A Sunny Thursday at Canto del Sol Nov 5, 2009 by Katie King

It was my first time visiting the little school here in the eastern part of San Jose. As a visitor here at the WWD-F, I am eager to see all the projects that these devoted women spend many hours developing. Entering Canto del Sol, the escuelita for young children based on New Humanistic philosophy, I was struck by the sound of happy kids. The humble space impressively held two classes of students, a kitchen, office, two bathrooms, and an extra room at the back. Throughout the morning, the kids rotated between art projects, outdoor activity, and group lessons. Angie, one of the WWD-F teachers, held a graceful composure as she guided the 5 yr olds through a bilingual exercize on learning opposites. Witnessing the process, I was amazed at how much English the children had absorbed through their instruction; indeed they were eager to tell me the English words they knew and to practice with me!

When it was time for snack or "merinda", we took the small group outside and each child layed out a small blanket or towel where he or she would sit. The well-behaved kids began the dig through their lunchboxes, each appearing with a little item to eat. It made me smile when "Teacher" Angie reminded the children to eat their fruits first - and when one of the little boys said proudly in spanish "Teacher look! I have a banana!" It was refreshing for me to be around kids with their simplicity, energy, and abundant creativity. It seemed that the instructors of Canto del Sol really fostered these qualities and encouraged the kids to be naturally themselves.

It was a pleasant morning and I was impressed with the amount of resourcefulness and joy of the instructors at the school. The kids were clearly learning academically, as well as gaining artistic and social skills. Because the New Humanistic education approach incorporates aspects of meditation and quietness to the children too, I noticed the kids receptivity to stillness and understanding that there is a time for silence. In this busy world, it brings me joy that this little school is radiating with happiness, creavitity, and peace!

Ilori Workshop – 4 September 2009

Today is a big day for the kids.  We are taking them to the Theme Park (El Parque de Diversions) of San Jose.  They have been looking forward to it for a long time.  Ercy worked out a deal and as September is the month of the child, we can take two children for the price of one.  Some money we pool ourselves and we managed to get some donations as well.
Ercy, Angelica and I arrive and see an ocean of anxious faces waiting for us.  They run up to us and give us a hug.  They are so excited!  We put them in two rows and start counting, there are 58 kids.  Some mothers came as well as they will help us look after them once we are inside the park and take them on the rides. Ercy goes to buy the tickets and we take photos of the kids.  They always get so excited when we take photos and want to see them over and over again.  Fabiola, a girl of about 13 that I had met on one of the previous workshops, comes over and gives me a hug.  I gave her a present for her birthday last year, and as it was the only present she got, she says that I am like her older sister.  Ercy comes back and we get ready to go in. 
We go to the picnic area and give them some fruit to eat.  They play for a while and we take some more pictures.  Thank God for digital cameras!  Time to go on the rides.  Some mothers are still sitting around and eating, and I feel like telling them “Come on, go, your kids are waiting impatiently!”  but I restrain myself.  Some of the kids have climbed on the little train and wave and scream excitedly.  Angelica and I go to see if we can find any kids so we can take more photos and maybe go on a few rides ourselves.   While we are sitting there waiting for some kids to go on a ride, two of the mothers sit with us.  They did not have money to pay to go on the rides so we end up giving them our bracelets so they can go with their kids.  They are really happy as they have never been before and go off. 
Time for lunch, so we go to the picnic area.  They will have pasta and juice full of fruits.  Usually we do a few yoga and visualization exercises but no chance of this today as they are too hungry and excited to settle down.  Angelica will be taking even more photos and I am in charge of dishing out the juice, not an easy task as they keep coming back for more.  I am surrounded by little hands holding a glass and I try to be as fast as I can.  Fortunately we have a big container so there is enough for everyone.  Most of them come back for seconds of the food and we give the mothers food as well.  After eating we sing some songs with them and they goof around while we pack up everything.  For us the workshop is officially finished but some will stay and go on more rides.  They help us carry our things and we say goodbye.  Another day well spent!
So, even though sometimes we are tired or want to do something else, we make sure that we do not miss any of the workshops.  Giving these children, and through them their mothers, a few hours of happiness makes it all worthwhile.  Thank you to the people that donated, you helped us to make this possible!   

Club de Alegria, La Carpio

Tuesday again and we are going to give our class. Today we are making milk with carob and banana. It will be a sort of chocolate milk shake. I wonder if they will like it! There is also bananas, cake and ice cream. At least we know they will love the ice cream. Anyway, we are packed and ready to leave. As we arrive we see some of the kids waiting for us and waving. We go up, clean and set up. They then join us.
Today we have about 20 kids. I am sure it has to do with the party. We sit them down and give them the milk shake and bananas. It is not as popular as the mango shake of last week but they drink it. There is a new boy, who is about 3, that does not like it. We manage to convince him to drink most of it by telling him about the cake and ice cream we will have later. He is really cute. Fed and happy, they go and play for a little bit.
Time to start the class. We sing the songs from last week and introduce a new one, Five little monkeys. The 3 year old sits on my lap and joins happily. He is a bit off-key but who cares. They want to sing the song in Spanish so we do it. We sing another song and then it is time to read the book. Today I will do the honors and read “The hungry caterpillar”. As I start reading it, there is a flurry of activity at the door. Some mothers have arrived to join the party. The kids stand up and run to their mothers. No chance of settling them down now so we just give up. We will read the story next week. We sing happy birthday to Marta and start serving the cake and ice cream. They love it and some come back for seconds. There are bananas left over so they eat that as well. The time has come to leave so we start packing up. Again we get help from some of the kids while the others run around and play. All the kids are very happy and so are we. We brought the camera today and took loads of pictures. Every time we take a picture we have to show them what it looks like. They become very excited when they see themselves. Time to say goodbye and go home. Donations are very welcome, please go to www.wwd-f.org

Club de Alegria English Class in La Carpio, San Jose, Costa Rica, 1st September 2009

Today is my first day at the English class that we are teaching in La Carpio in San Jose, Costa Rica. We have named it “Club de Alegria”, which means Club of Happiness. We feel it is appropriate as our goal is not only to teach English but also to bring some happiness to these kids.
La Carpio is an impoverished suburb situated northeast of San Jose and is about 40 minutes drive from where we live. It is home to some 40,000 people; about half of them Nicaraguan and other Central American immigrants. The people of this community deal daily with malnutrition, lack of clean water, poor sanitation, illiteracy, crime and inadequate shelter.
Angelica and Ercy have already given 5 English classes. We arrive and my first thought is “Thank God I don’t live here!” It is a very depressing place, only the main road is paved and most of the people live in corrugated iron shacks. There are a lot of kids just hanging around on the street. Our classroom is upstairs in an old house. The kids are really excited to see us and want to come with us. But first we have to clean the space. We carry all our stuff upstairs, sweep and wash the floor and set up the desks. Meanwhile Ercy has gone to pick up some of the other kids.
Our work for these classes actually starts the day before as we make yoghurt for the children. Before we leave we blend the yoghurt with fruit, today we are making a delicious mango smoothie. Most of the kids have not had anything to eat so one of our goals is to feed them something healthy.
Now everything is ready and the kids come up. We get hugs from some of them and they go straight to the toys and books. Every day there are some new faces. Today we have 15 kids, ages ranging from 3 to 10. We play with them for a while and then give them the smoothie. They really love it and come back for more and more. I notice that one of the kids has had about 6 glasses already. I wonder when he last ate. And then it is time to start the class. Angelica, one of the volunteers, is giving the class. We start off singing “Good morning, dear earth”. It is a lot of fun as we dance as well. All the kids love it and are singing with us. We sing some more songs and play some games and then it is time to read a story. The story is in Spanish as their English is still too basic for them to understand. They all sit still and listen attentively as Angelica reads to them. We then ask them to close their eyes and we do some QTE (Quiet Time Exercises) with them. After the visualization we do a few simple yoga exercises and then it is time for some painting. Angelica brought some cut-up egg cartons and they will make a caterpillar. They make a bit of a mess but nobody cares as they are really enjoying it. We let them dry the caterpillars for a bit and then hand them. It is time to finish off.
They are not in a hurry to leave and start playing and helping us to put away the toys and tidy up. We say goodbye and leave, tired and hungry but above all happy! Mission accomplished! Next week we will be back and we will have a birthday party for one of the girls.

Donations are very much appreciated, please visit our website www.wwd-f.org