On Saturday, March 15, 2025 Judy Johnson a member of the Rotary club of Maple Grove flew to San Jose, Costa Rica for a two-week mission/play vacation with several Rotarians. This trip was organized by Steve Laible from the Brooklyn Park Rotary. This will be my third international trip with Steve and his wife, Nancy. Previous trips were to Bangladesh and Cuba. Other travelers were Gennett (my roommate), Martha (translator), Raydeene, Dana and Roz. Steve organizes these trips through a Rotary group called the Global Travelers.
This traveling group also worked in collaboration with the Salvation Army. The Salvation Army helps the poorest of the poor. On Sunday, we went to a SA church service. There were Venezuelan refugees there which were rejected by the USA but Costa Rica took in these homeless souls. Our first event was to Camp Penuel. This is a free camp for poor children. It is Christian based and accepts all children. Children learn about God and unconditional love, and skills such as taking care of farm animals and gardening. It was started by Paul Bernhagen who is from Minnesota. He bought beautiful land in Costa Rica and built this camp. Rotary funding helped to build a gazebo. Steve brought the Salvation Army folks here and perhaps Bernhagen and SA can partner together to bring refugees here for a reprieve.
The next day we traveled to Santa Cruz to deliver school supplies. The children performed a beautiful cultural event for us with dancing and traditional food which we thoroughly enjoyed! We went into the barrio and played games with the children there. We talked to the women there and gave them Days For Girls feminine hygiene kits. These women were refugees from Nicaragua and were very shy.
The Women’s group was very engaged. They met weekly at the Salvation Army Child Center to discuss their issues and support each other. They were very engaged in this workshop. The econd week was traveling and seeing the country side and the natural wonders of the animal.
It was wonderful and successful trip.
