A long-held dream came true last year for Osa Peninsula locals when Escuela Nueva Hoja opened its doors to 22 children between the ages of 4 and 15. This year, they have 35 students. The school is a private, non profit school for pre-kinder through 8th grade, with the bi-lingual study program incorporating the curriculum of Calvert School, an Internationally recognized home school curriculum from Baltimore, Maryland, the Costa Rica curriculum for Spanish and social studies, and special Earth Wellness courses sponsored by the Women of the Osa .
The Earth Wellness courses include outdoor exploration of the Osa Peninsula’s incredible wildlife resources, and important lessons for the environment, such as recycling and composting. School Directors, Elizabeth Oden and Terry Huisman, as well as parents and friends, have worked hard, renovating spaces, raising money and donations of materials, and recruiting students. The school is accredited through the Calvert International system, and is pending accreditation from the CR Ministry of Education.
Although English was new and at times difficult for the school’s 85% native Costa Rican students, most have adapted to the bilingual system and are speaking both languages well after the concentrated ESL style learning processes.
The schools started out housed in a small renovated space adjacent to Puerto Jimenez’s public library, but recently transferred to a new space designed and built for Nueva Hoja, with room to grow. The new facility will be able to house up to 80 students and meets the requirements for accreditation by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health of Costa Rica. The inevitable dream is to have a large, beautiful campus with all the facilities necessary for a well-rounded education all the way through high school. The idea is to prepare students so that they will be able to make a choice to continue their education in any university they choose.
If interested in sponsoring a student that otherwise cannot afford tuition, or contributing to the scholarship fund or the building and materials funds, please contact the directors, Elizabeth Oden or Terry Huisman through their website: www.nuevahoja.com
Look for updates on the projects and events for this “new leaf� in the Osa forest!

“No caddies, just guides!� was the motto this year for Women of the Osa’s annual Jungle Golf Tournament at Bosque del Cabo Hotel in Matapalo. Sunday, August 5th, would-be golfers, serious or otherwise, attempted the obstacle course that is the 9 hole playing field in the tropical garden, at La Palenque, in the midst of Bosque’s forest reserve. Golfers with experience, novices, and those who are obviously more comfortable on a surf board than holding a 9 iron, gathered for food, fun, and yes, even trophies, for WOO’s most fun fundraising event of the year. All you really needed was a good attitude and a good appetite for the picnic prepared by Bosque chef, Maureen McNamara.
This event was our most successful fundraising event to date! Local sponsors for individual holes boosted our revenues to an all-time high, and a turn out of over 50 golfers, despite the intermittent rain, made this the event of the rainy season!

Nico Fisher with the help of several other women from WOO has just completed the new edition of LIVING IN THE JUNGLE, a handbook for living consciously in harmony with Nature. The first edition came out 2 years ago and was well received, and all the copies snatched up.
Changes, updates, and additions have been made, and this new edition will be bi-lingual, thanks to translations by Marijke. We hope to have it available by early November. We will be posting segments from the book online periodically so you can get a sense of the content of this guide to living in Osa, or anywhere that you care about your environment. While the information is specific to the Osa community, it is also general enough to apply wherever you live.
To get a copy of this wonderful collection of wisdom and information, send us an email. We ask a donation of $10 plus shipping for each copy.

4 September, 2007
Dr. Oscar Arias
President of the Republic of Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa Rica
Dear Sir:
As members of the Osa Peninsula community, we want to welcome you to our little corner of the world. Women of the Osa is a group of committed volunteer women who live in the Osa Peninsula and the Golfo Dulce region who are striving for conservation, education and ecological awareness to preserve one of the most intense reservoirs of bio-diversity on Earth. Our organization works to design, implement and aid projects, in partnership with other local groups, to protect the Osa. A unique and distinguishing factor of WOO is the perspective that these women bring to conservation and activism.

It is critical to preserve this bio-diversity not only for the people who live in the Osa, but for the good of the world. The oxygen provided by the rain-forest helps balance the global warming effect. Rain-forest plants are a vital source for major medicinal breakthroughs. As well, our emotional well-being depends on places that give us a sense of peace and harmony. By depleting different wild life species, the chain of survival is broken which leads to dis-equilibrium in nature. By allowing deforestation our climates will continue to change dramatically. It is of global significance, this tiny unique region, which faces ever-increasing threats by hunters, loggers, and developers. As women who live and work and raise our children here, we feel especially called to conserve this amazing and resourceful place not only for ourselves, but for future generations.
We are concerned that proposed incongruous projects such as marinas, airports, and megadevelopments, threaten the landscape that is one of the richest displays of nature on Planet Earth, where up to 50% of the biodiversity of Costa Rica, and 2.5% of the entire world flourishes. Osa represents that “100% Naturalâ€? idea that the marketing campaigns sell to the world about Costa Rica. It is also one of the most environmentally sensitive areas on Earth. In many respects, it represents the best of Costa Rica. As you, Dr. Arias, yourself have said, “It is a rare treasure…we have truly been blessed with the task of guarding this unique treasure, and we have an immense responsibility to be good stewards.”
As neighbors and stewards living and working in this community, we, The Women of the Osa, along with biologists, environmentalists, and other members of the Osa Peninsula community call upon the government of Costa Rica, and you as its leader, to provide protection against environmentally disastrous development by granting protected-area status to the Golfo Dulce. We believe that this is the best way to protect one of Costa Rica’s foremost environmental treasures while continuing to show the kind of leadership in ecological stewardship that Costa Rica is known for and respected throughout the world. We encourage Costa Rican authorities to protect Golfo Dulce and the entire peninsula with conservative measures that rethink the impact that approving any kind of mega project would have on the fragile eco system. We believe that Mega Development is not compatible with Conservation. Period. It is time to set forth the guidelines and limitations that are necessary to continue to protect this area from ruination.
We know that it is possible to create environmentally conscious and socially responsible development in an ecologically sensitive area. It is possible to sustain a community that can enjoy the treasure that Osa is without mega projects that are incompatible with conservation and protection of Costa Rica’s greatest resource. Several boutique, lodge style hotels in Osa have achieved this, and retreat centers and modest rental homes and eco villages have carved their unique spaces out of this biosphere, and done so with little endangerment to the wildlife, the marine life, and the prolific fauna surrounding them. Osa is a premiere travel destination because it is one of the few places on earth where “mega mania� has not struck. Land owners, environmental and ecological organizations, eco tourism businesses and visitors to the Osa Peninsula see it as the proving ground for protecting and sustaining biodiversity, while developing and sustaining a rural economy.

If the Osa Peninsula is to be at the forefront of a your Presidential Initiative, “Peace with Nature�, can we trust that you will to fight not only for conservation of the corridor between Corcovado and Piedras Blancas, but for the entire Golfo Dulce and Osa Peninsula region; to protect the clarity of the water, to protect the integrity of the forests and mangroves, and to protect the diversity of life that is so abundant in this unique environment?

Please let the Osa Peninsula stand as an example to the world of man’s best attempt to live in harmony with the earth, and make Peace with Nature. Let us be the model for how to build, plant, live, with positive impact on the environment, rather than as constant threat to it. Let us secure the Osa Peninsula, from over development, from mega projects, and from over population and severe impact by humans. Help us to continue to protect the natural resources of this region that are so important to the overall health and well being of the country and of the planet.

Sincerely and in good faith,

WOMEN Of the OSA

Hi All-

I have been meaning to write this letter for a while, and just have gotten a chance to sit down and do it. I wanted to write and sincerely thank Katie Hennessy for all of her years of service as a Women of the Osa Chairperson (or do we call it President?).
Katie worked so hard for years to help WOO make an impact and make a difference. And she succeeded! WOO has made great strides in the past couple of years and Katie was a big part of that success. We built the recycling center, boycotted Coca Cola (and tried to write a “green” ad campaign for them), held a couple of Cachi Bachis, published the first run of Living in the Jungle, attended local meetings, spoke at local gatherings about WOO and the work we were doing, tried to network with local groups, and hosted many fundraisers like the golf tournament, Earth Day, the car wash, and so on.
Katie was such a great leader for our group because she has a wonderful combination of compassion and motivation. She can move a group forward, through a meeting or through the planning of an event, with just the right amounts of encouragement, compassion and fun to make everyone feel ambitious and also harmonious. I was constantly impressed with Katie’s leadership style and energy.
It was a hard job some days, some times there was a lot of work to be done and there were not always lots of people volunteering to help. But, at all the events I was at, Katie was always one of the first ones there and one of the last ones to leave. Plus, Katie was a great supporter of WOO- she is the one of us that probably bought the most t-shirts for her family! And she, Mike and Brisa have always been so generous with WOO by doing things like sponsoring the Circle the Rock fishing tournament and giving the proceeds to WOO, as well as tireless work on the golf tournament every year- without Katie we would never get those foursomes organized so well, not to mention the super cute maps and rules she always comes up with!
I was also particularly impressed with the efforts Katie made to be inclusive of a wider membership base for WOO that would include more local Costa Rican women. This is an ongoing issue for WOO, but it was great that Katie tried so hard to extend the opportunity of joining to anyone that wanted to be part of the group.
I want to also wish Tao Watts good luck as she takes the helm of Chairperson for WOO. I know Tao will be a great in the position and look forward to it.
Thanks,
Take care,
Kim
Bosque del Cabo Rainforest Lodge

Dear Katie and all of the WOO women,
Good day! Thank you so much Kim for writing this letter. I Ditto it totally and wanted to add that it is so true what you said Kim about compassion and the ability to encourage people and her tasteful way about doing it. I definitely raise my glass to Katie and all of her devotion to WOO! Yahoo!!
Thank you Kim and all of the other officers for your time and energy also. We are all so busy but, it shows that we all care about WOO and the Osa.
I also wanted to add that I send my best to Tao in the future. We still have a lot in front of us but, now we have a good team and we all work well together. Thank you to all of you that have devoted your time and energy to so many projects here on the Osa. I think that we have definitely made a difference in the community and have moved forward with our goals. I hope you are all enjoying your weekend!
Peace inside!
Lana from the Luna

Thank you for your kind words. You made me cry
I think all of us have to be so proud of what we have accomplished. We started out with just a few women that had a vision, a passion and a love for where we live and together we have made great strides for the Osa. It wasn’t always easy, but we never gave up. Remember, a leader is only as good as the team and that is what makes the difference. We have such a special, passionate, hardworking, dedicated group of women in WOO. So, thanks to each one of YOU for making these past few years so meaningful and fun too! I especially want to thank Kim for all her work as Treasurer. That is not an easy job and she has a knack for always keeping things in order and organized and makes it look easy. She is now getting ready for her newest and one of the most difficult, but rewarding jobs - Mom I know that Kim will be wonderful in that position too! We have so much more to accomplish and I am proud to pass on the chair to Tao who will be and already is such a dedicated chairperson.
Lots of love,
Katie

“Ditto” everything that was said below…haha! To Katie and all
members of WOO: the way you manage to do everything that you do (and
still keep a smile on your face) is absolutely amazing and incredible.
Even at 23, I can hardly keep up! You are truly an inspiration to
me…and I thank you all!
Millay