Imagine an entire indigenous community. Imagine half of that community scarred for life by a flesh-eating worm. Imagine the children in that community wanting to go to school, but not having more than a shack with one standing wall! Imagine people wanting to build their own school, but just not having any money! This is a tough reality and hard to imagine, but it’s happening in the mountains of the Bribri indigenous territory.

 Alto katsi 2 


Alto Katsi is a small indigenous community in the mountains of Talamanca. Half of the kids in this community suffer from papalomoyo (leishmaniasis in English), a flesh-eating worm that can only be treated with daily injections of iron for at least a month. Unfortunately the economic circumstances are so bad that this treatment is not possible. This worm causes incredible scars that will stay on their faces and bodies for the rest of their lives.

Alto katsi 3
Alto katsi 4

Nine Thousand Dollars ($9,000) are needed to re-build the school. Fortunately we have already received several donations. Jason Goldfisher, a personal friend and long-time supporter of Tropical Adventures and his school raised $800 dollars through two campaigns they organized. Kathi Mudd, one of our board members in the USA, raised $500 together with the St. Patrick School, and Nidia Bonilla – another personal friend of Tropical Adventures in Costa Rica – raised an incredible $1,000 dollars. Tropical Adventures so far has donated $200 as well. Besides these great donations, the University of Costa Rica is organizing a food fair in Puerto Viejo and all the money they will raise at this fair will go to the school in Alto Katsi.

All these donations together make a total of 2500 dollars, which means that they still need $7,500. The money is really needed so they can build their own new, traditional indigenous school. They will have two classrooms, an eating area and maybe, finally, one bathroom if at all possible. Even the smallest donations are very, very, very welcome; your donations can make a big difference in many lives. How great would it be to make it possible for an entire community to have their own school?