Maria Paola is the newest friend of Friends of Cozumel.
Friends of Cozumel’s summer mission work has begun. The first visiting volunteers hit the ground running a few days ago and more will arrive in the next few days. It’s been great to reunite with old friends and find some new ones, too.
What 'fiesta de bebe' is complete without a cake?
Meet our newest friend, Maria Paola. She arrived in Cozumel just a few weeks ago and was the guest of honor at a ‘festival de bebe’—a baby shower—organized by Diane from Nebraska. She and her mother, Lili, are just two of the people being helped by Friends of Cozumel. With challenges of daily life in this island community, it was nice to give them some time to just have fun and celebrate the birth of a beautiful new family member.
White 'onesies' and permanent fabric markers made a great bi-lingual activity as well as a way to give the baby lasting good wishes.
Lili (left) enjoyed receiving gifts for the baby at the shower organized by Diane (right).
While not everyone could converse in each other’s language during the baby shower, that was no problem.
Diane arranged an activity where everyone passed their best wishes on to the baby using permanent fabric markers on brand new, white baby clothes. Then after opening gifts, a bit of dancing and eating cake, at least one of the party goers took a nap.
Meanwhile, back at the Friends of Cozumel headquarters, Larry worked on large, low table he is building for use at Casita Corazon. This therapy house is sponsored by Carries Heart and was renovated by FOC volunteers during the spring mission trip. It’s now in use by families with children who have disabilities. The table will hold both children and their therapists as they work on physical movement therapies.
Larry from Iowa works on a therapy table for Casita Corazon.
We’re full of energy (more or less) and ready to go on lots of different projects to help the community. Send us your comments, advice and best wishes to keep our energy level high. And we’ll keep you in the loop of all the new friends of Friends of Cozumel. –Phyllis
I am so proud to announce that we now have two “casitas” or “little homes” up and running that are now being utilized for therapy, activities, parent training and distribution of resources for our families. Casita Corazon Cozumel is bright and airy with a wonderful patio area and garden for the children to enjoy. Casita Corazon Carrillo Puerto is open and spacious with an amazing tropical garden and palapa area for parties. The opportunity to rent the homes came at the right time and from people who have wonderful hearts and believe in the work we are doing. 
Traveling outside the US reinforces how much more of a mono-lingual culture we are than our counterparts around the world. We expect people to speak English and the rest of the world involved in tourism obliges. Local people at all six of our Southern Caribbean ports of call easily switched back and forth between their native language, English and one or more European languages like this small business owner in the photo.
The good news is we’re starting to see a change in the profile of travelers coming here to Cozumel. More frequent visiting volunteers are learning basic Spanish. There is an increase in Spanish speaking US/Canadian residents traveling to the island seeking volunTOURism activities. For example, these three cruise groups have or will serve the Cozumel community through their Spanish language capabilities: 
Parc-Way Assembly of God (Indiana) cruise mission team of 30 teens and adults (see photos) led a youth festival for 100+ children and adults—Aug. 2011. A few of Parc-Way’s group are native Spanish speakers but everyone learned enough Spanish to interact with youth and lead activities.
The cruise was a humbling reminder of what it feels like to disembark and not know exactly where to go or the process for getting around despite my pre-travel research. Creating your own island itinerary vs. participating in ship sponsored excursions requires a sense of adventure and personal flexibility to deal with whatever happens without the safety net of the cruise line’s “guarantee”. Those of us who live on Cozumel encourage visitors to go beyond Melgar to see and experience the wonderful people and the culture. Yet we don’t often get away to walk in the shoes as visiting tourists in other locations. 
1.Volunteering enables us to put things in perspective about what is truly important. Helping families struggling to provide basic needs of food, water and shelter for their children is humbling compared to things we tend to focus on in our daily lives. Photo at left: Roger helped Jose’s family access water by installing a manual pump in their well.
2.Volunteering challenges our problem solving abilities. Not having access to resources typically available in the US or Canada causes us to think differently. We can’t assume the same solutions or materials will work in a tropical climate or an environment where families and organizations may not have reliable services (i.e. electricity, transportation, protection against environmental elements). I jokingly say in the US, some problems can be solved by throwing money at it . . . not so in Mexico. Photo at right: A plan for collecting rain water from the family’s roof, flowing down a tube to store in barrels had to be based on materials available and a process the family could easily maintain over time. 
3.Volunteering results in personal growth, learning and discovery often leading first to frustration, then followed by a sense of accomplishment. You can’t walk away from significant volunteer experiences without having changed or gown in some way. It may be overcoming a language barrier to get the job done, require you to work outside your expertise and/or stretch you to address a personally uncomfortable situation. Photo at left: Roger (back) and Larry (front) install the rain water collection system. The first try seldom works (true in this case) and often requires multiple trips to secure supplies and tools. Mission volunteers quickly learn projects take 2-3 times longer than we “think” they should! 
4.Volunteering allows us to share the grace of giving/receiving genuine expressions of appreciation without strings attached, expectations or a sense of entitlement. Photo at right: Jose’s family was so appreciative that one of the children cut fresh coconuts to share cocunut milk with mission volunteers for helping the family access clean water for bathing and washing clothes as well as for dental fluoride treatments provided for the children by Dr. Julie. 
One of the first timers, Roger Hoy, made the comment as we were returning back to town from installing a water collection system for Jose’s family “You know…regardless of the kind of day you’re having, you just can’t help but be happy when you leave that family.” Now, this comment wasn’t reflecting the warm feeling you have after you do a good deed. Roger was pointing out that every member of this family seems to have a smile on their face whenever you go out there. The children run out to greet you, anxious to engage and offer their assistance as “project apprentices” and the adults are forever grateful for our efforts. I have yet to have anyone go out to this home for the first time and not leave with the same impact, saying “these people have next to nothing and yet they all seem so happy!”
