April 7th The Arnold Foundation traveled to Costa Rica to help build beds and start building a relationship with Costa Rica Humanitarian Foundation (CRHF). The community of La Carpio is situated just outside San Jose. This community is made up of mostly Nicaraguan refugees. There are 5000 families in the community. The Costa Rican Humanitarian Foundation (CRHF) is a non-profit organization committed to developing creative and economical solutions to a wide range of social problems in Costa Rica.
Current Projects
In 2022 we had three trips to Las Penitas to build houses, Kitchens and funiture for the schools.
Kitchens:
The villages of Las Peñitas and Poneloya of Nicaragua still have many homes that cook in mud stoves or poorly designed cans with a high consumption of firewood and a high production of heavily carboned smoke. During our 3 trips, we worked along side local craftsmen to complete 15 outdoor kitchens to include the eco stove. The kitchen was an area of 2 meters by 1.50 meters, under a metal structural. Each kitchen will help each family to improve their business practices that serves to the community by selling rice, beans and tortllas. This also provides income for the family.
Providing the eco-stove will significantly reduce the amount of firewood used, which will save each family time spent gathering firewood. It will also reduce carbon emissions and prevent family members from being exposed to the heavy carbon smoke that was created using the traditional stoves.
Houses:
As we continue to provide better housing for those in Las Penitas we engaged in building 2 more houses, The same methods were used which as you know consists of mixing concrete and laying blocks, and installing the roof. Huge amout of labor, but two more families has homes with concrete floors and a solid roof that doesn't leak.
Furniture:
There is always a need for tables, chairs and windows at the schools. This year we invested in better equipment that will help the building process. The goal was to teach the younger generation how to safely use the equipment in hopes they might continue the building for other schools in the area.
The Arnold Foundation is incorporated as a non-profit organization and is recognized as a legal 501 (C)(3).
The team came from both coasts. 6 from California and 1 from Virginia.
Diane brought her husband Kirk and sons Evan and Miles, along with family friends Tara and Kiera
The work consisted of working with the local carpenters to build sets of bunk beds that were installed at 6 houses in the community. Hard to imagine that kids still sleep on the floor and how much better their days will be after a good night’s sleep in a bed of their own. As we always do, we met some good friends.
The goal of the Arnold Foundation is to be useful, for an honorable purpose, to show compassion, and make a difference in someone’s life. This will be evidence that we have lived and lived well
La Carpio, Costa Rica - April 2023
Another apsect of this trip was the opportunity spend time with the children that are part of CRHF. On Saturdays, they have a "Lunch and Art" program. Children from the neighborhood will get together and do an art project and then they receive lunch. Usually there is enough food that has been donated, that each child leaves with a food bag, that will help feed the other members of each family.
La Carpio does have a water system through out the neighberhood, but the closer to the river you get, the worse the quality of water. Thanks to our friends that have donated to this effort, we were able to leave 10 prototype systems that will either take the water from the system and make it better, removing harmful bacterias, or when the water system stops working, which does happen a few times each year, rain water can be collected and used until the water from the system returns.
We are planning more trips to continue working in San Jose - more information coming soon!
Contact:
John Manchester Lisa Woodward Rick white
240-446-0516 818-419-7446 240-888-9931
johnmanchester1824@gmail.com lisa.woodward@wsp.com wicker.hit@gmail.com
Mission statement - To make the world a better place by providing or improving education, economic, energy and health conditions to those in need
Project Recap -- Kitchens in Nicaragua, 2022