Marie-Laurence Archambault Blog No. 1 (5/16/12)
Sámara, Costa Rica – Wagner College rising senior forward
Marie-Laurence Archambault (Montreal, Quebec/ Montmorency) is in the midst of a three-week stay in Samara, Costa Rica, where she is volunteering with Asociacion CREAR, an American non-profit organization that works with children and the community of Samara. A small town situated along the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica's Guanacaste Province, Samara has long been a favorite vacation spot for both Costa Ricans and foreigners alike. Archambault, however, is not on a sight-seeing mission. Archambault is in Samara to further Asociación CREAR's mission, which is to provide supplemental educational, recreational, and career opportunities for community members, primarily youth with limited resources, in the local rural beach communities. La Asociación CREAR achieves this mission by offering a wide variety of innovative programs focusing on academic and artistic education, environmental consciousness, health, and socio-cultural development. Archambault, who is pursuing a double-major in Spanish and International Affairs, is blogging about her experiences with
wagnerathletics.com.
Here is her second entry!
Hi Seahawks!
This week has been amazing!
Crazy busy with a lot of stuff, but Iearned a whole lot about how non-profit organizations work. On Sunday there was the "CREAR Combate," like I mentioned in my first blog. This is a fundraiser that takes place on the beach and consists of seven different relays: Biking, running backwards, swimming, surfing, running with a blindfold, a five-legged race, and it ends with each team building a sand mermaid out of a one of their teammates.
We had to prepare all week for CREAR Combate. Many of us had to go into the local stores, restaurants, hotels, etc. to ask them to help us with the event. Also, we made signs to thank the sponsors. This is in addition to the daily programs and the lacrosse on Fridays.
When Sunday arrived, the whole CREAR staff was so excited, as was the whole community. The race started at 10:00 am, and we had six teams made up of four participants each. The winners collected r prizes and some money and most of them decided to donate, which was really appreciated.
We also had activities for the children of the community which gave them a chance to win prizes. Many people who did not participate in the race were there for the fiesta afterwards, where we sold food, drinks and t-shirts. In total, the CREAR Combate raised $800.00 for the organization. This made me realize how much work is required for non-profits to raise funds! This day also was great because it promoted the organization to families and reunited the whole community. Everyone is hoping this will be an annual event!
This week's theme is the solar system and we have a lot of activities planned to help the kids gain knowledge about this subject. For example, today we took the first to third graders outside on the beach and recreated the solar system with the kids pretending they were the planets. We put an emphasis on the distance from the sun and on the speed of the planets. It was really fun and the kids loved it! We also went bike-riding through El Torito, a town 20 minutes away, where all the kids built their own hanging solar system which they colored in.
I love my host family, who I introduced you to in my first blog. They are amazing. My "mama Tica" treats me like her own daughter and is an amazing cook. We spend a lot of time just talking and relaxing in the kitchen and I am really getting attached to them.
The weather in the past few days hasn't been the best, with, a lot of rain due to the fact that it is the green season. However, since everyone is living the "Pura Vida" lifestyle (an expression universally known in Costa Rica that translates to “plenty of life,) all is happy and we're just going with the flow, which is amazing.
I can't believe I only have one week left! It is passing by so fast!
See everyone soon!
Thanks for reading!
Marie #14
