Give and Surf

Dunbarton High School Leaves Their Mark

Give and Surf — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 02:17:19 +0000

Last month we were fortunate enough to have the help of a high school group from Dunbarton High School located in Pickering, Ontario; a suburb of Toronto. They spent ten action packed days with us volunteering and enjoying jungle life on Bastimentos Island. With their help we were able to complete the following: two bathroom/septic tanks for the community, finished the community garden, finished 104 stairs to the playground, cleaned up and prepped the library, collected over 25 bags of trash around the bay, converted preschool walls to all wood, painted preschool walls, and added a mural to our bookshelves. In addition to all their hard work they had great times doing catamaran tour, zip lining, trip to Smithsonian, cave tour, and enjoying the beach.

We would like to thank all of you for working so hard during your time here as well as fundraising at home. Of course none of this would be possible without the teachers as well. You are a special group of teachers to have the stamina to keep up with the kids and survive the jungle!

Pre-mud group shot

Septic Tank Project

Library in all its glory

Finishing Touches

Bathroom/Septic Tank Construction

Michigan State Students Join Give & Surf for Spring Break

Give and Surf — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 15:43:58 +0000

Last week, Give & Surf had the pleasure of hosting a group of eleven students from Michigan State who opted to volunteer in Panama for their collegiate spring break. Even though Bocas del Toro greeted them with a few rain showers, they worked with smiles on their faces, rain or shine!

In just five days, our Michigan State volunteers were able to build a community garden and 102 step stairway, construct furniture for the library, paint a mural in the preschool room, and a few other projects.

We could not have asked for a harder working group of students. We were amazed to see what a big difference a group of college students could make. A huge thanks goes out to the guys and gals of Michigan State for your tireless work and contributions to the Bahia Honda community!

The Michigan State group posing for a photo on our school’s dock.

A few volunteers hard at work digging steps for the stairway up to the garden.

The guys building new furniture for the library.

Give & Surf Raises Over $1,000 to Benefit Bahia Roja Community

Give and Surf — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 13:08:02 +0000

On Saturday, February 13 Give & Surf hosted a fundraiser with our friends at the Palmar Tent Lodge to raise money to rebuild the Bahia Roja cafeteria and kitchen. Not only did we have clear skies and a great turnout, we exceeded our goal and raised over $1,000!

The fundraiser was a blast and our guests were able to enjoy a full day of festivities such as live music, soccer tournament, slip n’ slide, raffle, earth oven pizzas, drink specials, a live coconut oil demonstration, and more.

We cannot give enough thanks to all the businesses that donated prizes to our raffle drawing, the volunteers from Palmar Tent Lodge and Give & Surf, and those that donated the funds to get the cafeteria complete!

One Year Later: Give and Surf Welcomes the Return of a Past Volunteer

Give and Surf — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 19:49:27 +0000

Only one year ago June You, a Ph. D student from Seoul, South Korea found herself in Bocas del Toro volunteering with Give and Surf for the first time. Today we’re sitting down with June to find out more about her experiences with our program and of course, why she wanted to return.

Q: How did you initially find out about Give and Surf?

A: Through my friend’s Facebook page. He liked “Give and Surf.”

Q: Tell us about your first trip here.

A: It was in February of 2012. I had planned to stay here for two weeks but extended my stay for one week longer. Basically I assisted Neil with teaching. And of course, played with the children and had a wonderful time with them. During our free time I went surfing, snorkeling, and enjoyed a cave tour.

Q: What did you like best about volunteering with Give and Surf?

A: My favorite memory from Give and Surf was playing with the kids. Every moment with them was so special to me. If I had to say one thing, I would say the day we brought them to the beach because we had so much fun that day.

Q: How do you feel about being the first volunteer to return to Bocas for a second volunteer experience?

A: Hahaha! Is there any recognition or a prize for this? (Just kidding!) I’m sure that there will be more volunteers returning like I did. I hope so!

Q: What changes have been made since you were here last?

A: The kids. They are growing up so fast and have become so active. I think Neil and Tabitha have done a great job here. The kids are so intelligent. I’m so proud of them!

Q: Tell us about the kids you sponsor to attend school. What made you want to sponsor a child?

A: In this indigenous community, there are issues with women and abuse. When I heard about these horrible stories, I was so shocked and decided to change at leaset one girl’s life. I thought the way to help change this is to educate girls to stand up for their rights. I told this story to my friends in Korea and the my two good friends supported my thoughts and decided to sponsor two children as well. So, between all of us, three girls are able to attend school!

Give and Surf Takes a Field Trip to La Loma Jungle Lodge and Chocolate Farm

Give and Surf — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 21:09:22 +0000

When Give and Surf started holding summer school classes for the children of Bahia Honda, our goals were to provide them with engaging activities and new experiences to further develop their understanding the world. And most importantly, we aimed for summer school to be fun!

Yesterday one of our summer school classes had the opportunity to take a field trip and tour the La Loma Jungle Lodge and Chocolate Farm. The adventurous day was filled with a question and answer session about La Loma and how chocolate is made, a tour of the cacao plantation and gardens, and taste testing the chocolate!

All aboard for La Loma!

Question and answer session with Kelly.

The Give and Surf kids and volunteers listening to a presentation by La Loma workers.

The La Loma Chocolate Farm tour begins.

Delicious homemade chocolate cookies for our hungry taste testers.

Thank you to the knowledgeable staff of La Loma for such an educational afternoon and delicious treats to eat!

Rock N Roll Fundraiser!

Give and Surf — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 20:37:15 +0000

“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything.” Plato

In Bocas del Toro, Panama we will be sharing music with the children of Bahia Honda and setting flight to future rock and rollers and lovers of all things music. With your support instruments and equipment will be purchased and without delay horns tooted, guitars strummed, and drums beaten…lets not leave out singing. We will be adding this program very soon and will be turning our kids into full fledged musicians.

Please help us by sharing and contributing to this future program of ours! Thank you all for your support and we look forward to sharing pictures and videos of our kids rocking out.

Donate to Rock and Roll in Bahia Honda at Razoo

December’s NewsWAVE Newsletter

Give and Surf — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 20:45:32 +0000

Take a second to read up on our latest happenings and future plans. We will have a busy, busy 2013 full of education programs, new projects, and volunteers from around the world. Please email us at info@giveandsurf.org if you are interested in helping in any way.

Huge Thanks to our family of supporters!

The Bellies are full for Months $2,220 Raised

Give and Surf — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 20:10:27 +0000

Where to begin. We had over 30 supporters of Give & Surf contribute to our fundraiser to feed the children of Bahia Honda. Our goal was $1,500 and we surpassed this in fine form with a total of $2,220. We are now not only able to fill their bellies with lunch food, but have made some healthy changes to their diet. No more bad starch and carbs. We feel so fortunate to have the support of so many and were able to turn this around in less than a week. Special thanks must be given to two great friends of mine; Audrey Ferraro and Annette de Graaf. The two of them don’t know this, but they have so much in common; school teachers, know first hand of our programs, and hearts of gold. We recently engaged in a cultural distance learning opportunity with Audrey’s 8th grade students where as Annette visited our programs and returned home to carry her experiences into her 2nd grade classroom. You can continue to contribute to our programs and the community of Bahia Honda through Razoo.

Feeding Our Children Fundraiser

Give and Surf — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 17:52:20 +0000

FUNDRAISER: Click the link and contribute

Feed Our Bahia Honda Children

As of this week the government provided food supplies for Bahia Honda’s Elementary School has been depleted. We are asking for your help. Please click above and contribute to providing our students with food so they can learn and enjoy school and their lives with full bellies. We need to pool together our resources and purchase food that will provide thirty students food. We have the cooks, equipment, and a brand new cafeteria, but not the food.

The children of Bahia Honda have very poor diets so we will be using this fundraiser to purchase and cook healthy food. With a successful fundraiser this misfortune will be a blessing.

Take a second to help us and support our community by sharing this message with your friends and family.

We are partnering our fundraising efforts with good friends from La Loma Jungle Lodge, Educatiaon is Power, Croft Global Travel, Palmar Tent Lodge, Share-it-Fitness, and The High Definite.

Huge thanks to our family of supporters!

Recycling Project Wrap Up

Give and Surf — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 20:21:23 +0000

For two months we introduced the children of our after-school program to a new concept and way of thinking; recycling. We started off educating them on recycling basics: the hows and whys! For an indigenous community with ZERO exposure to a first world solution to trash our children were all ears and definitely inspired to clean up around their homes when we followed our two weeks of education with a competition. The children live over the water surrounded by mangrove forests so polluting the water with garbage is not the solution. Their parents limited understanding of recycling and negative effects it has on the environment is why many of their homes have excess trash laying around. We looked to the future generations to make a change! We held a month long competition in which we split our children ages 6-12 into groups of four and challenged them to bring as many plastic bottles and trash as possible. Each team was responsible for making their own team poster, encouraging each other, and given the opportunity to bring in bags everyday. Each bag was awarded points from 10-40 points. We put together 9 teams of 3 and put them to the test! The points were tallied up at the end of the competition and two teams came out on top;: Ojo Tuerto de Plastico (Plastic Cross Eye) and Luchadores de Basura (Garbage Fighters). We ended our competition incredibly proud of our children for their commitment to a new way of thinking and living. They not only collected trash, but also paddled it to school. We awarded our after school program kids with a day at the beach full of food, games, and good times. What many would consider a simple day to the beach (especially being that we live on an island) is far from it. Many of the children in Bahia Honda (Deep Bay) have not been to the other side of the island where one can find beautiful beaches and a whole different world. This is because what is otherwise easy for us (ten minute boat ride) is an hour plus cayuco (kayak) ride. The biggest reason is cultural and parenting based. The children live very basic, primitive, isolated lives and therefore their parents do not promote or engage/stimulate them through activities and special days. A huge part of our educational programs is exposing our children to new ways of thinking, having fun, and experiencing life. Look for more to come for our field trips.

If you would like to get involved and contribute to our educational programs you can by donating or volunteering with us! Enjoy the pictures from our recycling project and thanks for your support.