JAI AMMA JAI AMMA THIS IS SEVA EL PUENTE COULD USE HELP PUTTING OVER 100 CHILDREN IN SCHOOL 2013 PLEASE HELP IN AMMA'S LOVE ISWARI Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2013 07:16:17 -0800 Subject: Fwd: 130124 Email - 2013 School Program off to running start - The Christmas Party - Nutrition comes to the four - OMG would you look up in the rafters! From: casa9amma@gmail.com To: casa9amma@hotmail.com ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Barry Stevens Date: Thu, Jan 24, 2013 at 4:43 PM Subject: 130124 Email - 2013 School Program off to running start - The Christmas Party - Nutrition comes to the four - OMG would you look up in the rafters! To: barrystevens@earthlink.net A Jungle Bridge Comments, Thoughts and Pictures From Costa Rica January 24, 2013 © 2013 Barry A. Stevens Nanci surrounded by moms and kids First – split the Bridge Kids into two groups… shopping for school stuff in Bribri RECENT NEWS As the 2013 School Year gets off to a great start, we are busy suiting up those eager Bridge Kids – the ones You are helping go to school! As of this moment, we’ve served a total of 58 Bridge Kids, with a whole lot more on the waiting list. The phone is ringing, and some of moms are even lining up with their children. One very shy 17-year-old mom from Cahuita asked if we could put her 5-year old son in kindergarten – I took his name, age, and school name. Then the mom looked down at the table, and asked in an almost inaudible whisper, if we could help her to attend high school. I said, “we’ll do our best”, and took her information as well. Christmas at El Puente – we had a grand party, a Caribbean-style chicken dinner, and a great all around time. Here’s a very special sendoff to our most enthusiastic volunteer ever! Nutrition lessons – aimed at illiterate adults. Look who came to dinner! “Oh my God, would you look up there in the rafters!” Enjoy this month’s issue! GIVING 2013 A “CLASSY” START! The 2013 school year is indeed getting off to a “classy” start. As of this writing, Nanci and some wonderful Donors and Volunteers have “suited up” 47 Bridge Kids completely, and another 11 partially. What does one of of those shopping trips look like? C’mon along, as yet another school year is set up, and bunches of kids go through the process – see what you’re donations are doing down here! Getting Started There’s quite a bit of work to be done before heading out to Bribri with the first bunch of Bridge Kids. Notebooks are a big deal, with specific sizes and number Then there’s the supplies – backpacks, paper, pencils, ball of pages to meet the requirements. We buy them in bulk, point pens, rulers, protractors, calculators, pencil sharpeners, and stack them wherever they’ll fit – in this case, displacing erasers, calligraphy notebooks, construction paper. We also me of the books in our library, and I might add, any hopeful guests. throw in any donated shirts and underwear we get. Some of you have been more than willing to buy supplies and ship them here. We appreciate your efforts very much. Any donated items we get frees up some cash which in turn lets us put still more children in school. If you plan on mailing anything down, please contact us, and we’ll instruct you in the best methods. We’ll also show you the required notices on the packages to avoid problems with Customs. And, we want to make sure you know what to expect with the cost of postage. We have also been blessed with donors who have come to visit with an extra suitcase filled with school supplies. That’s the easiest way to get things here – if you’re already traveling! If you are, and you want to extend that list you were making – listing all the reasons you have for traveling down here – don’t forget to add, “bring school supplies”! Then there’s record keeping As the volume of students grows, the need for record keeping increases. One of our great Volunteers, Janet Montoya, took an interest in this area, and developed a data-collection form that is now being used to document the students and the items purchased for each. Here’s the page for that data collection form, thanks Nanci sits down with the paperwork, talking with the father of a to Janet Montoya. Guaimi family from Panama. With the signup moving, and the paperwork under way, we do what we can do right at El Puente. With donated goods and (mostly) purchased backpacks, we give out what’s on hand. Three school kids from Panama, their mom, and Nanci, on our Three more Bridge Kids ready to porch as they are given a batch of school supplies. leave with backpacks filled with supplies. With the paperwork ready, students signed up, and trips to Bribri scheduled, then it’s a matter of… Going To Bribri! Once this starts moving along, the fun really begins! Some of the students come here, and ride up with Nanci on the bus. Others get on the bus along the way. Still others meet her in Bribri. As in the above foto taken this month, Nanci and the moms and kids get busy at the bus stop in Bribri. The group is split into two parts. One half goes to the shoe store, while the other goes to another store and gets uniforms and anything else needed. Then, the groups switch, and complete the process. Fortunately, we have had Volunteers willing to help, and they make this process work beautifully. Thank you hands on people! Little girl has a fit! Nanci and Volunteer Louise Proulx, from Montreal, get ready to take two Bridge Kids through the store. Volunteer Marcia Williston, “I’m ready – what’s next? from the US, digs into clothing bags to help the kids try things on.. Then, There’s… Lunch! Proceeding to a local soda, or restaurant, Nanci brings in juice bought at a store (to save money), sits the kids down at tables, orders a big something that can be shared among many of the Bridge Kids, and a great lunch is had by all. Nanci pours some orange juice and provides other food Volunteer Sian Hughes, from the UK, shares a table with for a quick lunch before the Bridge Kids get on the bus. A Bridge Kid. Thank you, Sian! Then – Back Home! Nanci buys the bus tickets home. I can \ imagine the guy behind the window saying, “You want HOW MANY tickets?” As of today, Jan 24, You have suited up 47 Bridge Kids completely, and another 11 partially. Many on the ever increasing hopeful list, Do the kids want your help? Four of the most recent Bridge Kids walked to Bribri from Margarita – over an hour and a half – to meet Nanci there for suit-em-up. They sure do want your help! GOOD GROWING! Current Status Yesterday, as this was being written – Nanci originally had eight students scheduled to meet her in Bribri. The competing demands for cash came so quickly that we didn’t have enough in the bank account to cover that schedule. Nanci called four of the eight people, and postponed their appointments for a week. The other four are without a telephone and were walking for about an hour from a town called Margarita to meet her in Bribri, so she went there. As far as she was concerned, those kids were not going to walk to Bribri in vain. She brought the cash we had on hand, made a deal with the shoe store manager, and suited up those four Bridge Kids. Now would be a great time to jump in and support the School Program! It’s $150 for each child. If you can give that amount, or more, or even less, you can still share in the joy of seeing these kids go through school and build a brighter future! To donate, go here: http://www.elpuente-thebridge.org/page30.html