Chirripo January 2011

Back to Chrripo in January 2011, this is the first time our nurse Cindy Clem was not able to join us, and still we did our medical clinic at the Sinoli church. Wonderful nurse and CISA student Tara Beightol led the clinic helped by Debbie Glass and Eric Albert from The Woodlands United Methodist Church in Texas. CISA student David Vander Hout from Canada also joined us and was very helpful building a rock area to surround the house in Sinoli.It was a really amazing trip with a great team. Always exhausting, we enjoy visiting with our indigenous brothers and sisters. Thank you all!

Chirripo July 2010

Este es uno de los viajes mas especiales que hemos hecho. Casi de sorpresa nos mandaron a visitar la comunidad de Quebrada de Pejivalle a 4 horas mas de donde usualmente vamos. Entonces una parte del grupo fuimos a visitar a estos hermanos. Hace un año les habíamos mandado latas para construir el techo de su iglesia. La otra parte del grupo, incluyendo las enfermeras se quedaron trabajando en la escuela de Sinoli. Por eso no tengo muchas fotos de esta actividad. Quiero aprovechar para agradecer a Cindy Clem por un viaje más de heroísmo y valentia. Su trabajo médico con los indígenas es increíble.

Mission Trip December 2009

What an exiting trip this was!! We planned to have an exploration trip and visit three communities in the mountains, take a doctor and two nurses and our medical clinics to these communities. However we were not able to take the doctor due to lack of medicines and resources, and ended up visiting only two communities Manajarin Quicha and Palmera. This time we had our “official nurse” Cindy Clem, an American nurse and CISA student Crystal Althoff, Canadian missionaries in Tuis, Tom and Candice Scatlif, Canadian visitors Bob and Erica Lehman, Yenny Moya, Alejandra Sevilla, and Mario Martinez from San Jose, Pecho, Carmen, Adrian, Samia, Karla, Alejandro, Karen, Hector and Daniel from Voz Que Clama Mission.

Becuase of the size of our Group we decided not to explore the other communities, because it would have required that we walked all day, instead of helping people with the medical clinics. Anyway, we got to Manjarin Quicha around 3 PM on December 2, and were not able to work becuase the indigenous people helping us carrying the medicines, food and everything else were very few to carry so much, and spent all day walking. They arrived around 6 PMand were exhausted, we did not even had a service that night. The indigenous are amazingly strong.  So we went to bed early.

Next day part of our team set up the clinic, another part worked with the children, some of the men worked building on our house, and some others helped with the kitchen, it was a great team.

During the night we had a wonderful service in Cabecar at their church, we sang in English, Spanish, and of course Cabecar.

Next day we left to Palmera, we arrive there around 3 PM, and set up the clinic. The nurses and helpers were assisting people until it was dark, very sweet. At night we attended church, a very tiny church with lots of wonderful children.

Very early next morning we went back to Manjarin Quicha, had a quick breakfast and started our journey out of the mountains. Everyone was very tired, but very brave.

We arrived back in Tuis around 5:30 PM. Thanks again for supporting our work.

The Lehman’s brought a donation from their friends in Canada  that we will use to buy food for our next trip in January, and help with food some of the indigenous families that live around the mission in Tuis.

Take a look at the pictures

Mission Trip September 2009

During September we went to Sinoli. This time we had Kerlin Salmeron from the mission, and Mike Durighelo from California. Our time was amazing sharing with the Indigenous, we visited the Sinoli Primari school, and took soap and showed them how to use it. This was in order to follow a campain from the goverment for not to get infected with the flu. The presidency of Costa Rica through their social office led by Mariangela Ortiz gave us a donation of soap to do this. Take a look at the pictures.

Mission Trip June 2009

Before this trip, our last mission trip to Manjarin Quicha was in January 14,15,16 and 17. We did not plan a trip in February becuase of my trip to US. Then we programed a trip for March 26, they called us a week before saying that our trip was purposeless becuase they needed to cut some lumber for us to keep building the house and they were not able to do it. So we decided to cancel it. However we send our car to Alto Quetzal to deliver the food we always take with us for them. This is around $200 in food that we take with us for them everytime we go.

Our next trip was planned for April   23th, but we forgot that the Libermans were going to be here for those dates, then, we set it up for April the 27th, so Bo could go with us. But this time we had very little money to go, the whole trip is usually around $500 or more depending on how many people go. Bo decided not to go, and we could not make it, so we sent the food again to Alto Quetzal.

We did not plan to have a trip during May, however indigenous Pastor Ervin came twice for some businesses in Turrrialba, and each time we sent with him around $50 in food. I have all the receipts for these food purchases. I visited them again last week, and took them food and clothing again.

So, we finally were able to go back to wonderful Sinoli. Funny, this time only Daniel and I went. Interesting trip. The love we felt from the indigenous was amazing, most of them asking us if we were coming back, they were worry that we were not visiting tem any more. We explained all the difficulties for us to get there.

This trip was to explore our future projects there, including a trip in July to paint the public school. We got to see Pastor Ervin’s new daughter, she is soooo beautiful. God is faithful!

Mission Trip, July 2009

 

Mission Trip to Sinoli, July 2009

 

Last Wednesday July 15^th, we went to Sinoli in a mission trip once again. This time we took 6 Americans, 1 Canadian, and 7 Costa Rican Locals from Tuis with us. We had a great time with our indigenous friends. In January 2009 the Healdsburg Rotary Club in California gave the mission a donation to accomplish two projects is the community of Sinoli. The first one was to build a system to bring clean water to the Community Center. We went to Sinoli in January and finished this part. The second one was to build an extension of the teacher’s house in the Sinoli primary school. During our visit in June we realized that the teachers brought a builder and finished the room, therefore, they asked us to help them remodeling the whole school by painting it. So This time, we bought all the materials and sent them a week before leaving.  Then when we arrive there, the materials were there already. The director of the school, Cesar Salmeron joined us, and together with our team, we accomplished to paint the whole little school inside and outside. It was a great job. Thanks a lot to the Healdsburg Rotary Club

This time we were also the blessed to have Cindy Clem with us. Cindy is a missionary nurse who lives with her family in Atenas, they work for an organization called EMI. We met Cindy and her husband Tim last year when they came to learn Spanish at Christian Immersion Spanish Academy in Tuis (www.cisacostarica.com). Cindy loves to go with us to the mountains and have been with us several times. She put together a clinic in their church. Lots of people came for her to see them and recommend ways to prevent illnesses. She also takes donations of medicines to give and help the different problems that indigenous people may have. Thank you   Cindy, your work is very much appreciated.

The nicest thing about going there is joining the Indigenous in their worship services to the Lord. It is incredible to see people worshiping God in their language and with so little resources. There at night in the dark, the people sing a long their songs with guitars and joy. It is always a pleasure to experience that. This time we had people visiting us from other communities like Palmera and Quebradas de Pejivalle. God has to strengthen us even more because this people want us to visit them in September.

 

 

 

 

 

 

La Escuela de Sinoli

Since February 2008 we started a relationship with the  school of the area. We haven’t done a lot for them, but love to visit with them everytime we go and get to know more about their needs. They have around 135 students from all the Sinoli area. They also have a very young and brave Principal Cesar Salmeron from La Suiza de Turrialba, who walks there once a week with all the other teachers to work with these wonderful kids and this remote area. Cesar usually talk to us about the difficulties and lack of resourses of the school. We love to hear their stories and tried to find contacts that can help us make a difference for this school.

 

 

Mission Trip May 2008

This was an amazing trip to Sinoli. This time we had Juan Strutton, Bob Morris, and some other students from CISA with us. We went to the Sinoli’s primary school to built an extention of the dining area. The men did a woderful job building up the school, and the girls worked with the kids making crafts and cutting and washing their hair.

 

Mission Trip February 2008

 We went to Manjarin Quicha in February 2008 to keep building our little house. This time we took with us a group of 4 interns from EMI and a photographer from New York. When we got there we met a group from california who were building their new church. It was very impressive. Once again we had to carry the lumber. It was exhausting.

How we got to know Sinoli -September 2005

 

In the beginning of the year 2005, we received in my house a group of three indigenous men from the Cabecar culture. They were pastors from a community called Sinoli in the remote mountains of the Chirripo Indigenous Reserve.  They knew about our Voz Que Clama Mission and our help to the indigenous people with disabilities. The reason of their visit was to invite us to visit their community. That was a big challenge after we heard we would have to walk for more than 6 hours in the jungle, but we did it. In September 15, 2005 we went to Sinoly for the first time. We took a group of volunteers from the mission, and walked for all those hours until we got to a place called “Cerro de Olla” (Pot Mountain). We could not believe how far they chose to live, we were all exhausted when we got there. But this was just the beginning of the story and the dream. I did not know that those people were going to become family to me. Since then, we have visited Sinoli so many times that I cannot even remember. We tried to keep in touch with them, and if we don’t go there, they come and stay with us.

I am talking about the Cabecars, this is one of the indigenous groups from Costa Rica. There can be more than seven thousand Cabecars in the Chirripo Mountains, but we have visited only the community of Sinoly which has around 300 people. Many years ago, a brave missionary came to them and translated the New Testament and many books from the old Testament, and preached the good news to them. We visit a church in a place that they call “Manjarin Quicha” (Tangerine Tree). The main pastor Arnoldo is usually our host, he has a family of 10 children, and 4 of them are married. Her oldest daughter Eullalia is married to his pastor assistant Ervin.   Arnoldo and Ervin preached to their congregation in Sinoli and in many other areas.

The community of Sinoly has many needs and there is very little we can usually do to meet their needs, however we keep going or sending help every time we can and strengthen our relationship with this wonderful people.