In less than one week’s work Sámara’s community center was transformed from a dilapidated area filled with refuse in to a fresh open space for the community to come together. The project was undergone from March 8th through 12th and was facilitated by United States based Triskallian Tours and our local Asosiación CREAR. As discussed in various prior VON issues, Asosiación CREAR provides supplementary education to local elementary school children in the Sámara and Torito areas, and strives to improve the educational resources of the community as a whole. Along with the help of Sámara’s Intercultura Language School, C&C Surf School and Hotel Tico Adventure Lodge, the two organizations generated the funds and materials necessary to accomplish this overdue job.

Triskallian Tours was founded in 2005 with the idea that travel can teach young adults valuable life lessons that cannot be learned inside a classroom. In the words of Program Director Peter Friedman “our programs are designed around three basic tenets - cultural immersion, volunteer service, and outdoor activities. Our overriding goal is for both our travelers and the local communities they visit to benefit in a real, lasting way from our programs”.

The volunteers were 12 students from the prestigious Peddie School of Highstown, New Jersey, who put in long hours in the sweltering heat in order to finish the project in time.

Prior to the renovation, areas of the community center were literally stacked to the ceiling with broken desks, chairs, trash and building supplies – effectively rendering some of the center’s rooms unusable. The paint was faded and chipping off, metal railing and bars were rusted and the center was in need of a good cleaning. The volunteers sorted through the rubbish, discarded what was unusable and worked hard to restore what could be salvaged. Together they hosed out, dusted, sanded and repainted the center with cheerful enthusiasm, elated to see the positive effects they had on the Sámara community. They also re-varnished the wood and applied metal paint to the bars and railings of the building.

On top of everything, the Triskallian volunteers brought with them over 100 lacrosse sticks (donated by New Jersey based Tri-State Lacrosse) and 20 flat screen computer monitors, mice, and power chords donated by one of the students’ fathers, which were given to CREAR to delegate among local area schools.

Triskallian Tours is currently working with CREAR and other local organizers to identify different community service projects for their travelers to work with in the approaching summer session and beyond, as Peter Friedman says: “we feel strongly that there is both a strong need for outside help in the Samara community, as well a strong desire by all of our travelers to make a difference”.