Tag Archives: Puerto Viejo

My Book is My Friend

There wasnt a shelf…

As with all our projects we try to anticipate needs. But..we also live in a place where what we think might happen doesnt. Like the time we were building a classroom and had to move a HUGE rock away. And we just did it. No fuss. A lot of sweat.

So..I went to Suretka where our building for the first indigenous library is complete. My goal was to set up the space for the materials we were donating. When I arrived I found quite a bit of construction debris so the school cleaning lady and two of the male staff swept and mopped and cleared out stuff. Then we brought in our boxes of materials.

You think this was easy!? It was sweat induced hot. The sweat was dripping off my nose. There was a great white table donated by Michael and Michaela..with the legs unscrewed for storage convenience. There was no phillips head screwdriver to be found. And no shelf on which to put the materials.

No problem you say? Just head over to the local ferreteria for 18 cement blocks and four wooden planks and a screwdriver. They offered me a huge fancy screwdriver for $10…I said…” I just need a little one”. and voila..they came up with a perfect teeny screwdriver for $1,50. Unfortunately they didn’t have one cement block or one wooden board. So, off I went on a hunt for these materials.

Thus..Giselle got to meet the neighbors. I found a place where a guy was cutting wood and he gave me four boards. and miraculously the school came up with 8 cement blocks and I had my shelves.

We brought life and color and learning to these kids.