was this really him? Yes it was.

The Cabecar are tiny people. A medium shirt fits the largest man. My hands (I have large hands for a woman) could fit around this woman’s waist, and she has had at least 5 children that survived child birth. Today I gave them my last 3 sweatshirts.

Please collect sweatshirts for them, it is cold at 6,000 ft. There are between 10,000 and 14,000 people living on the reservation. I only see the young ones as the others are not capable of making the journey. The girls and woman need skirts, they love skirts. They all need rain gear, sweatshirts, back packs, and tote bags.

I need small clothes for the children. Look at these little faces, these are Costa Rica’s first people. They were here before Columbus, before the Spanish, and their life has been downhill ever since as they fled to the high country to avoid extinction. The Cabecar are direct descendants of the Guayabo people. You can visit the Guayabo National Park in Turrialba to learn more about their historic life.

They are human beings, sweet, passive people, who will drucken rather than confront you. I reach out to them every chance I get. I want to know where they came from, why they are here, and I want them to know that I am their friend, to whom they can come for help. The difficulty of their life breaks my heart.

As American’s we are so concerned about our children’s childhoods. We want the best for our children. I have a bow tie sitting on my desk that I made for my son to wear when he was a very little boy. And now I see these little elfin children and I don’t even have enough shirts to keep them warm. As many a 25 people will sleep laying on the reeds of a huts floor, huddled together for warmth. They have the clothing on their backs and maybe one other outfit. Look at them, this is their life, and I am the one who is having difficulty with it.

Okay, I know I must let them be Indigenous, but we must also allow them to be proud of their heritage. Why should they be cold, sick, live with internal parasites, have dysentery, fever and become delusional? They should not, and this is where we can help. When the parents are picking coffee the oldest child is babysitting the other children on the side of the road. (It takes me 40 minutes to drive this distance, they walk) Why can’t the children be at the local school receiving early or primary education? Imagine what all of the children could learn from this relationship, tolerance, understanding, and Cabecar history. We can do this, Steven’s Mom cares for her young child, it would be wonderful if we could find a little money to pay her and start a preschool program. What would this cost? No more than $50.00 a week including lunch and breakfast, all of the children in the village could go. I am sure that Angie would help after school and we could find a few dollars for this intelligent young woman in our little budget. How many children are we talking about? It would vary from about 8 to as many as 20 or more depending on how many Indigenous were here that week. Wow, we could change a lot of lives for less than $7.00 a day. Imagine, these children could enter school knowing how to read. That is a big deal as many of their parents can only make their thumb print. Can you help me to make this come true? Will you commit to help finance this program?

Please facilitate me, they need crayons, pencils, skirts, and sweatshirts, size medium and smaller. They need children’s clothes, practical wash and wear clothing. Last week there was a young girl half naked in her rags, and my husband was deeply disturbed. We should all be deeply disturbed, as human being we have an obligation to care for these poor and beautiful people, Costa Rica’s first people. If you are coming to Costa Rica or know someone who is, please send an old suitcase of clothing and supplies for the Cabecar. You can put the suitcase in a cab and for a small amount of money a cab driver will deliver the gift to the Pura Vida Hotel just 15 minutes from the airport. Please go to their website and print out the directions and phone number for the cab driver. Please put my name on the suitcase and Bernie will call me for a pickup. I will then ask the Mission to pickup the gift when they are in San Jose and bring it to us . Thank you.

People often ask me is we can meet them at the airport. It is simply not possible. We live 3 hours from San Jose and I go near there maybe once a year, by bus, if I have to. Logistically it does not work for us not to mention the $40.00 in gas added to a day’s journey, if your plane arrives on time. I hope you understand. We are farmers, and our 1,270 acres requires every minute of every day.

Yesterday and today we are building gabbions, boxes of rocks in steel cages, to keep the flooded streams from washing away the road that is currently in peril. The men will spend the rest of the day starting to plant 4,000 trees, or at least relocating them to the nursery. I rarely get a day off and if I do, we only get as far as Turrialba to do our banking and shopping. Felipe treats me to a dinner date while we are in town. The big city (San Jose) is not for me. Sorry, I just can not cross the mountain range and drive there. This is where we need to be. As you can see from my posts, we have important work to do.

Here is Helen Thompson's latest article about the Cabecar. http://backpackingcostarica.wordpress.com/2008/05/04/hiking-out-to-the-hidden-cabecar-people/ Most people just don't understand the plight of these people. 2 dentists, 30,000 people, it is a rough skin to have been born into. So much need, so little caring, and no resources.

The Voz Que Clama Mission is expanding, they will be able to house 17 disabled Indigenous residents and provide more services (kind words, direction, intervention and lots of prayer) to those Indigenous who come for help. The bare bones price due to the rising construction materials cost and the need to meet the disabled person's law is $250,000.00 US. More money than any Costa Rican in Tuis will ever see in their lifetime. So we are looking to raise money. Today's meeting was excellent, we will have Bingo, raffles, BBQ's, lots of fun community stuff, and they will try their best, but they have nothing. The people have pledged to give $50.00 per family, per year for 6 years. I am not sure how many family's that will be, it is just a little Mission of very poor people and the Indigenous don't have a colone to their name. But they are going on faith, that the Lord will see how hard they are trying and like the fish and the bread, he will provide because he knows how big the need is.

Please pray for the Voz Que Clama Mission in Tuis. Today they made their thermometer and marked it at $38,000.00. The Mission has saved up that much money since 2002, a miracle in itself. Hector the Director of the Mission, squirrels away every dime and neither Hector nor Daniel have ever taken a paycheck.

Today is the 6th of the month and already there is no milk for the coffee that I brought for the meeting. Nothing is more important than providing services to the people. I drank my coffee black, the voice had told me to bring milk and I did not listen, I said it is the 6th of the month, surly they will have milk. I know I should always listen to the voice, when will I learn that lesson?

Life is such a challenge for so many here. I feel blessed to learn of their needs, to listen to their hearts and to at least be able to share their plight with others while we pray for a miracle.

Here is a link to the latest published article I have written along with photos. You can view the photos and original story by clicking: http://www.welovecostarica.com/public/1689.cfm


Costa Rica's Cabecar Indigenous
by Ginnee Hancock

The Cabecar indigenous group are Costa Rica's most primitive Native Americans. They have been pushed so far up the Chirripo mountains in remote Southern Costa Rica that their continued existence and quality of life is in trouble.

My friend Rebeca arrived for a visit and we road to my farm on my quad, the Rhino. It was another beautiful day in very rural Southern Costa Rica. You feel so alive waking up to the sounds of the rivers, birds and with a view of Volcan Turrialba in the distance to our North. We blasted down the road to the bottom of the mountain, through sugar cane fields in the valley and coffee on the slopes that lead up to Esperanza and our farm.

We then climbed high up on the winding road that follows the meandering, volatile, whitewater Rio Atirro. As we drove towards Esperanza, I spotted a local Tico named Juan walking on the trail and knew him from a far distance by his very fast deliberate walk. I offered him a ride to the pueblo and he jumped in the back.

"You and I could not live their life as they live it, in survival mode." Help us to help them ...

We dropped him off at his house as it was on our way, continuing on slowly, exploring our way into and through Finca Quijote. We came across our first Cabecar Indigenous family of the day, with their children, walking down the mountain from their reservation village on the path that comes through my farm.

We slowed, said Hola, gave a nod, a wave and moved on. We continued on our journey, spotting beautiful birds, our cows and horses, enjoying all that nature has to offer. We crossed the Rio Oro on the quad and came upon our second group of Cabecar, a young mother, a 10 year old girl and a little baby who were traversing our farm. They, like all of the Indigenous, stepped aside, off the road, well out of our way.

We reached the end of my property, turned around and started back. When we reached the Rio Oro, the indigenous woman and her daughter had already crossed over and were putting their rubber boots back on. The baby was in a scarf tied to her mother and they were carrying a small pink satchel. Rebeca took a photo that captured the moment, and then we crossed over picking our way around the rocks, avoiding the deepest holes so that we did not drown our Rhino's engine.

Rebeca asked them in Spanish if they wanted a ride and they said yes. Rebeca got into the back of the Rhino with the young girl while the Mother and baby sat in the front with me. The baby had a bad cold; her little nose was crusty with dried mucus, her mother worked delicately to clear her nose. For a one year old child, she was very undernourished, tiny; she could not yet walk, and did not have the bodily control that she should have had for her age. The baby looked to be 4-6 months of age, not one year old. Rebeca continued to engage them in conversation. They spoke some Spanish, not good Spanish, but she was able to communicate.

The Cabecar speak their own native language as do most Costa Rican indigenous groups. They were from Pacuare and had been walking for 7 hours. They would have crossed many rivers during this trip, some very deep. The baby never took its eyes off of me. Her mom cuddled her to keep her warm as the breeze was cool on our mountain. I drove slowly so as not to alarm them and also because I was unclear about where they were going. Esperanza the Mother had said, but I could not imagine that would be her destination, and it was not.

Farther down the mountain she said, abajo, indicating where she wanted to go with hand signals, and we continued down the mountain as it was the path towards our home anyway. I had been planning to spend more time at the farm, but as this opportunity to engage our passengers was more than I could have hoped for, we seized the moment. Had there been a man with the woman and children, she would never have talked to us, not one word.

Rebeca, a Cuban - American who is a tropical biologist and a neuropsychological researcher, had previously lived in Costa Rica for about 10 years. She worked here for the Christian Children's Fund and has a wide range of knowledge regarding the rural poor and indigenous, their problems and needs. She was observing the 10 year old girl in the back with her, as I carefully drove so as not to launch us off the narrow mountain trail.

They were not wearing seat belts, I did not suggest it because I didn't want the Mother to feel trapped and the position of the baby would have been in the way. Most Indigenous have never ridden in a car, and the Rhino is an open air quad that is much like a dune buggy, but looks like a big green alien bug.

The young girl was neatly dressed although her legs and clothing were now very dirty from the 7 hour walk through the jungle and forest following the goat like animal trails that you or I may not even recognize as a trial or path. We could see head lice and nits in her well groomed, neat, shiny straight black hair. She wore several handmade necklaces with beads and small seashells. We asked permission to take another photo and the girl said no.

Another beautiful Indigenous child, she was probably the oldest child of this 24 year old very slender mother. If we do the math, the mother would have given birth at age 14, and been pregnant at age 13, so I am assuming this was her oldest child. We would also be safe to assume that there were other children, I know of Indigenous mothers with 6 or 7 children by the time they are 24 or 25 years of age. The oldest child was probably brought along to help care for the baby and to carry what they would take back to the reservation. I will guess that may include rice, beans, and I hoped medicine for the baby.

As I glanced at the baby, whose eyes were riveted to me (they may have never seen a blond haired white woman before), I noticed her mother's now dirty skirt. She had hemmed part of it by hand using a running stitch; the thread was a different color, not consistent with the other hem thread in any way. It reminded me that we should put together sewing kits for Christmas gifts to give to Indigenous women.

If we were able to get spools of colored thread, needles, small scissors, small embroidery hoops, some brightly colored embroidery thread donated, and secured them in a zip-lock bag to keep them dry, it would make a beautiful, useful gift. This gift would be a cherished, prized possession of these beautiful, proud, and extremely poor women. They would never ask you for a handout, money or a crumb for their hungry children, lifetimes of discrimination and repression have taught them what their place is expected to be.

I am sometimes asked if the Indigenous are lazy. People often equate poor with lazy. No, they are not lazy. You and I could not live their life as they live it, in survival mode. We are not prepared to suffer survival as they do every day of their life from birth to death. They are very malnourished, have parasites and intestinal worms. Their diet often consists of nothing other than tubers, a root of some sort such as yucca. Starch, just starch, and for that morning, if they ate at all it may have been a piece of leftover tuber from the day before, shared between them. It is all they have.

They have been walking for 7 hours, under the most difficult conditions, rugged terrain, and they started out hungry. I looked at my watch as we drove along, it was going on 1PM which meant they left their village about the time the sun was coming up. They had no water bottle as it would have been more weight to carry. When thirsty they drank from the steams along the way, a source of parasites and bacteria.

As we continued our descent from the farm, Rebeca spotted a beautiful falcon on a branch hanging over the road. I stopped and as we watched him, his hooded head turned and he watched us. The Indigenous woman threw her head back and laughed aloud at our pleasure of seeing this magnificent bird. We looked at him in wonderment; she has seen them all of her life, we were her wonderment today.

The end of our journey with them was at the bottom of the mountain where they would go in a different direction heading towards Oriente, but for destinations unknown to us. We probably saved them more than an hour of walking on the both dusty and muddy unpaved mountain trail.
At that moment I wished I had food to ease their hunger, or a small amount of money to give them so that they could buy food when they came to a town, but we had none. Mil colones, a bit more than $2.00 would satisfy the three of them at a local soda (restaurant). It would have only purchased one nutritious meal, but that would have been more than they had eaten in days.

The Cabecar Indigenous of rural Costa Rica have a hard life to just survive in the cold Chirripo Mountains on their reservation. They have been pushed high up into the mountains that originally had no value to the Spanish or white man. Access is limited, the terrain vertical, with no realized riches to exploit, the Indigenous somehow marginally survive there.

It is only in recent years that they were issued a Cedula (like a social security card). Prior to this, the real natives of Costa Rica were considered foreigners, although they have lived on this land for generations more than any Hispanic. They had no rights; no vote, no education, no medical benefits.

These precious people need your help to get them to a point of sustainability on their reservation land, which is owned by the Costa Rican government, not the indigenous groups.
Our best opportunity to provide training and a helping hand is by working with the Voz Que Clama Mission. Climbing to the reservation since August 2002, risking their lives, carrying building supplies and food on their backs, Hector Soto and Montoya Salas, directors of the Mission have earned the trust of the Chiefs and people of the village. They have also learned some of the very difficult Cabecar language. Your tax deductible monetary gift to the Mission will go 100% towards helping the Cabecar.

The Mission works with the tribal Chiefs and the people in the villages directly, assessing the need today and planning for a better tomorrow. We can not meet their needs today; we do what we can, looking for sustainable solutions that will help them to meet their nutritional and life skills needs. Today these beautiful brown, high cheek boned children need food, protein, powder milk, rubber boots, warm clothing, blankets, school supplies, usable education and hope for their future. They need you; you're the best foreign aid that will ever come into their lives.
The Voz Que Clama Mission, a 501c3 US tax deductible charity, does not make a profit. Daniel and Hector, both Costa Ricans and Directors of the Mission, have never taken a salary. They are volunteers, committed to helping the Cabecar.

They also operate a wonderful Spanish language school CISA Costa Rica. If you have a chance, come and learn some Spanish in very rural Tuis de Turrialba. Classes are small, no more than 1-3 students per teacher, which allows for intensive training. Students have the opportunity to interact with both the Indigenous and the local people of Tuis. Homestays in the pueblo of Tuis help to provide income for the local people as well as a multicultural experience for the students. You may even have a chance to hike to the reservation if you are tough enough.
This has been a very bad year for the Cabecar, they are hungry and cold. If you are visiting Costa Rica, please help us to help them, bring a suitcase of donations for the Cabecar and the rural poor Costa Rican children. We thank you for your help and support. For more information or to donate please contact: ginnee@racsa.co.cr


The Following Items Are On The Mission's Everyday Wish List:

Used lap top computers in good working order, chalk, pencils, colored pencils, scissors, pens, crayons, art paper, art supplies, craft paper, book bags, finger paints, powder craft paint, face paint. Sweat shirts from the thrift store on 1/2 price day, sizes small and medium and children sizes These are small frame people and it is cold in the mountains.

Good practical clothing, jeans, t-shirts, (small and medium sizes and children's sizes), rain gear, umbrellas, rain coats, rain jackets, Baby clothes, Cloth diapers for babies, gathered skirts for girls and woman (they like skirts), sneakers, children's sneakers, all sizes for children, good quality thick new socks, drum sticks ($2.00 a pair on the internet) drumming teaches counting and develops the brain, anything educational, flash cards, simple Spanish / English dictionaries, blow up beach ball globes of the world (many have never seen the world round, only flat), adult cloth diapers and plastic mattress covers.

Much Needed Cash Donations Can Be Sent To:
Voz Que Clama Mission

990 Sunset Drive

Healdsburg, California 95448

USA

Written by Ginnee Hancock who lives with her husband Phil on their sustainable rainforest farm in Esperanza de Turrialba. They are thankful for how the Mission located in the neighboring town of Tuis, continues to transform the lives of the people of Tuis and the Cabecar through education, understanding, love, opportunity and always with dignity.

On December 21st, the Voz Que Clama Mission http://www.vqcmission.com held their Cabecar Indigenous Christmas Party in the Chirripo mountain town of Quetzal, Costa Rica. I had never made the difficult drive to the Chirripo Mountains before. The almost 3 hour drive from Tuis on the rugged volcanic tortured terrain was steep and remote, it appeared barely populated except for large patches of deforestation.

We were blessed to have 12 house guests who were able to attend with us. The boys helped Phil pack our big flatbed truck with donations of clothing and Christmas gifts for the children and they left our house at 6am to go to the Mission in Tuis de Turrialba and continue to load our truck with all of the donated items. It was a beautiful sunny, hot day for the event.

Two students from EARTH University joined us and they brought a van load of donations from the students. How wonderful that so many participated.

My guests helped peel onions and chop veggies while I prepared the rice and beans for our contribution to the feast, the largest pot of vegetarian Spanish Rice I had ever made. It was a joint effort starting at 5:30am to make a warm and nutritious meal hoping it would still be warm by the time it was served. In the end not a spec of food was left over, and the very hungry Indigenous did not notice that their food was no longer hot and the soda was warm. When it was time to eat the Chief blew his whistle and the children lined up first in one very long, quiet, straight line with no pushing. Amazing!

The vehicles leaving the Mission were burdened with gifts, people and food. A local cattle truck was packed with volunteers from the Mission’s town of Tuis. Others drove their vehicles packed with people and food, a Hyundai Gallopher pulled a trailer loaded with sacks of surprises as we traveled in caravan style to Quetzal. The volume of people, vehicles, their overloaded capacity, and the high energy was a sight to behold. Piled atop our big truck I noticed the wheelchairs that belonged to the handicapped residents of the Mission, no one was left behind. It was a glorious event for all to enjoy. The journey was difficult, steep, vertical, and the suspension bridges were swaying over their very long span. One vehicle at a time, each vehicle allowed the previous to reach the other side before the next vehicle progressed very slowly onto the rickety well worn boards. We crossed water with no bridge and picked our way around and over water covered boulders and very deep spots.

The little children from the reservation were so beautiful. They came dressed in their finest clothing, so dirty from the long journey that my friend Rande commented as we looked at an adorable little girl, that she wanted to take her home and…..….wash her. It was easy to tell which Indigenous came from the surrounding area and who came from high up on the reservation by how clean they were. Their muddy rubber boots told the story.

Santa also attended to the delight of the children and he brought special gifts with him, toys, dolls, trucks, and gifts of warmth. There were two large Santa piñatas filled with candy and the children took turns hitting them until they released their sweet treats.

We learned that our taste in clothing and theirs is very different in some instances. We had lots of good laughter as we watch an Indigenous man so proud in his woman’s tunic top. It was flashy and he loved it. There was something for everyone.

We had far more people than we planned on. I think that no one could have done a better job of handling, so many than Daniel, Hector and staff as they worked with the Chief of the Tribe. They saw to it that everyone got something and had a good time. Building relationships within the Indigenous tribes is most important. It takes so many years, you don’t want anyone to feel hurt or left out. I think that having the items of used clothing made a big difference. They need clothing and items of warmth, but they were not greedy. In fact it was as if they were afraid to pick out or touch the clothing, and yet we know they have little or none. We had to encourage them to take items. Not that they understood a word that we were saying. Remember, most do not speak Spanish, they speak Cabecar.

I have started to plan for next year’s event already. You can participate from wherever you are. We always need gifts of clothing, and all of the other items that are on the Wish List. When you come to visit, please bring us a suitcase filled with donations. Your friends and co-workers will gladly clean out their closets and give you the donations. Your local school will help with school supplies. Children love to help other needy children and you would have a hard time to find children more needy, with no resources, no other possibilities other than you. If you would like to send a tax-deductible check, you can mail it to our US address and we will provide for their needs as necessary.

Voz Que Clama Mission
990 Sunset Drive
Healdsburg,
California 95448

It is very different in the US. Somebody always cares, there are agencies, churches, food pantries, food stamps, assistance, clothing banks…, here, there is nothing and for the most part, no one cares. Do you think I am wrong? Read this report, http://saiic.nativeweb.org/ayn/crilo.html we should be informed as to the reality of our Indigenous. The Cabecar are one of the many tribes of the Americas. They routinely traversed from South America to Canada and back many years ago before there were borders.

All people deserve an opportunity to live in dignity, it has not served this world well, to ignore any particular group of people. We are all humans struggling to survive. Some are struggling far more than others just to see another sunrise. There, but for the grace of God, go I. We thank you for your kindness and generosity and look forward to hearing from you.

Journey to the Cabecar Indigenous Reservation

It was a few weeks ago that my neighbor and friend Sara Gomez, a dental student at the University of Costa Rica, said that she had been home on vacation for only 5 days and she was bored already. I challenged her to journey to the Cabecar Indigenous Reservation with the Mission Voz Que Clama and photograph the trip. This was an important journey, important to me because I can not make this trip, important to her because it expanded her world, her mind, and I knew she could do it. It is also important that you learn about our rural Indigenous. This was probably her most challenging adventure yet, I knew it would be pushing her envelope but I left that part out when sharing the opportunity with her.

The hike to the Cabecar Indigenous Reservation is difficult and only the most athletic and physically fit are able to make the journey. There are no bridges, roads, or comfort, and it is mostly an up mountain climb. The roaring rivers must be crossed by sliding on a cable or fording the deep, cold, torrential river on foot. When you take a canopy tour you are secured in a harness with every safety precaution. Our Indigenous and volunteers sit in a sling, grasp on to their children and possessions while holding on for dear life and then advance hand over hand. At this moment Sara wanted to go back the same way she came, but that was not possible.

To this village the trip is 5 hours long on a good day. From my side of the reservation the trip is 8 hours long to the first village and often can not be made in one day due to weather and river conditions. The Indigenous walk those 8 hours to our farm for emergency help as our farm manager has a cell phone and there is no phone on the reservation. Recently he called 911 and a helicopter came and airlifted a very ill man from the reservation.

I read an article in We Love Costa Rica about Americans like me who move to a developing nation. It correctly said: "The influx of illegal immigrants from south of the border will continue until the economies of their homelands begin providing sufficient job opportunities. US emigrants help to create those jobs. They are America's most effective foreign aid program, but without the bureaucracy and waste. They share more than money. They share themselves. Taken together, they are helping to alleviate the root causes of illegal immigration. Americans bring their sorely needed money and wealth of professional expertise to the homelands of America's immigrants. That steady emigration from the US is thoroughly ignored, however, because relevant statistics are nearly impossible to find." My husband, a nurseryman, and I retired to Costa Rica to protect our rainforest that spawns and grows water. We grow bamboo, vetevier, and nitrogen fixing legumes as well as practice permaculture and biodynamics. We supply school materials to the rural poor and Indigenous children in our area. Currently we are looking for a volunteer teacher who will spend a year with us teaching English and how to read to the poor and Indigenous. We provide jobs to both Costa Ricans and Indigenous, sharing with them the skills that we know as they share with us their knowledge.

I know some of you know folks who have vacationed in Costa Rica and may have even stayed at our Marriott or other fine resorts or hotels and totally missed my part of our country. I have had Gringo's say to me, "I went to Costa Rica and I did not see any poor people." What a shame, those folks took a vacation and missed the best part of my country because they stayed at Disney World, but perhaps they did not know there was more to see. South of Turrialba, the Cordillera de Talamanca is one of Costa Rica’s best kept secrets. The only thing south of us, more or less, is the Indigenous Reservation, La Amistad International Parque and then Panama.

What I am sharing with you is one part of the many parts of the real Costa Rica. This is the land the Indigenous protect, it is a water shed, consisting of cloud and rainforest. So beautiful and yet difficult, these areas produce the purist water on Earth. Not a lot of pure water left on planet Earth unfortunately. Our Indigenous leave the lightest footprint possible on this land. They live with no electricity and wash their clothing in a stream. The children see occasional visiting teachers, and most Indigenous speak little or no Spanish, they speak their Indigenous language. They look forward to visiting missionaries such as Hector and Daniel, both Costa Ricans, who led this adventure and who are the directors at the Mission Voz Que Clama, http://www.vqcmission.com/ .

I continue to feel an obligation to help the poor rural children, the Indigenous and the mission, although they ask for nothing. Our Indigenous have been ignored, they are the invisible people. I observe people walking around them when they come to town as if they were lepers. I can’t help looking at their beautiful brown faces and wonder their need and their story. They are mostly uneducated as we understand education and do not attend school because they do not speak Spanish and there is no school in their village. They are wise to the ways of the forest, its animals, medicinal plants, and how to survive. It is only in recent years have they been issued a Cedula, the national identity card (similar to a social security number). They now have free medical care, but little access to it. They often do not have bus fare after having walked down the mountain, as they do not trade in currency, for this is our way, not theirs. As our world continues to move forward encroaching on their lives, our Indigenous are left behind. We have two worlds going on, theirs and ours, they call us the others. Their world is a perfect one in the eyes of nature, not an easy life, but near perfect in many ways, and deficient in others. We are on this planet complicating their life with our greed, our need, and our affluence that sometimes allows us to run over everything in our way. As a global community we must all coexist and care for each other because if we do not, we will all suffer the consequences. So I will share my Wish List with you at the end of my story and ask that when you come to Costa Rica, please bring a suitcase of supplies for these people and their children. You can contact me ginnee@racsa.co.cr and we will arrange for pickup at the airport in San Jose, or direct you to a nearby drop off. You are always welcome to come to us (you can drive to the mission) and see the other, real Costa Rica in the South Central Mountains. Mission Voz Que Clama, distributes the donations, helps to educate the children, delivers supplies, builds shelters, saves lives and makes regular journeys to the reservation with volunteers. It has taken years to build a trusting relationship and to be able to communicate with the village. The mission has a 501c3 tax deductible US charitable designation.

Mission Voz Que Clama is located in Tuis de Turrialba. They allow the Indigenous who are traversing to stay at their facility when they come down from the mountain. They also take in the handicap Indigenous who were put out to die because it is believed they have a bad spirit. The Mission provides for all of their living and medical needs in this well run clean, loving, facility with 24/7 staffed care. This is partially funded through the proceeds earned from their Spanish Language School in Tuis http://www.cisacostarica.com/ If you would like to learn Spanish while on your vacation and have a cultural experience in the heart of rural Costa Rica's mountains and rivers, as well as providing the best kind of foreign aid, this is where your life changing journey begins.

Thank you for caring and understanding, thank you for your support.

Ginnee

Wish list:

Used lap top computers in working order
toothbrushes
tooth paste
Backpacks or small and medium duffle tote bags
chalk
twin or full blankets
battery-less flashlights (shakable)
pencils
notebooks
notebook paper
pencil sharpeners
colored pencils
scissors
pens
crayons
art paper
art supplies
craft paper
book bags
finger paints
powder craft paint
face paint
soccer balls
sweat shirts from the thrift store on 1/2 price day, sizes small and medium and children sizes These are small frame people. It is cold in the mountains.
good practical clothing, jeans, t-shirts, (small and medium sizes and children's sizes)
rain gear, umbrellas, rain coats, rain jackets
Baby clothes
Cloth diapers
gathered skirts for girls (they like skirts)
sneakers, children's sneakers, all sizes for children
good quality new socks
drum sticks ($2.00 a pair on the internet)
anything educational
flash cards
simple Spanish / English dictionaries
blow up beach ball globes of the world (they have never seen the world round, only flat)



Ginnee Hancock lives with her husband Felipe in Esperanza and Atirro de Turrialba, Costa Rica on their 1,270 acre rainforest farm.

Zach Baker read my blog, gathered up a box of precious professional art supplies and mailed them to me in Costa Rica. What a surprise when a small postal van with two men pulled up to our house in Atirro and blew their horn. This is the first time a postal van has ever been here. We went out to greet them and to our surprise we had a very heavy big box from New York City.

I called the Mission right away and off we went to visit the wonderful folks at Voz Que Clama Mission in Tuis. I love this place and these people, they do so much good working with the handicapped Cabecar Indigenous and the children. This is a very busy time for them as they have two different missionary families of about 13 people studying Spanish at the mission’s language school. Never a dull moment for Hector, Daniel, and their assistant April.

We gathered around the box and opened it up with excitement, it was just like Christmas. Wonderful brushes, paints of all colors, artist pencils, acrylic paints, sculpting knives, a chess set and very cute 3 D glasses that we just could not resist wearing immediately. How fun.

Thank you, Zach Baker, for your kindness and generosity. It is acts of kindness such as this that makes a difference in the lives of others here in southern Costa Rica. This summer the mission will work with their poor rural and indigenous children and these supplies will inspire the children and touch their hearts. Thank you so very much!

This past week was Easter, known as Semana Santa (Holy Week) in Costa Rica. There are cultural ceremonies that continue on through the week at the local church. On Saturday evening, my friends and I went to a candle lighting ceremony that included a small fire outside the church.

The Priest or Padre as he is called has 13 churches to serve and is not able to be everywhere at one time. This year, two young women from Cartago held a full Mass on Saturday night including Communion. The church was beautifully decorated by our neighbor Maria and her friends. They picked tropical flowers, made bouquets, and had the church spic and span for the occasion. We have been in a drought and the unpaved road’s dust falls on the pews daily.

I was unprepared for the leadership of such young women in our very macho society. They could not have been much more than 20 years old wearing hip hugger jeans that are the uniform of all young girls here. I wondered if the one in the brown t-shirt with the silk screened cross on the front was a Nun, but she was not. She presided over a full mass with maturity, ease and skill far beyond her years. She delivered a sermon appropriate for the moment with no notes. She gave thanks to Jesus and to her Mother and Father. I am not a Spanish speaker so I missed a lot of the words, but the body language and her presentation was impressive. Her use of the floor, making eye contact with the believers, and her sincerity allowed her the command of her audience. I wanted to stand up in the end and say Bravo young women!!! Magnificent job!!!

Who needs Priests when you have young woman that are so capable and alive with energy, spirit and soul. Okay, so perhaps the Priest can think of a few reasons. I left the Catholic Church because of Priests and other reasons that are probably not appropriate for this moment.

The girls are part of a youth outreach mission from Cartago. What a brilliant idea, and a breath of fresh air for the church, for the parishioners and the community. Bravo young women!!!

Maria always makes everything special and at the end of the service, a special social dinner was served along with freshly prepared Mango juice. Living and participating in a community that is so small has its own blessings. People walk to the church easily as our town is only 1 block long with not many houses. Everyone knows each other and they welcome newcomers with eagerness and friendship. Everyone speaks to you and is accepting as if they have known you forever. It is the best way to meet your neighbors and I think that it means something to them that you took the time to come and participate in their celebration at their church.

So, you’re not Catholic? I think it does not matter much. This is a Catholic country, your neighbors are most likely Catholic, and I appreciate my wonderful neighbors. I also attend the Mission in Tuis (Voz Que Clama Mission), they accept all people and I have not heard them talk about denominations. Two young men, Hector and Daniel, serving their community’s needs above and beyond what most people are capable of. I applaud and support their work. http://www.vqcmission.com/work.html

If you would like to help the poor rural children and indigenous please contact me at ginnee@gmail.com . We always have a need for school supplies, art supplies, good used practical clothing, sweat shirts, pencils, and crayons. We can arrange for a drop off point near the airport or for a pick up. If we do not help, it will not happen for these children as their homes are remote and isolated on their high cold mountainous reservation.

Regan is gifting the school bag filled with school supplies and homemade bread to Airminnnia our Indigenous neighbor on our side of the footbridge. The school supplies were generous donations from the Primrose School in Lawrenceville, Georgia, USA. More school supplies will be hiked up to the reservation by Hector and Daniel, who operate the Mission in Tuis (Voz Que Clama Mission), this week.

The river looks really tame at the moment, but you can see how high it will come to when the rainy season starts. We have been in a drought for some time now. This is the dry season, but we should still have rain. Our rainforest receives between 200 and 300 inches per year.

Last week Bernie and Nhi , who own the Pura Vida Hotel in San Jose, Costa Rica, were kind enough to deliver donations of school and art supplies to our home. These gifts were left at the hotel by visitors who have read my blog. You can learn more about their hotel on their web site http://www.puravidahotel.com/ . Guests rave about the accommodations, the gardens and Nhi's cooking. They are also just 15 minutes from the airport and they will arrange to pick you up or drop you off as you leave our beautiful country. I can not think of a better way to end your vacation, than with Berni and Nhi. They are lovely people with beautiful facilities.

We are very grateful to them for accepting donations at their convenient location. No, you do not have to stay there, but it is the best hotel around with the finest food, great innkeepers and they get rave reviews. Friends helping Friends to help the poor rural children and Indigenous. Your help makes it possible for us to help children stay in school. Many of the Indigenous never actually go to a school, their contact with education is from a teacher or from folks like Daniel and Hector at the Mission who hike for 5 or more hours up the mountain to the villages. We supply them with paper, pencils, crayons, art supplies, sweat shirts and practical clothing for the children. It is your generosity and caring that allows all of us together to help make a difference in the lives of others. We each have a role in bringing education to the children. Thank you very much.

Here is a map of where our farm and rainforest is located in Costa Rica. We are at the point of the arrow. The Indigenous Reservation is an 8 hour walk to the South of our land. There is nothing between them and us except rugged terrain and rivers to cross.

If you would like to donate good practical clothing, school and art supplies and will be coming to Costa Rica you can drop off your donations near the airport. Please contact me at ginnee@gmail.com for more info and directions. We have kind people located near the airport who will except donations and we will arrange for me to pick them up or if someone is coming my way they will deliver the donations to me. Friends helping friends to help others.

It is very convenient to pack your donations in an old duffel bag or suitcase that you may want to get rid of, or purchase an old bag at the Salvation Army. Many thrift stores will give them to you when you tell them what you are going to do with it. They are not big sellers.

My Classmate Jackie from Fort Lauderdale High School, Class of 66 put me in touch with the daughter of a friend of hers. Regan and I emailed this past year and she spoke with her children’s school about helping the poor and indigenous children in our area. The children sold lemonade and the teachers donated and shopped for the children in my area of Costa Rica. Regan and her husband John came for a visit bringing gifts.

This morning we got up, ate breakfast and headed to the farm with our houseguests. I had planned to bring a gift to the indigenous, who live across the river from our farm and today was the day. I put a loaf of homemade whole wheat bread, lollipops, crayons, pencils, pencil sharpener, a pad of ruled paper, and some coloring books into a new bright purple satchel that was donated along with school supplies from Jennifer Hays, Tonya, and Kara at the Primrose School in Lawrenceville, Georgia. My houseguest, Regan and I took the Rhino and went down to the river, near the footbridge, with our gift. This time was different from all of the other times; they did not all hide from me. Airminnia, a lovely young indigenous mother of 4 or 5 little children came forward and walked across the rickety bridge to greet Regan. She spoke Spanish and accepted our gift as I took photos. One little success at a time; today was a really good day. Perhaps the indigenous man that I gave a ride to last week told her about me as Airminnia’s casita was his destination for the day.

If you have not been to a third world or developing world destination point, you can not imagine the impact that small acts of kindness can make. If your vacations are to all inclusive resorts, you are missing the blessings that await us all. Simple pleasures, beautiful smiles, momentary friendships that mean something and the best part is that you are the one who also benefits from that act of kindness as well as the recipient. That little bag of donated goodies was huge for Airminnia and her family, it may have been the biggest gift they have ever received; it may have been the only gift so far.

Last week an indigenous man came down from the mountain, someone was very ill. Because our farm manager now has a cell phone, Marcos was able to make a phone call and a very old Viet Nam vintage helicopter swooped in, landed and picked up a very ill indigenous man. We are the closest communication point and saved him several hours more foot travel to get help. It had already taken him 8 hours to get to us. Small acts of kindness can change and save lives.