Camp Penuel Costa Rica

The New Year had our whole family involved in working at a kids camp in the mountains near Esparza and San Ramon, Costa Rica.  One of the lessons that we hoped to teach our own children while at the camp was that even though we are traveling together as a family for this year - it's not all about you.  Volunteering, serving, and working for the benefit of others has a lot of value.  Our goal was to bring a playground-sized zipline to the camp so that the children attending the camp would have an opportunity to zipline just like all the tourists who visit the country.  Costa Rica is the original home of ziplining, but many of the children attending the camp are from poor neighbourhoods in the port city of Puntarenas and are unable to afford adventure tours.   They really put us all to work at the camp.  We did a lot of different jobs, and all of us got involved.  The camp was well run by an incredible staff of dedicated Costa Rican youth and it was our  privilege and joy to work alongside them.

Here are some photos of our time volunteering at camp Penuel:

We cut grass, raked leaves, picked up twigs, and cleaned the pool.

Meritt with director Paul Bernhagen

We picked lemons, limes, and oranges from trees on the camp property.  Over 60 gallons were used for lemonade, orange juice, and salad dressings during three camp sessions.

We repaired gates, fences, and helped out with small plumbing and electrical projects.

We helped in the kitchen.

We got to drive an awesomely old Hyundai Galluper Diesel 4x4.

We crushed sugar cane with Miguel in the barn.  Fresh warm cane juice was served with zippy Gallo Pinto (rice and beans) with eggs, plantain, and cheese for breakfast.

Friendly faces at camp:

12 year old camper Roxi loved Maelle's hair and made salon quality braids.

Photo bomb - selfie with nurse and program director Shelby.

Meritt poses with Veronica, a university student and future English teacher.  We assembled a brand new height adjustable basketball net.

The Zipline.

We would like to thank several people and organizations who helped to  make this possible:
- Jamie and the Sioux Lookout Home Hardware (donation of zipline kit)
- The Calvary Baptist Church in Sioux Lookout (contribution to our families' support and living costs at camp)
- Cherie Coulombe and Chez Cherie Hair Salon (family support and camp costs)
- Marlene Dubray (family support and camp costs)
- Henry Goertzen (for being Santa Claus and bringing the zipline kit to Ocotal at Christmas)
- Paul and Thelma Bernhagen - Costa Rica Camp Directors