Once upon a time, many years ago, a tiny one-room school was built in a remote and primitive Indian village of TONJIBE located in north central Costa Rica. The year was 1963. This schoolhouse measured no more than 8 meters by 8 meters, the walls were wood frame, the roof was sheet metal, and the little school was painted green.

Over the next thirty years, time took its toll. The sandy cement began to crumble, termites and decay found haven in the wooden walls, and the shiny tin roof turned to rust. This little green schoolhouse became a disaster: a schoolhouse no Hometown-USA would tolerate. At that time in Costa Rica, the Maleku tribe of Guatuso Indians had little choice. For one, they had no citizenship in their own native country. Second, they were still in transition from their previous culture. They had no clout: economic or political. The Maleku Indians of Tonjibe were caught between the ways of the old world and the ways of the new

1995 found our volunteer mission team working in Tonjibe (pronounced: Tone-hee-bay). Our project was the Methodist Church. This was also the year that the Tonjibe community began construction of a new one-room school to replace the old and dilapidated school. The one that was painted green.

Typical of North Americans, kids and schools touched our hearts. So we helped the community begin building a new school. Although our main project was the Methodist church, we worked on the new school as we were able. At the end of two weeks, our team returned to the United States. At the airport, team members emptied their pockets of loose change and gave it to purchase school uniforms and school supplies for the Tonjibe children. We thought it was the least we could do to keep the Tonjibe kids in school. Schooling is free in Costa Rica but all children need to provide their own uniforms and school supplies.

Typically, team members extended their stay for scouting and assessing potential mission projects for another year. Now, outfitting the Tonjibe kids for school was added to our agenda and became an annual tradition with our teams.

Our next visit to TonjIbe was a surprise. The little green schoolhouse was still standing. It wasn't demolished because it was, once again, needed to teach kids. The new classroom was overcrowded. 1998 found our team building a second new classroom. This time, we expected the little green schoolhouse to be gone for sure.

At about this time, the government of Costa Rica initiated a school hot lunch program within indigent communities. It was found this single noontime meal often was the only nutritious meal the children received. So with limited resources and faced with a government decree, what would a prudent school board do? You guessed it: Use the little green building, of course!

That is what we found upon our return in 1999. We came to buy school uniforms and school supplies for the local kids and found the community in need of a new kitchen/cafeteria for the Tonjibe School. This "Comedor-Escolar" became our team project for the year 2OOO. Now surely the little green building would be demolished. After all, who needs a termite infested, crumbling building with a rusted roof?

Well, it turned out that Tonjibe did. Another government decree brought a kindergarten program to Tonjibe. So, if you had a school with two crowded classrooms, and a busy kitchen/cafeteria turning out hot lunches, what could be done to start a Kindergarten Program? Well, use the little green schoolhouse. What else?

As long as we are guessing what reasonable people would do: what choice could be expected as the mission project for next year? Yep, you're right again: building a Kinder at Tonjibe. That was our project for the year 2OO1.

We scouted a number of other locations as potential work sites. A letter from Melvin Murillo who has assisted our work teams with construction swayed the final choice. Uncharacteristic of Melvin, he offered advice. Melvin was intimately familiar with the sites being considered. His advice was: "nothing compares with the desperate needs of Tonjibe." His parting words were classic: "At least then we could be there to see the little green school building demolished." An appropriate end to an institution.

The new Kinder Building would occupy the same site as the little green school: perhaps we could paint it green.

Amen!

Author: Bob Suda

Team 1
Seated: Rebekah Wardlaw, Sue Barnes, Denia Caraval, Nidia Murillo, Grace Murillo, Joan Suda, Ada Barnes
Standing: Bob Suda, Bob Karr, Jack Tingle, Al Roberson, James Thomas, Shirley Tingle, Ben Barnes, Fay Hager, Howard Gilmore, Alan Murillo, Basil Bloss