Helping People Help Themselves
My wife and I moved to Costa Rica. A wildlife artist, she wanted more animals to portray in many media. I was working on my third book. Then we met Pedro, a 79-year-old Bribri Indian who was doing his grocery shopping in the garbage cans of Puerto Viejo. We fed him some soup.
That began a three-year development, in which we continue to make many someone’s day. Last year we put 31 Bribri kids in school. We made 23 microloans, helping nearly as many families to independence - and a happier life. We feed about 150 people a week at a soup kitchen “community” that forms three times a week in our yard. The Health Ministry had a clinic on our porch, since it’s hard for their doctors to get up into the jungle.
And as we touch the lives of more and more people, we ask “how much better can it get?” Every day, we get another answer to that question. About 150 donors and 25 volunteers have so far joined in this project. Each day, more “someones” are made happy. I have to tell you this really feels good. Come see for yourself at www.elpuente-thebridge.org.
-Barry
Posted 12 February 2007