A Great Day for Hogar Kids and Their Moms!

We dedicated the new computer lab at Hogar Escuela in Barrio Cuba on Friday afternoon. Family and friends of Greer Yorke, a young man from Christ Church, Charlotte, gathered at the school to open the laboratory in his memory. Greer participated in a mission group which began building the lab space several years ago. He was very excited about the opportunities computer training would bring to the Hogar students and their parents. Sadly, Greer died in a mountain-climbing accident in western North Carolina, and was unable to see the completion of his dream.

Friends of Greer at Christ Church began a fund-raising campaign to help finish the computer lab. The dioceses of Costa Rica and North Carolina applied for a grant from the St. Luke’s Foundation in Salisbury. With these combined resources we finished the lab space, added air conditioning, and installed twenty computers and furniture.

Bishop Monterroso joined Greer’s mom, grandmother and other relatives and close friends in blessing and dedicating the new lab on Friday. It was one of those Spirit-filled moments that energize us in our ministries. The Hogar Escuela kids sang for us, and then settled in for their first lesson on the new computers.

Our task now is to begin offering computer training to the mothers of the Hogar children. Most of them are working in very low-paying jobs which make it hard to support their families. Unemployment and loss of their rented homes often puts these families at risk. Learning computer skills will help these moms in their search for better jobs at decent wages and open the world of computers to their children.

A computer lab similar to the one at Barrio Cuba will be part of the new Hogar Escuela serving Guarari and Heredia. While it won’t be as large at first, the lab will offer children and their parents the same quality of education as our new facility in Barrio Cuba. Work on the Heredia school site will begin in a couple of weeks. The St. Alban’s family will share in this ministry of work as the school is built, furnished and opened for new students and their parents. 

The scheduled dates for the St. Alban’s mission trip to Costa Rica are August 27 through September 1. Please contact Peter Macon or Rebecca Yarbrough for more details as they become available.

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