An unexpected blessing came our way during this past community volunteer season. One of the volunteers who came to work with us here at CREAR, Chris Sweeney, had recently founded a non profit called Books Build Bridges alongside his brother, Benjamin and other friends and family, and was looking for ways to expand the reach of his organization outside of his hometown. Luckily for CREAR and the Samara community, Chris was set to travel to Costa Rica with a Travel for Teens gr

(Español abajo) Last January, I arrived in Costa Rica past dark at Liberia International Airport in search of a new place to be at home. After three hours seated and watching shadowed details of Guanacaste life rush past the tourist van window and into the night, I found myself standing in an empty house with my mother, my older brother, his girlfriend, and our two cats—my family. This house was meant to be my new home, and though I’d never seen it before, its promise twinkle