Costa Rica Schools - Samara after-school program at CREAR

Costa Rica Schools - Samara after-school program at CREAR

Costa Rica Realtor Angelina Phillips

While the warm Pacific waters, swaying green palm trees, free roaming happy dogs and relaxed way of life are what initially attract people to Sámara, and can ultimately persuade them to stay, what keeps Andrea Keith here is a tiny association dedicated to our local children.

La Asociación CREAR is a non-profit, free after-school program focused on supplemental education for the children of Playa Sámara and its surrounding areas. It was started in 2005, and has since been kept alive through the efforts of the local area language school, Intercultura.

Costa Rica Schools - CREAR's after-school program making a difference

Andrea took over as one of the program directors in January of 2009, and has worked with all her heart to keep the program not only in existence, but also to see it grow and expand. Throughout the last couple of years she has had the pleasure of reaching out to over 200 kids from both the Sámara and El Torito Schools, offering them classes ranging from Art to Computer to Cooking to Sports.

Learning about the water and the sea.

In addition to the regular, free of charge, afterschool program, they also offer 2 fun-filled camps each year during the kids' mid-year and summer vacations. In April of 2010 CREAR made a huge leap and earned a grant from the Costa Rican organization ProArtes that enabled them to finance both the 2010 mid-year camp and 2011 summer camp.

A soda fountain...

With this money the children went on incredible field trips to the Children's Museum in San Jose, La Casona in Santa Rosa, the aquarium in Puntarenas, Africa Mia in Liberia and the coffee plantation in Hojancha. CREAR also had the funds necessary to make a beautiful marine themed mosaic on the wall to the side of the Police Station in Sámara centro.

While CREAR's program has grown within the last couple of years, the work never ends. They are now offering educational assemblies in 4 of the local area elementary schools (San Fernando, Santo Domingo, Sámara and El Torito) focused on environmental issues. Furthermore, they continue to work with various international volunteer groups that help them to complete other community projects such as painting the Sámara community center, and exposing our students to new and different sports.

The tile mural at the school.

As always, a non-profit's biggest obstacle is funding. La Asociación CREAR is always in need of kind donations. For more information on their program or on how to donate, please email them at info@asociacioncrear.org or check out either their Facebook page: La Asociación CREAR or their CREAR website here or...

If you're feeling motivated right now their bank account information is as follows:

Name: Asociación CREAR
Bank: Banco Nacional, Costa Rica
Acct #: 200-02-179-000745-1
Swift: BNCRCRSJ
ABA: 019462
Identification Code: 300251265500
Address: BN Agencia Sámara, 179, Playa Sámara, Nicoya, Guanacaste, Costa Rica

Kids having fun - What a great photo!

If you would like to contribute materials (see list of needed items below), you may send them to:

CREAR c/o Intercultura Language School
150 metros al sur del restaurante El Dorado frente a la playa
Playa Sámara, Nicoya, Guanacaste, Costa Rica

Pencils, Markers, Crayons, Paper, Butcher paper, Notebooks, Paints, Paint brushes, Colored pencils, Erasers, Rulers, Canvas, Multi-colored pipe cleaners, Paper plates, Children's books in Spanish, Adult books in Spanish, All basic school supplies, any great craft supplies and used digital cameras (functioning and with all cable connections please) and any used laptops or computers

For more information about living in and buying real estate in the Samara and Carrillo areas, please contact our Recommended Costa Rica Realtor Angelina Phillips using the simple form below: