Dreams for Costa Rica
When one has been told, "You need to start a teen camp in Costa Rica," one can tend to wonder. I wondered, "What?!" I wondered, "How?!" When I told my wife, Linda, (the contributing writer, unlike me, the non-contributing writer) that I needed to start a teen camp in Costa Rica she told me I was crazy. Yes, I love her too. And yes, she was a little bit right in that assessment. What did I know about running a teen camp?
That was a while ago. Now we have held quite a few teen mission camps in Costa Rica. We call them Hebrew Roots Teens With a Mission, or HRTWAM. At each of our teen camps we visited an orphanage and interacted with the children and staff. Each visit was impactful and intense, and we all got to go home when the visit is finished, unlike the orphans. The HRTWAM campers have had such tender hearts toward the orphans, and they each left Costa Rica with a desire to help and make an impact for good.
I have been praying for several years that there would be a way to implement a program to teach English and business skills to the orphans in Limon and provide them with useful skills to improve their lives and overcome the bad lifestyle choices that placed them in the orphanage in the first place.
A note on the words 'orphan' and 'orphanage.' Over 95% of the children in the Aldeas SOS program have living parents. They are not orphans. The complex where they live is not an orphanage, even though we have been calling it one for seven or more years. It can be called a Village. And in this case, it does take a village to raise a child. Calling the children orphans is like saying a child in the USA is mentally retarded. It is a label, and with the label comes all kinds of stigmas and possibly bad perceptions by others. These children have had some tough breaks, and government agencies have stepped in and removed them from their home and their parents' care. The children still need love, attention, safety, and opportunities to make a good life for themselves. They have dreams, just like any other child does.
Last year I was pleasantly surprised when I received an email from Dusti Howell, who I knew when he was a teenager. He had read about our HRTWAM camp visiting the 'orphanage' and he wanted to make contact with us in hopes that he could get involved in something with the 'orphans' and hopefully a school. He had been praying for many years for such an opportunity to come his way. We are truly moved and humbled by how our Great God works to make such amazing opportunities come to pass. Obviously He has been working on the project for a while now. The pieces are falling into place and we are honored to participate in it.
Fast forward to January 2018. The CROWN Adventure program is in it's infancy, and children at Aldeas have been assessed to determine their English proficiency. Curriculum is being formulated and plans are being made to teach these children English, and to teach them technological skills like keyboarding/typing. Boxes and boxes of English children's books have been collected and donated in the USA and are in a shipping crate somewhere in Costa Rica, in the process of going through the red tape of customs. A vehicle has been purchased so Dusti and his family have transportation as they devote their sabbatical time to developing and implementing the English speaking program. We are hoping to look at some apartments later this week so they can decide where they will live. Contacts are being made almost daily with people who really want to join in and help God's little ones in whatever way they can.
This is an exciting time! It is made more exciting by the fact that the HRTWAM camp starts this Thursday for Linda and I as we drive the 5 or so hours to San Jose to pick up campers and parents at the SJO Airport in Allejuela. It is also made more exciting by the fact that our 15 passenger van is at the mechanic shop, and has been for over a week, and it isn't fixed yet. After I hear today's progress report on the van repairs, I may be renting a passenger van so I can transport our campers. One way or another, this will work out just fine, for our Great God wants to deeply impact these teens and the parents and the staff and prepare us all as His Kingdom workers.
Please join us in dreaming for Costa Rica and the children we have been privileged to meet and get to know.
That was a while ago. Now we have held quite a few teen mission camps in Costa Rica. We call them Hebrew Roots Teens With a Mission, or HRTWAM. At each of our teen camps we visited an orphanage and interacted with the children and staff. Each visit was impactful and intense, and we all got to go home when the visit is finished, unlike the orphans. The HRTWAM campers have had such tender hearts toward the orphans, and they each left Costa Rica with a desire to help and make an impact for good.
I have been praying for several years that there would be a way to implement a program to teach English and business skills to the orphans in Limon and provide them with useful skills to improve their lives and overcome the bad lifestyle choices that placed them in the orphanage in the first place.
A note on the words 'orphan' and 'orphanage.' Over 95% of the children in the Aldeas SOS program have living parents. They are not orphans. The complex where they live is not an orphanage, even though we have been calling it one for seven or more years. It can be called a Village. And in this case, it does take a village to raise a child. Calling the children orphans is like saying a child in the USA is mentally retarded. It is a label, and with the label comes all kinds of stigmas and possibly bad perceptions by others. These children have had some tough breaks, and government agencies have stepped in and removed them from their home and their parents' care. The children still need love, attention, safety, and opportunities to make a good life for themselves. They have dreams, just like any other child does.
Last year I was pleasantly surprised when I received an email from Dusti Howell, who I knew when he was a teenager. He had read about our HRTWAM camp visiting the 'orphanage' and he wanted to make contact with us in hopes that he could get involved in something with the 'orphans' and hopefully a school. He had been praying for many years for such an opportunity to come his way. We are truly moved and humbled by how our Great God works to make such amazing opportunities come to pass. Obviously He has been working on the project for a while now. The pieces are falling into place and we are honored to participate in it.
Fast forward to January 2018. The CROWN Adventure program is in it's infancy, and children at Aldeas have been assessed to determine their English proficiency. Curriculum is being formulated and plans are being made to teach these children English, and to teach them technological skills like keyboarding/typing. Boxes and boxes of English children's books have been collected and donated in the USA and are in a shipping crate somewhere in Costa Rica, in the process of going through the red tape of customs. A vehicle has been purchased so Dusti and his family have transportation as they devote their sabbatical time to developing and implementing the English speaking program. We are hoping to look at some apartments later this week so they can decide where they will live. Contacts are being made almost daily with people who really want to join in and help God's little ones in whatever way they can.
This is an exciting time! It is made more exciting by the fact that the HRTWAM camp starts this Thursday for Linda and I as we drive the 5 or so hours to San Jose to pick up campers and parents at the SJO Airport in Allejuela. It is also made more exciting by the fact that our 15 passenger van is at the mechanic shop, and has been for over a week, and it isn't fixed yet. After I hear today's progress report on the van repairs, I may be renting a passenger van so I can transport our campers. One way or another, this will work out just fine, for our Great God wants to deeply impact these teens and the parents and the staff and prepare us all as His Kingdom workers.
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| Captain Mark and wife Linda on autumn train ride in Alaska |
Written by Linda, the contributing writer, since I, Captain Mark, do not write.
Seems like you needed one more word in there - Hebrew Roots Teens With a Real Mission, or HRTWARM (heart warm) :)
ReplyDeleteMay God bless all your endeavors as you love on those sweet kids!