Since January 9th and until Friday, the 27th, girls and boys with ages between 5 and 15 can take advantage of and enjoy their vacations attending the classrooms of the Serapio Lopez school, which opened its doors for volunteers from Texas, Holand, Nosara and San Jose to teach and spend a great time with the little ones that arrive at the little summer school.

“Escuelita” completed 11 years of being available to the kids of Nosara and surrounding areas.  In past years, the classes were given in the school of Santa Marta, but this time they are being imparted in the Serapio Lopez Fajardo school of Bocas de Nosara.  This is due to the quantity of students, between 150 and 200 children, and because “the classrooms are larger, cooler and have more space to play,” said Saskia Ellemeet, in charge of the organization of the escuelita. 

Among the activities that the children can perform are theater, art, dance, games, sports, cooking and crafts, and best of all, they are the ones that decide which they want to participate in. 

All the games are participatory, promoting teamwork.  Vanessa Vargas Ulloa, Melissa Jiménez and Susana Madrigal, coming from San Jose and Heredia, are educators and impart workshops to the children in environmental education, conservation, management of natural resources, animal wellbeing and scientific experiments.  Their games focus on nature, carrying out recycling activities, conservation themes, ecology and dramatic arts.  

The principle focus is for the children to learn to classify and utilize waste materials to make different handicrafts such as wallets, change purses with plastic bottles, puppets, and to dramatize some environmental problem like hunting or the threats that turtles suffer in the sea and on land. 

“It seems to me that it’s an opportunity for youth.  If they come, it’s because they like it, [but] getting them to stay for the three weeks is what is hard, so it is a challenge for everyone that participates: innovate, bring new things so they don’t get bored.  Also there are doors [of opportunity] for the adolescents to sell the handicrafts that they make to the tourists; its an entrance to the community,” said Susana Madrigal Soto, natural resources manager. 

This summer camp is a way to be able to give incentive to the kids and youths to believe in themselves, learning to work with their own hands, to help their neighbor and to respect and love mother earth. 

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