<b>Introduction:</b>

La Asociacion CREAR, founded in 2005, is a non-profit organization in the rural beach communities in and around Playa Sámara in Guanacaste, Cosa Rica.  CREAR offers a wide variety of services to the local members of the community, primarily children, all completely free of charge.  CREAR provides educational opportunities in the fields of technology, music, art, English, dance, theater, environmental education, horticulture, sports, values and academic support. In addition, we run summer camps, women’s empowerment/independence workshops, and young adult apprentice programs.  CREAR currently has a presence in the local schools 4 days a week in the form of an after school program, an initiative run with the support of Intercultura Language and Cultural Center. We currently offer our program to 150 students from Sámara and the neighboring areas, including El Torito, Matapalo, Cangrejal, y Cantarrana.  CREAR also runs the first and only library in Sámara, with a wide range of books for children in both Spanish and English as well as books for adults in English, Spanish, French, German, Dutch, and Italian.  The library is a free resource to the community.

Our Mission:
La Asociacion CREAR seeks to provide a venue where children and young people can develop their artistic talents through creative art-education initiatives, while simultaneously learning life-long skills that will offer them a wider and more fulfilling range of employment opportunities in the future.  We aim to enforce an environmental consciousness in our students so that they may take that awareness back to their homes and continue to educate future generations.  Within each lesson/activity, there is always an academic foundation as well as an English component.  We aim to promote higher-level thinking and questioning through our studies of currently social and environmental issues.
CREAR is run by a multi-cultural staff, made up primarily of the international volunteers who come to our community.   We incorporate social, environmental and cross-cultural themes, as well as foreign languages, in our curriculum, hoping thereby to contribute to the formation of a spirit of multicultural curiosity, global awareness and tolerance in the program’s youth.

Our Vision:
La Asociacion CREAR is gaining a larger presence in the community every day.  We will continue to provide our programs and services to the local members of the community at no charge.  Our primary objective is to expand our resources in both funds and personnel so that we may implement future projects and expand our existing programs in size, effectiveness and in materials.  With more funding we will:
•    Replace the roof over the Kindergarten classroom in the El Torito School.
•    Help other area public schools with much-needed repairs and construction projects
•    Expand and advertise our volunteer program so that we may become more self-sufficient in our funding.
•    Expand our library in both materials and size in the form of a Bookmobile so that we may reach more members of the community.
•    Sponsor other community projects that currently lack funding such as school recycling initiatives, school renovations and uniforms/materials/lunches for children from low-income families.

As our funds grow, so will our goals.  We will see the children of this community excel from the benefits of our programs.  We will watch them develop their skills and take responsibility for their education and the cleanliness of their neighborhoods.  We will see a transformation in their motivation and drive to succeed.  If you would like to help us realize these goals, click here.