Meeting the Santa Teresa Community

Yesterday morning I took in all the remaining clothing for distribution.

It was another day of painting at the school with about 25 children. They arrive whenever but are never rushing to leave! They are delightful children and willing to help, although yesterday that became a mammoth exercise! It was a bit dark due to a heavy morning downpour so we had to decamp to a new room with electricity. So an army of helpers picked everything up including furniture and moved it. Meanwhile I quickly redrew the illustrations and words on the whiteboard!
Then all continued...

Amada and I then caught the bus to Santa Teresa, it's about 3km walk to the beach past the little houses and fields with animals and banana palms.

We received a warm welcome from Jose and I was introduced to more family members including Ernesto the father of Jose's brother in law, who owns the land. Also I met the local families. Jose was organising some tourists who had come for a kayak tour.

I chatted with family whilst we waited for the children to arrive and we took pictures by the lakeside with the stunning view of the volcano.

For some reason I didn't have the same lunch as everyone else but was presented with a delicious spaghetti and a homemade lemonade all prepared in their kitchens. I can understand what Jose means about the process of developing the company being slow, they have the basics in terms of furniture and equipment but these things are much more expensive in a country where people have no money.

But everything is done with such care, attention to hygiene and professionalism.

After lunch we did the presentation, Jose spoke first then I did and we gave the children their bags of uniform and stationery.  They were so pleased. 

We discovered one little boy had missed out on lunch, he must have arrived late but he just sat there and made no issue of it. It was resolved! I understand thst it is not unusual for children to go without food, and there are no toys! And when I think of the bedrooms full of toys and the sacks at Christmas time that our children have it seems wicked.  But somehow I would want to strike a balance by giving opportunities and support here without spoiling the benefits of a simpler life, which I find very refreshing. People here farm , work in tourism, run little all purpose shops, transport for farmers is usually animals with carts, but there are lots of motorbikes and scooters and some cars, particularly for tourists.

Yesterday there was another unpleasant tourist experience whilst we waited for the bus. A large group on motorbikes stopped and the people  shouted something about monkeys making monkey noises. Eventually Jose sorted them out, but I felt quite detached, as if they came from another world I wanted nothing to do with them, they were so rude. I felt so protective of the local people I think I would have shouted at them.