Murder on Indian reserve might not prompt an investigation

By Elise Sonray
of the A.M. Costa Rica staff


A bad man wrapped a rope around the child's neck and strangled him. That's how Blanca Rose described the murder of the 5-year old who couldn't walk, according to a mission director.

Blanca Rose isn't the only mother who sought refuge because of her child's condition. Filemón, who has cerebral palsy, and Victorino, who fell from a tree when he was a young, both live in the Chirripó mission, said a director there. They are there because some people in their Cabécar villages thought they would be better off dead.

The claims of murders and other violence represent a challenge for local police agencies. Although Indians in Costa Rica are presumed to live under the sames laws as the rest of the citizens, distance, tradition and fear of outsiders frequently keeps police from knowing what takes place.

In some of the Cabécar villages there are people who think those who are mentally or physically disabled should be killed, said Daniel Montoya Salas, co-director of Voz Que Calma mission in Chirripó. “Not everyone is the same,” said Montoya. Many Cebécar people come to visit the mission, and they say it brings happiness to their hearts to see Victorino and Filemón doing well, said Montoya.

Some of Victornio's family members tried to beat him to death with sticks after he fell from the tree and was left paraplegic, said Montoya. “The scars on his head are incredible,” said Montoya. And women advised Filemón's mother, Cela, to stop giving him food so he would die faster, added the director.

Blanca Rose, her daughter Priscilla, and her mother Roxana are still awaiting the baby's journey to Hospital Nacional de Niños, said Montoya. At this point the mission and others helping want to make sure Roxana, who has a mental illness, understands that the only family she has will not abandon her and that they will come back after their trip to San José, said Montoya.

Last week the two women and the baby traveled to the mission for a visit and to share lunch, said Montoya. He said this was a sign that the mother and grandmother were gaining their trust. “The grandmother knows my name now,” he said.

The three family members arrived at the mission last month asking for help. They left in fear after the murder of the 5-year-old boy who couldn't walk. 2-year-old Priscilla is weak on the left side and still doesn't walk. Priscilla, her mother and grandmother are not from Sinoli, the community the mission works with, said Montoya. They are from Sitio Hilda, a community which is a four days walk away, said Montoya. The mission director said these kinds of superstitious cases are more common in the farthest away villages, not in places like Sinoli.

In the case of the boy who was murdered in Sitio Hilda, the perpetrator is unidentified and no one has pressed charges to his knowledge, said Montoya. No charges were pressed in the cases of Filemón and Victorino either, said Montoya. In fact Victorino forgave the parents who had beaten him, and now they have a good relationship, said Montoya.

Many times members of the community don't want to talk to officials about crimes, said Montoya. Investigators from the regional Judicial Investigation Organization offices in Turrialba, Limón, and Bribri said they'd never encountered any case in which an Indian was murdered due to a physical or mental disability.

Although Limón and Bribri offices work mainly with the Bribri people, they have encountered similar problems as agents in the Turrialba region who work with the Cabécar people, said investigators.

Guillermo Bermúdez, judicial director in Limón, said many of the Bribri people do not feel that they can trust outsiders and don't file complaints. In cases of homicides, it is hard to conduct forensic exams because the victim usually is buried immediately, and the communities are located far away, said Bermúdez.

Bermúdez, who worked as the judicial chief in Talamanca

Two men who escaped death: Victorino with ball and Filemón.

for 17 years, said he received reports of malnutrition and medical emergencies from the Bribri communities. He also worked on many domestic violence cases and some cases of violent fights breaking out due to affects of chicha de maiz, a fermented corn alcohol. Bermúdez said the same laws applied to Indian reserves as in the rest of the country.

Hugo Lascarez Montero, an investigator in Turrialba said he had worked on numerous sexual abuse cases and domestic violence cases with the Cabécar people. “Women don't have much voice,” he said. He added that cultural differences made investigations more complicated, but that the law always applies.

Abel Mora an investigator in Bribri agreed that cultural differences played a role in Bribri investigations. He said he was mainly familiar with medical problems being reported.

All of the investigators agreed that cases were difficult to investigate due to the distant locations of the communities, the lack of trust between outsiders and the indigenous people, and the fact that most people in the communities don't file complaints to judicial officials.

The Cabécar live in the mountains along the Caribbean coast south of Limón. Elsewhere in other reserves on the Pacific there have been crimes linked to supposed witchcraft.

As for baby Priscilla and her family, things are going well, said Montoya. Priscilla and Montoya played a game passing a flower back and forth, he said. “It was a little sad because she only used her right hand,” said Montoya.

Right now the mission directors and other volunteers are using donations, many of which are from readers of A.M. Costa Rica, to buy milk for Priscilla and food for the family, said Montoya. A doctor in Turrialba saw Priscilla and told Montoya the visit would be free. “You help these people. I want to help you,” said the doctor, Roy Arias Leiua, Montoya said.

No one can be sure how long Priscilla will stay in the hospital but she will need to see specialist, said Montoya. If she needs physical therapy she may have to stay for months, said Montoya, it all depends on the diagnosis.

Last month two visitors traveled to the mission to get an idea of how things were run. Although neither were doctors, visitor Ray Reynolds is a nurse and said Priscilla has an obvious weakness on the left side. “She follows movement with her eyes and seemed fascinated by my friend´s watch,” said Reynolds, who is interested in starting a foundation to assist people here who have special needs.

Representatives at Hospital Nacional de Niños have said that Blanca Rose would have permission to stay at the hospital, said Montoya. If the mother decided to stay somewhere else or receive outside help that would be her decision, he added.

Worldwide there are still people in certain cultures who believe it is best for those who are disabled to be killed. The Telegraph in Britain reported last year about Amazon tribes in Brazil that buried babies alive if they were born with any sort of deformity. An anthropology professor supported the practice as a cultural value, according to the Telegraph.

“The tradition is based on beliefs that babies with any sort of physical defect have no souls and that others, such as twins or triplets, are also 'cursed'. . .Infanticide has claimed the lives of dozens of babies each year, say campaigners fighting to end the practice,” stated the article.

Our farm was a town many years ago. Well, not so many actually about 30 years ago. All that is left are the concrete pads, footprints of buildings that use to be.

This footprint was incorporated into our new home. It is what we call the intersantium, our private space within the house.

Looking at the volcano from the farm.

My daughter said that people may think our back to basics lifestyle is too rural, too basic and therefore friends may not want to come visit us. We think that Erika is wrong, we believe that people will want to see successful off-grid living. Perhaps they will enjoy the high quality of our organic lives without utility bills.

If our extreme self-sufficient lifestyle keeps our friends away, perhaps they were not really our friends. What do you think? Please comment, we would like your thoughts.

The floor tile is being installed in the new house tomorrow, Ojala! Finally.

I am ready for the move. We have been practicing eating dinner with candle light this week. Very romantic.

This is a very stressful time for Phil. He has become the contractor, and he has done a fine job although building is not his forte. But I am pleased overall, he has good instincts.

Please have patience with my upcoming posts, remember that I am totally off the grid, no phone, no electricity, so my contections are uncertain. I will be using my cell phone and my laptop powered by my truck to connect. We will see how smoothly this goes.

The new neighbors are moving into this dead tree, parrots.

I am now looking out at the backyard, if you look close you can see corn stalks down in the valley garden. If is in the afternoon, and the rainforest clouds are falling over the fila. I think watching the clouds fall down, is one of my favorite things to do.

This was taken from the front as I approach the house. You can see where Phil has been laying the brick walkway using old handmade brick that was found on the property where the trampeche (sugar mill) use to be. The walkway leads up to the door that leads into my kitchen / dining room area. It is not the front door, but will probably be the door most used, for a while anyway.

There is no front door. I think the front door will actually be on the deck side of the house, it will be the French style doors. This will be the most used part of the house; people may as well just go there and leave the farm dirt outside.

The big black dutch door that you see, goes into my sewing room. It has little or no purpose that I can think of. Phil will cover it in Guadua Bamboo and it will disappear behind landscape.

The rocks are large although it is hard to tell that in this photo. They are from the farm via the volcano and were place in their positions by the tractor. Phil loves landscape rocks, and his rocks will rock once he has them planted up. He is excellent at landscaping and says I am his biggest fan. Not true, he is really good.

There is a driveway just before the motorcycle; it leads down to the river, the gardens, fish pond and horses. There will be a carport to my left and adjacent to the steps someday soon.

The new house is progressing nicely with colored stucco on the outside. This view is taken from the lower back yard looking up at the house. All of the windows will have screens on them which is not customary for Costa Rica. They usually have windows without screens. We will have screens without windows. The big door opening will have French type double doors, but without the little panes of glass. We are told the doors were ordered, but I don’t believe it is true. That remains to be seen. If I am correct, I have option B already planned and I like it just fine.

We look forward to the cool temperatures and no need for AC. Good thing we don’t need AC, as we are off the grid.

Angela Kirkpatrick and her daughter Madeline came from Utah to visit us. They brought beautiful high quality handmade skirts for the Indigenous woman and girls. Angela’s Mormon Church group put a lot of effort into this project of love. The Voz Que Clama Mission brought them to the reservation on this last trip and distributed them. Hector Soto, Director of the Mission is gifting a skirt. The Indigenous women greatly appreciate the gift of skirts that were made by my new friend Angela and her wonderful friends. Thank you so much. You are blessed for your work, what a wonderful gift.

It is very difficult to get good photos of the Indigenous. They freeze like statues when the camera comes out. At the Mission there is one great photo of laughing children. How did this happen? Hector, Daniel, all of us have a difficult time to find that smile. They started asking the children what do you call a fart in Cabecar? Well that brought about a roar of laughter and a great photo. Farts are funny in any language.

I am sure that if Hector had modeled a skirt, we would have seen lots of laughter from everyone. Next time.

The Cabecar are in trouble, they need our help and support to overcome their health issues. 48% of their children die at birth. They have parasites, their children are starving, they are struggeling to survive, they have no education and their best skill may be survival, marginal survival.

They would give you their best hut and the shirt off their backs. They have nothing.

If you would like to help Costa Rica's first people, the Cabecar Indigenous, please contact me at ginnee@gmail.com

Madeline, Angela's daughter, is a gifted horsewoman. We hope that she will return and work with the children of Esperanza. They need her in their lives, she has valuable lessons to teach them.

Thank you Angela, your a beautiful person and I am greatful for your friendship.

Ginnee

The Cabecar chief is wearing the blue ball cap. This is his village.

The Cabecar have faced many generations of discrimination.

The Cabecar are not use to receiving beautiful gifts.

Esperanza’s School

Our little one room school house for about 10 students in very poor, rural Esperanza de Turrialba was broken into over the weekend and the pathetic thieves stole all of the copper wire that gave the children electricity. What else is missing, I don’t know yet. We had a donated desk top computer, old, not worth much, but it was all they had.

So now what? I do know that stolen wire is stripped and sold, put on ships and sent to China. Ships filled with stolen copper are leaving our ports everyday for China. Big problem involving pathetic low life criminals.

But I am more concerned for the children. Sweet, innocent, poor as a church mouse, they still have a dream. They want to be somebody special, they want to be like you. They want their dreams to come true. For most of them, their dreams are much more realistic than mine ever were. There education is so far behind where it should be, it pains me to have this happen to them. These children’s parents can not afford pencils, shoes uniforms, crayons, notebooks.

Can you help me, help them? If you want to make a donation, please email me at ginnee@gmail.com I am in the process of setting up a paypal account to make it easier for folks to help. Thankful for your love, care and commitment; our rural and Indigenous children appreciate everything thing you do for them. Without you, they have little hope of having their dreams come true.

Here is Regan handing the purple bag with school supplies to a Cabecar Indigenous woman. I had been trying to make contact with this family for some time. They were fearful and hid behind trees across the river. Thank you Regan and Primrose School for your gifts.

Today we were headed to the farm with a truck full of feed, fuel and grown live chickens. Ahead was an Indigenous woman walking, carrying a small child of maybe 12 months. She was wearing a very used and worn Primrose Camp school bag full of stuff. She had a makeshift strap so that she could wear it. We stopped and she and the baby sat on top of the feed with the chickens. I have never seen this woman before. I am still smiling about the bag. They are used, cherished and loved.

Please tell the others at the school that their gift of camp bags, have meant so much to so many. I continue to see them in use and as Phil said today, Honey there is one of your bags, one of your Indigenous. Well they were your bags, thank you all so much for helping.

These moments are little successes, but successes none the less. We helped a women who had less than nothing. I don't know how she came to have the bag, it does not matter, she is one of our Indigenous women.

Today was a great day in our lives. It is difficult to express how exciting it is to see something as simple as a used purple bag. We smell of live chickens, (by the way, the chickens are beautiful.) I don’t think they were a bargain, but they are layers and one rooster. One even laid an egg in transport.

The accommodations in the Landcruiser were of such that we debated offering a ride, and then we stopped and backed up. The child was wedged between feed and clucking chickens in used feed sacks. Mom was piled on top of 50 lb. feed sacks of dog chow and cow minerals and none of us could get away from the chickens and their fresh earthy smell. The fuel smell overpowering everything. Yes it was a great day.

The Adventures of Don Mark, an ongoing saga

Webster’s version of a mark, a target.

Don Mark, not his real name, is that target. It has been said by others, that all Americans in a foreign land, are just another mark. Is that true? It could be true……

The first man to ride up on a horse with it’s filly along side said to Don Mark, I have a horse for you. And so Don Mark then owned a horse, a filly and it’s tack. Word gets around and man #2 rides up with a horse for sale. Don Mark now owns 3 horses. Such a deal.

Man #2 talks Don Mark into buying baby cows that he is not yet ready for. Word of advice, don’t buy cows that you are not ready for. They are not self-starting, self herding, they are needy dependants! Giving birth could be easier and that is not my idea of a good time.

Don Mark continues to add to his bounty, in addition to the cows and horses (they are nice quality animals in all fairness), Don Mark now owns 9 dogs, and sacks full of live chickens. No no no, not beautiful chicken’s with colored eggs, and fine fancy beautiful feathers, but skinny, tough, I can not swallow the beastie yard-bird chickens. Okay, to be honest, I have not seen the chickens yet, but I am betting this is how the chicken adventure will go down.

I do always try to be totally fair with my assessment of things. Brutally blunt, but fair would accurately describe me.

When you do not have enough to eat, neither do your dogs. We have 9 dogs now, 6 of them found us at the farm, all starving, emaciated, it is a terrible life for dogs. These dogs belong to the indigenous.

We are at the home where Priscilla is staying. Our friend is evaluating the child, trying to determine what exactly is wrong, what may have happened, and how do we provide for this child. Because her Mother, Blanca Rose, left the reservation to save her child's life; they can never return to the reservation.

The Indigenous baby Priscilla and her Mother on their way to see our local doctor. Her left side does not function and she drags it around. Her little hand is always closed, but I can easily open it. Priscilla was possibly deprived of oxygen during her difficult birth on the reservation. We hope that with therapy she can learn to walk.

We are on a deadline to build our home, not that this means anything to anyone but us apparently. Our work force is dwindling. Two workers were still remain as of today. The young worker drives a motorcycle that he can not keep running. So far we have fixed it as well as bought shocks for it so that he can bring the other worker a skilled older man with him. It is broke again, does not run and the older gentleman called this evening. He has kidney stones, OH Great! What next?

He has sacks of chickens in his living room bagged up for us. That's what is next. Live chickens. We don't have a chicken house. Well that is how it goes here, you have one small conversation about chickens and the next thing you know there is a living room full of them in sacks. Now we have to go get them and I don't know where they will live, we were not ready for the chickens. We don't have a house and neither do they.

Dominick will not be working any more either, if we understand correctly, because of the kidney stones. The fellow with the motorcycle? I have no idea if he is still working with us. I suppose we can fix his tired old Chinese bike, again. We must finish this house.

I am usually on the other end of the camera, so this is rare opportunity for you to see me. I am playing with my whole fried fish

This beautiful Indigenous boy was at the house of the baby Priscilla and her mother Blanca Rose. He had never seen himself in a camera before. He could not believe his eyes.

The Rio Atirro cut a new path and the road is gone. The bridge still stands, but no chance of getting to it.

The road to the right, is the road to Esperanza and our farm. The road to the left, took you to the bridge across the river. There was no river here. How do you fix this? The re-cut river is now only about 20 feet from our road. The Alcalde (Mayor) needs to do something. They never fix things to last here. Last year they put a lot of money into stabilizing the bridge on this road. All of that money is down the river now. Gone, washed away by the first heavy rain of the season. Natural erosion.

This road took you across the river by bridge. How do you fix this? The re-cut river is now only about 20 feet from our road. The Alcalde (Mayor) needs to do something. They never fix things to last here. Last year they put a lot of money into stabilizing the bridge on this road. All of that money is down the river now. Gone, washed away by the first heavy rain of the season. Natural erosion.

The girls are always walking ahead of Bule Boy, he is so laid back.

Bule boy is walking to another pasture on this day. We should have more calves soon.

The Rio Atirro has been out of control because of heavy rains in the mountains. It has taken out the road to the bridge that leads to the other side of the river.

The back side of our home looking up from the gardens and the river Atirro. There will be a cantilevered deck off the french doors when we get to it.

Songs that I Love and Books You Must Read. The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder, what a contrast of hope and despair between the songs and the book. I may be a political refugee in exile, but the US is still my country and I am sad for what is happening to her. Even sadder for those who seem to not have a clue.

It is not our fault, yours and mine, we were lied to by the powers that govern us. http://www.prosecutionofbush.com/video.php Now we know the truth, the evidence is at hand. I hope that prosecutors have the courage to take action for the American people.

It will take this courage for the world to respect us again. But first we must respect ourselves and not let the man or men responsible for these terrible crimes to go free.

I have put up links to "Songs I Love", I hope that you will take a moment to listen to them.

Several are music videos from u-tube. They are all worth your time. I love Eros Ramazzotti and these duets are fun and special.

Since leaving the states I have found new artists, well new to me. The rest of the world is very familar with my new finds. Please leave a comment and tell me if you enjoyed them as much as I do.

I have also posted a link to Rawhide's theme song from the TV show by the same name starring a young Clint Eastwood. I never missed this show, it was a family affair. I wanted you to be able to view my cow's photos while Frankie Laine sang his song, Rawhide.

Blogger has been having some issues lately. My slow speed probably does not help any. Comments could no longer be left. Why does the little pencil keep disappearing, It is back again today. And I am able to post photos. Blogger still has issues however.

I appologize for not putting up more photos recently, please feel free to blame blogger, it is their fault.

Here is the center of our farms housing component, but not the center of our farm.

We had a splendid meeting today at the Voz Que Clama Mission and talked about the problems the Cabecar Indigenous face in their lives. Because the meeting was in Spanish I have asked Ray Reynolds who attended with friends to write an article sharing with you the content of today’s meeting. That will be forthcoming.

Then we went to view the new Mission building which will house the disabled Indigenous and double their capacity. Wow, it is really coming along fast. This structure is so needed. I know too many people hate to throw money at a building, I understand. But if you could actually realize the need you would want to participate. This is not a monument to men, this is a life saving facility.

Priscilla the disabled Cabecar Indigenous child was our next stop and we met this beautiful child, her mother, grandmother, and the Indigenous family they are staying with. Priscilla has probably suffered some oxygen deprivation during birth. She saw a doctor yesterday and will now go to the Children’s Hospital in San Jose where we are told that she will probably stay for about 2 months for exams and rehabilitation so that she can learn to walk for starters. Her journey is just beginning.

Blanca Rose, Priscilla’s Mother told us that this is her only child. She had a very difficult birth. Her husband went outside in January and she has never seen him again. I am still not sure where on the reservation she came from, not the villages that the Mission serves, but much farther towards Panama. They walked up and down mountains, over and through rivers for 4 days. The child’s Grandmother will also be examined soon to see what is going on with her. She does not talk, mumbles a bit, perhaps she is in shock. The baby makes her happy, it is very clear.

When the Mission goes to the reservation, (they leave before sun up tomorrow), they drive for 3 hours to Quetzal and then walk for 5 hours. When they return on Friday evening, they will be totally exhausted. Only the most fit, can make the journey. We are that exhausted just making the difficult drive to Quetzal without getting out of the car; forget the 5 hour walk a goat would have a hard time making. The men and women who will go on this trip will carry very large and long plank style boards, enough to build another wall on the smoke free house with kitchen (not sure what that means but it will have a chimney) that the volunteers are constructing. This building is to keep the Indigenous from filling their lungs with smoke from open fires in their homes that deteriorates their health, contributes to their asthma and emphysema. It is a simple model home, no illusions of grandeur or palatal manse going on here. The house is a board structure with a tin roof. The volunteers are doing a fine job and have been at it for many many months. I want to stress, this is a simple structure, a very SIMPLE structure that will be the best home on the reservation.

For Blanca Rose to have walked this journey for 4 days, with her child tied to her body with a scarf and her Mother in tow, I can’t imagine.

She has never been off the reservation, never seen cars, or a town like Tuis. (Tuis is so small if you blink you will miss it.) When my daughter drove up to the very rural house they are staying in, Blanca Rose could not believe that a woman could drive, or that a big piece of metal can move.

She fears how dangerous her journey and the hospital will be. We assure her that she and her child will be safe, we will see to it. She must remain tranquilo. I can barely imagine her level of apprehension as she is exposed to our world. It will be like landing on another planet with no knowledge of their atmosphere.

There were a number of starving skeletal dogs in the yard. A few chickens in mailbox like coups laying eggs. I took a 10 year old boy’s photo and showed it to him. He had never seen himself before and was thrilled, shy, laughed and covered his face. Cute kid.

I had the urge to take them all home with me, even the starving dogs. I thought of Alison my dog rescue friend in La Flor who has too many dogs and not enough dog food. She is going broke being a dog angel rescuing those unfortunate animals that are not living the good life in Costa Rica.

If you live in the San Jose area perhaps you would volunteer to be an advocate for Blanca Rose and her child. We don’t think that she can stay in the hospital at night with her baby. Blanca Rose can not be left alone in San Jose either. She has no skills in our world. NONE! She speaks some Spanish, she needs acts of kindness to hold her hand, make sure she eats, and that she and her child are safe.

If you can find the heart to volunteer and help, this may be the most rewarding time in your life. Please contact me at ginnee@gmail.com

Blessings,

Ginnee

My friend Dave asked me if I did my own website (blog) and how hard was it to do. Well, on a good day Dave, when google has no issues, and my browser is working properly, or if I have not tried something new that crashes the site, it is kind of easy, until it is not easy any more.

My first computer’s memory was tape recorder. So I have been at this for a while, although not always successfully. I must admit that the computer learning process does not come natural for me. I think it should be more free flowing in my head conceptually. The problem always seems to be when there is a problem. Is it me? Is it Internet Explorer? Is it Blogger? Try it in FireFox, does it work there? Where did the little pencil go? It was there last night! Who or what changes this stuff while I am sleeping? Fixing my crash can take far longer than my brilliant idea as I backtrack what I did. Not always that easy for me depending on how many steps and code changes I made.

Like the time I came up with the brilliant idea of having Frankie Laine break out in the theme song to the old Rawhide TV show (Clint Eastwood) when the photos of my Brahman cows came up on my blog. Crash!!! It took me several weeks to undo that mistake and move forward. I wanted to beat my head against a brick wall. I had spent several weeks trying to get the music from the internet. Why am I blocked from some sites just because I do not live in the US? What does that have to do with anything? “We detect that you are in a foreign country!” Yeah, so what! What does that have to do with a free download? I am a political refuge, feel my pain.

Now, I believe that I again know how to do have Frankie singing to my cows, a different technique than before, but so far the desire has not totally taken over my sensibilities and I still remember the pain of my last big mistake all to well.

Good idea to back up your blog, and then back up your widget code as well.

Earth University is located in Guapiles, Costa Rica. Started by the Kellogg Foundations it is a 5 year agricultural university with students from all over the world. 80% of the students are on scholarship with the intent to go back to their countries and improve production for their farmers through organic, sustainable farming practices.

We just returned from Earth U. this week. Our farm participated in an enterprise program with Earth. The students determined what native species of hard wood trees should, would and could be in our forest, they then propagated those seeds for us. We purchased these 5,000 small trees (seedlings) from them and will now plant them on the farm, in the forest, and in an area that we will reforest.

This project is not a tree plantation, but a true reforestation project that will not be cut down. Many of the “reforestation” projects that offer you an investment opportunity do not reforest, they are plantations. Let’s call it what it is. If you’re going to cut it down, you did not reforest. Teak is not a native species; it is ugly, and not desirable for reforestation.

We are so close to moving into the new house. I asked Phil if we could move in next weekend and in fact that will be pushing it. I am ready to go even though it will not be totally completed for months yet. Cabinetry needs to be made and installed, and we will get to it when we get to it. I am okay with that. My husband made my kitchen island with prep sink, and I love it. It is perfect for making bread. I like to make bread; I find it meditative and artistic. Most of my loaves are braided as I think they are more attractive that way, and they take less time to bake. I don’t eat much bread, making it is simply my art, and everyone else loves to eat it. I grind my own grains using what we have available in my area of my country or using what is grown and dried on my farm.

Phil also made our composting toilet for the bathroom. Love it! He did a great job. Everybody should own a composting toilet; there are so many reasons to do so. You are not polluting your ground water may be one of the best reasons. It does not smell, and makes excellent fertilizer when properly composted for a period of time. You can have as many toilets as you want or need, anywhere you need them, including emergency medical situations in your home where the patient may not be able to get to the bathroom for various reasons. A compost toilet can be a port-a-potty and you can make it the exact height you want it for easy up and down access. Very clever. I never liked those very low toilets, they are uncomfortable and not practical.

We could have had a conventional toilet, we are plumbed for it, we chose not to do so. Some of my old Norte Americano friends are not so adventuresome and not hip to this very green concept. They are thinking Jiffy John, no no, this is different. We “flush” with sawdust, or a sawdust and clay mixture. We can also use EM, effective microorganisms. EM is made at Earth University in my country, and we use it at the farm for many things. When sprayed where the cows do their business, there is no smell and flies are not attracted to the area. We capture the cow poop, put it in the biodigester, and then spray down the corral area with EM.

Now that we have built a new home at our farm, we installed a biodigester several months ago. My cows give us methane and we have that hooked up to gas stoves, I hope to hook up my gas dryer to it also.

Our small hydropower plant provides electric for lights and recharging. We will update the hydro plant in the near future. Because we are off the grid, we must be responsible for our own needs. There are many ways you can go, but we wanted to keep costs and maintenance down to a minimum. Our unlimited water supply enables the hydro-power year round.

Priscilla needs your help. Please?

Indigenous Baby Needs Your Help

By Elise Sonray
of the A.M. Costa Rica staff

A young mother fearing her baby would be murdered, fled from her village on a treacherous journey to find help this week. She arrived to safety Wednesday, and now people in the area are asking for help and a doctor.

A family strangled their 5-year-old-boy because he could not walk on the Chirripó Indian reserve, said a expat neighbor. The young mother, Blanca Rosa, feared her 2-year old daughter, whose left hand is limp and who does not talk, would be next. She fled the village and walked for four days with her child and mother to the nearest non-Indian community, said the neighbor.

Blanca Rosa carried her baby Pricilla over raging rivers and helped her feeble mother climb over rugged terrain until they reached safety, said Ginnee Hancock, who lives on a farm below the mountainous reserve and is involved with the Voz Que Clama Mission http://vqcmission.com, the nearest settlement in the area.

Many of the Cabécar Indian people believe any sort of disability is sign of an evil spirit, said Ms. Hancock. One woman was told that she should kill her son who had cerebral palsy, said Ms. Hancock, adding that the mother was told to stop feeding her son so he'd die faster. Ms. Hancock also said that without enough food, villagers may believe they cannot afford to feed those unable to work.

There is a young man who lives at the mission who suffered a spinal cord injury when he fell out of a tree. The boy is covered in scars from head to toe, said Ms. Hancock, because his own family tried to beat and stone him to death.

Since the mission is already over its legal capacity of residents, Blanca Rosa, her baby, and her mother Roxana are staying nearby in the home of an Indian family. Ms. Hancock said she plans to have a doctor see Priscilla at William Allen Hospital in Turrialba today. But, she added a specialist will most likely be needed to diagnose the child's medical condition. Since the family has no money, Ms. Hancock needs to find a doctor in Costa Rica willing to help, she said.

“Priscilla is almost 2 and is severely underdeveloped. She cannot walk or crawl, is not trying to talk at all and has a hard time focusing,” reported Ms. Hancock. “Her eyes . . . my daughter says it is as if there is nothing there . . . the fist never unclenched. The fingers did flex out when my daughter opened the fingers, so they can open, but the child could not keep the fingers open.”

The entire Cabécar village is especially in need of rice and beans right now, said Ms. Hancock. She said she has contacts in San José who could deliver the food to Turrialba. If anyone could donate it would be greatly appreciated, said Ms. Hancock.

For more information those interested can contact ginnee@gmail.com. Donations into the mission's bank account can be made via Pay Pal at http://vqcmission.com/

“The directors of the mission take no salary. All money donated goes to help the Cabécar, the rural poor around Tuis and the Cabécar on the reservation,” said Ms. Hancock. A.M. Costa Rica featured the sprawling, remote reserve in a news story in February.

Erika is having breakfast at the Orchid Cafe in Turrialba.

Wild ducks at the farm

Erika is picking "alien" vegetables that will be stuffed with meat.

Phil picking ajote in the organic garden.

We are cooking with gas, methane gas provided by our cows. The kids from Earth U came for a weekend and this is the result, our biodigester. Now we need to build a roof over it.

We are almost finished bulding our 2nd prefab concrete and steel home at the farm. It takes 90 days minimum to build any prefab house if nothing goes wrong like, rains, floods, availability of supplies, workers show up, you have power. It is the rainy season right now. If it only takes 88 days to build, your lucky. Allow 90+ and be safe at least in your head.


The foundation: That is assuming site work is done. Such as your pad is raised, so your not flooding when the rains come. Remember, as a foreigner, your standards are higher than theirs, much higher, it just is. Our caretaker house was supplemented with a house pad made with concrete blocks and rebar, filled with river rocks and then stuccoed. This added to the time involved and the cost. Our farm crew gathered all of the rock from the river, truckload after truckload. The package price just builds it there, wherever there is. You still must remain smarter then your "contractor", and always be thinking a week or more out. If not, you will get what you get. The caretaker house without the foundation we put in would not have been a good thing. They contractors would have put it there however, no problem.

Make sure the exterior doors are exterior doors. Locks, you pick them out or hire a lock guy. Make sure they open the way you want them to, I swear no one here is thinking about how doors should open. When you have a small space you needed to use that interior space for you, not for your doors to swing in. Have a large overhang over every exterior door, so the door and people under it stay dry. Perlin does not attract termites, we use it. Termites are a problem in the rainforest. We used fibrolite (concrete board with no asbestos) for our ceilings, I like it and it can be interestingly arranged. Later we may add a bamboo ceiling over it. Your ceiling does not need to be a flat one inside your home, it can be cathedral like. Ours is, our caretakers is not. Add insulation to the ceiling. It is an extra cost, but the rain is so loud you can not hear yourself think, and it eliminates (or helps to eliminate) condensation.

There is no problem with prefab homes, the problem in general is a Central American culture problem, no one is thinking beyond this moment, in many instances.

Here are the questions I now ask regarding everything: What does that mean? And what does that mean to me? Learn to ask them out loud, demand the answer to your satisfaction, take the question to the 10th degree, I don't care how long that takes, now get it in writing. Asking these question before the disaster happens is a good thing. Remember, your level of expectation is higher than their level. Way higher. You can not leave them to build it like you want it and expect that it will happen.

An owner I know of built a house (not prefab), he went there on weekends to visit it. The site was prepared, the house was to be started on Monday, he came back the next weekend and it was facing a different direction. The contractor said, I thought it would look better this way. The owner was so angry, and he later sold the house.

Our friend had a pond dug in. It was all planned, and the backhoe guy knew where it was to go, it was staked out, he went back to other work on the farm and when he returned in the afternoon, the pond was in a different place. The backhoe guy said, I liked it over here better. That pond was filled in and redug at the operator’s expense. The house was never turned around.

Poco a Poco the house is coming along. The ceiling is being installed over the insulation, and I hope that sometime next week that phase will be completed. We are down one man, he left abruptly for another shortsighted opportunity. Oh well.

This presented a problem because our primary worker who came with that employee, now had no transportation. Another construction worker has a motorcycle but the shocks were so bad it sat on the tire with two men on it. So we bought him a new set of shock for his motorcycle, the cost of getting a house built, and now they come to work together. Ya do what ya gotta do.

It is a beautiful blue sky morning with a few clouds floating around the volcano. 62 degrees when I woke up and we are off to Turrialba for an adventure.

It is winter, we are about 10 degrees north of the equator, so it should technically be summer, but it is not. The deciduous trees are bare here in the summer and filled with leaves in the winter. It is just the way it is. I love winter here, a bit more rain in the afternoon and evenings but the temperatures are perfect for us.

I bought a new car, a 1974 Toyota Landcruiser BJ40 with a 2.7 liter diesel engine. How cool is this vehicle? It is as strong as a tank. Crosses rivers, has high clearance, is not hard to drive, I love it. Why would anyone prefer a Hummer to this?

My daughter Erika has rented a lovely 3 bedroom, 2 bath house with an additional guest house. Rural Costa Rica is much cheaper than San Jose and Gringo Gulch. It is just hard to find these nuggets because it is all about whom you know and who they know. You never see a sign or advertisement for these sweet locations.

Life is moving forward for her, I suspect that in the future she will only visit with me at the farm or come for an occasional overnight stay. She has her life to live, and now she has her own business packaging, providing, marketing and managing tours for groups and individuals throughout Costa Rica.

I would give her furniture for the new house, but we brought no furniture to Costa Rica. So we will donate 2 beds and a folding table, with time we can make practical furniture for her home. Felipe says I should give her one of our loved bamboo sofas so that she has something to sit on. Okay….

Felipe has been hard at it building my kitchen island and composting toilet in the evenings after a hard days work at the farm. What a guy! He is doing a really nice job.

Wood in Costa Rica is not dried properly so we are doing the drying process ourselves. If you are building here, you should know this and plan now.

I just made perfect whole wheat pita’s. What fun! They cook up in less than 6 minutes and taste fantastic. I will give the recipe’s owner his due credit, Saad Fayed, this is a wonderful recipe. Here is the link for all of you who want to try, do it, you will be amazed. http://mideastfood.about.com/od/breadsrice/r/wholewheatpita.htm?p=1 I love Middle Eastern food and Pita’s have so many uses. We will have these for dinner this evening with pickled onions and kalabasa sausage with greens.

I love to cook, and out here in the middle of nowhere, it is nice to have those things that make you smile. Like, organic whole wheat pita fresh from your oven with something wonderful tucked inside. They remind me of my young hippie days at rock concerts. Now we are just old hippies, living off the grid because we want to get away from noise, the rat race (rats never win), and do something meaningful in our lives.

Today my husband Felipe and his men are mining sand out of the river. There is none to be bought, so they strung up a cable, like a zip line and they fill buckets with sand and zip back across the river right into the back of our big truck. One Home Depot bucket at a time, my walls will soon have enough sand to be plastered. Yes!!!

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.

It came to me this morning as I was looking at my yellow bedroom walls, that you should not smash bugs with the bottom of your shoe on the walls. The bugs are dead and gone but the shoe prints remain. I was trying to be organic. It is hard to believe when looking down, that my feet are as big as that print on the wall.

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.

Cabecar Indigenous children playing a game at the party for them.

Helen Thompson an English reporter from AM Costa Rica joined us for several days and wrote about our Indigenous Christmas Party for the Children. You can see her story and photos here http://www.amcostarica.com/morenews2.htm

Sally O'Boyle and her sons, Americans now living in Escazu, Costa Rica also joined us and wrote a wonderful touching story with many photos. www.abroadincostarica.com

I was asked who the mission served, the following is an overview as I see their service:

Mostly they serve the Cabecar Indigenous, but they serve so many more.

The Mission's service to the Cabecar Indigenous gives employment to locals, the caretakers of the patients, teachers for the language school that helps support the Mission's projects.

The women who cook the meals, care for the patients, clean and wash now have employment.

A vehicle driver now has employment driving the handicapped residents to school, shopping and medical appointments..

The Mission brings the Spanish Language students that need paid homestays and meals. http://www.cisacostarica.com/

The visiting students bring donations for the Indigenous, and spend money in Tuis providing the trickle down theory of employment.

The students return to their native countries sharing their experiences and all that they learned by participating in our very rural Costa Rican lives.



Perhaps the town of Tuis has been blessed the most through their changed perceptions of the Indigenous. At first reserved, and unsure if a Mission was what they wanted in their town, they have come to be supportive and protective of the Mission and their work http://www.vqcmission.com/ Many locals volunteer to help the patients, carry supplies to the reservation, and they come to Sunday afternoon service.

The original concept was to be a church. Because Costa Rica is primarily Catholic, people would not come to the non-denominational church because they said "we have a church and you can only have one church." Daniel and Hector made the mental adjustment to become a Mission; the people said, "a Mission is good, a mission helps people, we don't have a Mission, we can come." And so a Mission it was. In the early days people came to the simple small house owned by the Mission and at 4pm on Sundays, service was held. Why 4pm? Our rural neighbors are agricultural based, they have cows to feed and milk, farm chores that must take place every morning, farming is a 7 day a week job. The house that is now the Language School and administration center of the Mission, was the first place of worship. Soon they could no longer fit in the little house and the need for a larger facility was needed. At this time service is held outdoors, under cover, surrounded by cows and horses who seem to enjoy the inspirational music that flows from Hectors keyboard and vocals, and the driving beat of Daniels drums. Both of the Mission's directors are also extremely talented professional musicians.

Working with little money they put on the most professional service. I reflect to my diverse religious background of having been raised Catholic and in later years attending various churches who served my needs. We had the songs sung projected onto a screen that dropped down from the costly ceiling. The Mission has a sheet hung from a chainlink fence, a young man of perhaps 10 years of age is in charge of the projector on a folding table and pushing the buttons on a laptop that operates the PowerPoint presentation taking us to the next page or the next tune. He is silent, wise beyond his years, serious and professional with his demeanor and operational skills. His small body stands 10 foot tall with the responsibility that is in his hands. The on looking cows are equally impressed as they move closer and closer, I think they are grooving on the tunes. The Indigenous as well as Costa Rican neighbors pour in. Some walk the long and winding road from La Suiza that follows the Rio Tuis to attend what becomes the highlight of their week. It is dark when they make the return trip on the dangerous dark winding road. As we drive home on the obstacle course of people and free ranging cows who have escaped and an occasional horse with and or without a rider, it always comes to me that it is a wonder there are not more roads deaths. No one has a flashlight or reflector, ever. It never seems to occur to them to move out of the way.

The women of Tuis will make their locally unique food for the Indigenous Christmas party. It will be made with love from their hearts because they have come to appreciate the Indigenous, their plight, and the richness that the Mission, Daniel, Hector and all of the volunteers have brought to their lives. They will never be the same again.


Ginnee y Felipe HancockFinca Quijote de Esperanza, SACosta Ricahttp://www.costaricamountain.blogspot.com/

I was sitting in my favorite chair at 2:05pm today when an earthquake rolled through the house. A smaller quake rolled through last week, or perhaps I was in the right place today to feel the maximum swell. Phil was in the kitchen preparing our coffee and heard the roof creak, but did not feel the roll. It is like a wave softly rolling through the house. It came up the hill through the front yard, from North to South, and into the living room. I shouted out to Phil that we just had an earthquake. The parrots did not quit screeching, not even for a moment. What’s a little more sway if you’re a bird?

The blog has had no new additions as of late, not because nothing is happening but because I did not want to give a Dear Diary, blow by blow description of the ongoing events in our lives. I have written possible entries but I did not like what they said or where my head was. Sometimes I need a mental adjustment and the frisbees of life were flying faster than I was able to comfortably process them.

My husband Felipe is still recovering from his accident about 3 months ago. He may be unplugged from his wound vac today at the hospital, lets hope.. The vacuum is no longer sucking up vast amounts of fluid, only a very small dribble at this point.

What treatment has worked? I am sure the tree bark tea (try saying that fast 3 times) prescribed by the BriBri medicine man has helped, because within a few days the lymphatic fluid slowed down and is now almost finished. Felipe started hyperbaric oxygen chamber therapy last week and continues that treatment through this week. It is making him smarter while repairing cells. They say it increases your IQ by 50%. His skin on that leg is still abnormally hard to the touch. I would say he still has edema from the knee down. He wears a compressions sock and that will continue. I do not know why the skin remains hard, nor how to cure this problem. Will time make a difference? I need to get more tree bark and continue with the tea as it was the factor that changed our course. Felipe is scheduled to see the medicine man again on the 3rd I believe. What will be prescribed next?

I did try dry brush lymphatic massage on my husband (the instructions of which I downloaded off the internet) perhaps that helped, he said it felt good and was enjoyable. I wrote to some friends that between the dry brush lymphatic massage, the tree bark tea, medicine man, hyperbaric oxygen chamber and wound vac machine, the only thing missing was a cloud of medicinal marijuana smoke and chanting monks. We are still open to suggestions and cures for the final act of this play.

We took the bus to San Jose yesterday for another visit with Phil’s surgeon. He is slowly mending and it does look better, but it is going to be sometime before we see normal.

The directo bus is the best way to go to and from San Jose and it is less than $2.00 a ticket. With gas prices at $1.00 a liter, this is a bargain. This particular bus (they run every hour on the hour) had pleasant, soothing, easy listening jazz music. Sufficient for keeping the driver awake and yet calm the passengers. I choose not to drive this route as it is a white knuckle trip most of the time and I see nothing except the road because I am trying not fall off of it. Being elevated on the bus gives you a different view over the barriers of obstruction that car passengers see because they are so much lower. If the bus fell off the road there are places where we would fall for what looks like thousands of feet before we became an unidentifiable heap as a result of our abrupt halt. The cows would not even slow us down. How do they adhere to the sides of such verticalness? Sometimes they don’t.