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On September 5th, 2012, a magnitude 7.6 earthquake affected 90 educational centers in Guanacaste, including the Brasilito School. By then over 200 children were left without an appropriate Educational Center to receive lessons. 10 years later the community was still waiting for the intervention of the Ministry of Public Education (MEP). Many parents chose to enroll their children in schools in nearby communities but for others this was not an option, either due to transportation costs or because there was no more spaces available in other educational centers. A mother tells us her story so that we can understand a little better what these families experienced: "It was a very big event and the school was very affected by the earthquake. The children then were in tents receiving classes outdoors. They tore down the old structure of the school and the kindergarten classroom. A group of parents from the community saw the need for the children to at least be in a protected area with walls and a roof and failed a complaint with the Ministry of Health and as a result they were given permission to use the Community Salon, which had not yet been finished. With the help of a private investor they were able to finish the place so that the children would have a space to receive their lessons, provisionally, in theory, while the new school was being built. In 2015 the children were already in the Community Salon and no action was seen on the part of the MEP. The community organized a manifestation by blocking the streets. Nothing happened." She continues telling us her story: "My son was in first grade and after the earthquake he kept asking me when was he going to be back at school? School never came back for him. He graduated from 6th grade without his school. Although it is true, the Community Salon was a better space to receive the classes, it was not an ideal place due to the noise of the vehicles. It is a very open area without walls and there were many groups receiving lessons at the same time. There was a lot of distractions. The children had a hard time concentrating and the teachers were hoarse from screaming. Time passed and in 2020 the pandemic came. This was the worst thing that could happen to us. There were no classes anymore. The school handed out printed guides for students to submit. Many kids didn't even do them. There were a lot of families with no internet access or mobile devices that would allow them to connect to the online classes. All of 2020 was very complicated for my family because I had two children in the educational system and only one cell phone with a prepaid package, which was used up very quickly, sometimes my balance ran out in the middle of a class. I also had to choose which of the two of my children I would let receive the class because both of them had to connect at the same time. My daughter, who needs special support, found it very difficult to receive online classes, especially with math. At least in my house, we had access to internet, but I always thought of the other families that did not have a cell phone and those children without knowing how to read or write and already in higher grades. It was a very big setback. My daughter graduated from primary school not knowing what it was like to have a classroom. She experienced what it was like to be in a formal Educational Center until she entered high school.” This is only the story of one parent, just as her many others had different family scenarios and struggles throughout this whole time that were really complex. The result of this is children with poor academic backgrounds and now they are having difficulty in many matters, specially Math, Reading and English or already quit school. The scenario is better since they reopened the primary school this year but there is a lot of work to do with those kids that are still academically behind. This is the reason why we decided to bring ACCAI to Brasilito. Every Saturday 8 am to 1:30 pm we are bringing Math, Physics and English tutors, mentoring workshops and with the help of volunteers the youth receive pickleball for over one hour. Snacks and lunch are provided every Saturday as well with the help of many volunteers that kindly donate the food to us. We have been running the program for 10 weeks now and we can see how the adolescents are developing bonding with positive peers that is so important to their psychological health development and their social life. We provide an open and frequent communication space with respect, feelings of warmth, caring and closeness, availability of supportive guidance, and responsiveness from all the people involved in this program. As we keep saying, our goal is to keep the youth at risk from Brasilito in the classrooms and not on the streets, have them engaged in our program with dynamic activities and that they finish the school year successfully. We are currently looking for sponsors who would be willing to help us reach this goal and continue with our mission. Sponsors are very important for our community enrichment opportunity to continue. Please consider donating to ACCAI. Thank you in advance for considering joining us in this great mission to help our youth have a better future! We can work together to make a difference. Because we are a community that cares! Sincerely, Karen & Erika

Our Youth Group meets every Saturday in Brasilito at 8 in the morning until 1:30 in the afternoon. What a beautiful day it was this past Saturday, May 13th, our 5th meeting! We have 23 students in our program from 7th grade to 12th grade. As of this past Saturday our Youth have received 9.5 hours of Math, 11 hours of English, 6 hours of pickleball, and 2 hours of Mentoring. Plus their snacks and lunches every time we meet. This week our participants got to work on their work books in English class and they had so much fun with the dynamic class our teachers had prepared for them. On our Math class we had the help from some of Cria's National Honor Society Students tutoring our participants...how neat is that? Youth helping youth! Just beautiful! We have small tutoring groups to offer one to one attention in order to achieve a better understanding of the matter in question. Participants bring their school books and get tutored in what they struggle with. We at Accai believe that being young is a synonym of change, progress and future, if the opportunity is given. Our High School Youth, especially Brasilito's are facing challenges...sometimes too heavy for them...and it's our mission to create or recreate a space for future full development and help them learn that we can turn problems into opportunities and solutions. Empowering them to develop the skills to become the driving force of our families and society. To help achieve this goal we had a visit from Doctor Valeria, from 917 Medical Clinic in Flamingo and she shared about the importance of the choices we make and about health matters such as caring for your mind, body and soul, among other interesting subjects. Thanks to the teamwork made by Accai and 917 Clinic we will be having health workshops for the Youth twice a month. We are thrill to announce the alliance made between Elevate Dance Studio and Accai and now our Youth receive 2 hours of dance classes every Tuesday 6 to 8 in the evening. We have 10 to 13 students attending the dance lessons. And last but not least, Pickleball. Students love pickleball on Saturdays and they receive their class for 75 minutes. Thank you so much to the group of volunteers. The students enjoyed it so much they asked if they could play more so this is how Brasilito's park looks now on Friday afternoon 5 to 6:30! Thanks for your support: 917 Medical Clinic, Elevate Dance Studio, Cria's National Honor Society Students Gunner Kith, Brian Mcdonald, Anina Cubillos and Santiago Cubillos and of course to all of our volunteers. Thanks for providing meals: EJ Avey, Federico Robledo and 917 Medical Clinic.. High-Dosage tutoring is effective but expensive. That is why our sponsors are very important for our community enrichment opportunity to continue. Please consider donating to Accai. We also need volunteers helping in Math and in providing snacks and lunch. Thank you in advance for considering joining us in this great mission to help our Youth have a better future! Please don't hesitate to contact us for more information. Pura Vida! Erika & Karen Directors

After many months of planning we finally saw our dream become a reality...that the Youth of Brasilito would have a secure and fun place to meet, where they would receive tutoring in the subjects that they struggle the most but also meet other teens and have fun together. One by one they started arriving at 8 in the morning on Saturday April 15, 2023. Their faces..., you could tell some of them were really nervous and shy, while others immediately started connecting with each other. We started with English support since they are soon to have the exams at their school. They brought their books so the volunteers could work with them. After English came pickleball. We walked to the nearby park where these group of volunteers had 5 nets placed and ready for them. Some of the teens were nervous and expressed they didn't want to play because they didn't know how to and they were too embarrassed. We encouraged them to give it a try, and they all did and had the greatest time ever. They were all playing with a smile on their faces. People who didn't know each other that well were working together, were laughing together and I could tell through all the fun and laughter they were connecting. They had such a great time that they decided they wanted an extra day of pickleball on Friday evenings after school! We came back to the building after pickleball to have fruit and then move on to support on math, but before that we handed out scientific calculators that were donated to us from one of our volunteers and the teens were really happy and surprised. I heard some comments like "Now I don't have to be asking classmates to lend me their calculators in class", another comment I heard was "wow these are very expensive". Several of them didn't have one when they really need it at school. We closed the morning sharing pizza with the Youth. What a morning! They all went home happy and willing to come back next Saturday for more! These memories bond the group together, developing more of a sense of community and a shared history. All of this wouldn't have been possible without the following group of people who believed in this project. Thank you all for your interest in helping with Accai's Youth Program. Thank you to our volunteers that have been there since before we even started! EJ Avey, Tammy Walker, Yakira Mandy Lee, Federico Robledo and Kathy Roberts. You are helping us raise awareness about the need the High schoolers of Brasilito have and that is very important to the community. Your contribution makes it possible to continue making strides towards our goal of having everyone in the program successfully end their school year!. Thank you to our sponsors: Marina Foundation, The Palms, Catalina Cove. Ron Kirchhoff, Jeanne and Joe Gillen, Kristin S. Cox. Your contribution is vital to continue our important work. We cannot succeed without the generosity of supporters like you. Marco Cruz, Ronny Perry,Yakira Mandy Lee, Tiffany and Devon Smith, Frank and Marilyn Webb, Cindy Kokesh, Perry Carlile, Babe Hopkins and the ADI of Brasilito, thank you for your time donated, for donating materials to fix the building, for bringing us supplies for our classes and for helping us with the yummy snacks and lunches for the group. We truly appreciate your interest in helping our organization thrive. You can rest assured that your generous donation is being put to good use. Thank you Asociacion de Desarrollo Integral de Brasilito A.D.I. for providing a secure space for our Youth to receive the program. Cepia for always caring for our children's and youth's educational, mental and physical health in order to have them improve their quality of life. To all the parents, and specially the moms, for helping us get the place ready and encourage your kids to come to our program, we know how hard it is and appreciate all your effort and hard work, thank you! Thank you all for your kindness and support. It's the generosity of people like you that allow us to carry out our mission in the community. We hope to continue making a difference with your help. Thank you for your generosity. We hope to hear from you soon! Until next time With deep gratitude, Erika and Karen