Happy Thanksgiving...

An appropriate title for the happenings at El Campamento I think. Tanya's family is in town for the holiday and Samuel and I chatted last night about all the progress that's been made in the last few months. We recovered nicely from having to cancel the summer camp, replacing it with the school supply drive and, continuing with the recent focus on literacy, have begun work on organizing a book club in Madre Vieja.  Tanya was able to find a bunch of copies of Tuck Everlasting in Spanish (Tuck, Para Siempre) and we've recruited Montás cousin Anin (a.k.a. renowned poet Maria Victoria Carreño) to hold a number of sessions to discuss the text with a group of local students.

And in the biggest news of all thanks to the perseverance of Nelly and Samuel we were able to get our 501-C3 non-profit status, meaning that all donations to our foundation are tax deductable.
What started out five years ago as Campamento Las Margaritas, a small summer camp for fifteen or so students,  has transformed to Fundación Las Margarits, a burgeoning non-profit organization.

Hard to believe really. When we ran El Campamento for the first time I really wanted to affect great change. I had all these big ideas like making the entire Domincan Republic a hotbed for environmental activism, like changing the lives of all of the students of Madre Vieja forever.  Tanya, ever the pragmatist (what?!?), urged caution and said that we needed to start small.  And then we did and, I wasn't ever convinced that we were making any difference in anything. Tanya said that we were, that just by seeing these Gringos (and I use that term with great self-respect) show interest in them, the students would be transformed, would begin to believe that they could do big things, that they could affect great change.  But, I wasn't convinced.  And I'm still not convinced that two weeks of work every couple of years makes such a difference.

But now, all that has changed. Yes, we'll still run the summer camp, but with increased funding we can begin to work with the students throughout the year as well. And to work with more of them. We can begin to provide some of the things that the children need, that the entire community lacks - a vague statement because we haven't yet figure out how to do that. But, as Samuel said last night, that's a good problem to have.