Schools of Nosara: Turning Hope into Reality
The Harmony Hotel’s Community and Sustainability Projects promote the development of the community without compromising the environment.
The Harmony Hotel’s project Turning Hope into Reality is an effort to improve the schools´ infrastructure, equipment, and learning aids while addressing the issues of sustainable practice and environmental awareness. Integrating topics such as natural resources, biodiversity, global warming and others into the curriculum can serve both, as a means of teaching science, and also as an introduction to the world of sustainable tourism. The Harmony and its staff would complement the education by creating the opportunity for mentorship, experiential learning, and career exploration. Staff skill sets include language, computer and maintenance skills, which they would share with students as volunteers.
The project started out as an attempt to help the School of La Esperanza, located just a few miles from the Harmony Hotel. However, as the project progressed, the needs of the other schools of the area became more and more evident. For this reason, the decision to extend our aid and support to other schools was made. At the time we are working with four schools in the Nosara area: La Esperanza, Santa Marta, Santa Teresita and Las Delicias. Each has a different story and different needs.
Escuela Esperanza
The school was created in 1959 and had one teacher. Today it has one principal and nine teachers. The school has 106 students and operates on an annual budget of $9,300. Folklore has it that one of the town’s citizens, Ramona Barrantes, once took a rock from the dried creek behind the school and went to the Basilica of Cartago where the national Saint is located. She brought the rock back and the town’s people called it “La Esperanza” which means “the hope”. After throwing the rock into the creek bed, water flowed down the creek from that time on. The school address is frente a la plaza de deportes del centro de Esperanza (Located in front of the sports plaza in Esperanza of Garza).
Escuela Santa Marta
Santa Marta is a small community located 1.8 kilometers south west of Nosara. Only one family, Federico Sobrado and his wife Luz, who were looking for better living conditions, settled it. They set up a sawmill, which Luz named after the saint of her devotion, Santa Marta, and the town was born. The school was a wooden hut until strong winds destroyed it in 1973. Then two of the present day four classrooms were built using concrete. Today the school has 104 children enrolled. The current principal is Marbeth Diaz Noguera, and the school address is frente a la plaza deportiva de Santa Marta (in front of the sports plaza of Santa Marta).
Escuela Santa Teresita
Built in 1999, this is the newest school in the district. It has two classrooms for the 70 students but has no telephone connections, and like the rest of the schools in Nosara, lacks a playground. It’s named for the town of its location and has a teacher for music, English and physical education who works with two general education teachers and the principal Don Juan Hernandez. The school’s address is contiguo al colegio Boca de Nosara, Santa Teresita, (next to the high school of Nosara en Santa Teresita).
Escuela Las Delicias
The community of Delicias is a small town situated near the fishing village of Garza three miles west of the main road to Nosara. With a population of 150 people, Delicias has been plagued with economic and social problems. The school serves 22 students with an annual budget of $1,600. Since 1965, a more formal building has been under construction (years before, it was a hut). In the rainy season, students and teacher are guaranteed to get muddy on their journey to the cafeteria. The school only has one teacher and is the smallest of the six in the district. The school’s address is “Frente a la Iglesia de Las Delicias” (located in front of the Church in Las Delicias).
Wish List
There are few to no basic school supplies. Materials dropped off by compassionate visitors occasionally fill the needs; however, the supply has never managed to keep up with demand. Following please find a wish list for the schools:
- Games with the words in Spanish and English
- Sports equipment - soccer balls, uniforms and cleats, an aluminum baseball bat, a soft ball, leather ball, jump ropes, jacks, Frisbees, field cones.
- Disposable cameras
- Art supplies
- Music books
- Educational DVD’s in Spanish and/or English
- Paint brushes of all sizes
- Books for all levels in Spanish (especially biology books)
- Paper
- Pencils
- Art supplies
- Uniforms and clothes
- Supplies for the cafeteria
Kids being kids...
Any small toys, personal coloring book, comic book to take home are always welcome. Our children have few personal possessions so prize any small gift meant especially for them.
"A child's heart is the most precious gift from God, and it is my wish to contribute with the education and development of the children of the area. I would like to dedicate this project to my daughter Alexia."
Fabian Palma
General Manager
2006-2007
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