Two volunteers from Norway

The two wonderful volunteers have been here for nearly four months. They have been, and continue to be, a great help around here, helping out in every part of the activities. They were happy to write up a brief description of themselves, and those paragraphs are included here, just as they wrote them.

Ladies and gentlemen, meet... Maja and Mina:

“Maja Marum Anderson, born in 1987 in Kristiansand, Norway. I studied for three years at a music school in Norway, and I love to sing. I also took a year of religion and language studies at the University of Oslo. That’s where I first started taking interest in Spanish, then fell in love with the language, and decided I needed to travel and live for a while in a Spanish-speaking country. I am (at least I thought I was) a city girl, and my mind was set on Buenas Aires, Argentina. Mina had been to Puerto Viejo before, and had to go back, so we compromised: 4½ months in PV, 4½ months in Argentina. We started browsing the internet for volunteer work, and it was actually Mina’s mom that discovered The Bridge. Barry and Nanci’s dedicated work sounded like something we really wanted to be a part of. A few emails exchanged, and we were suddenly on our way to Costa Rica! Now, three months have passed, and I find it so hard just even thinking about leaving The Bridge, and this town. Now I’m not sure if I am a city girl after all.”

“Mina Malum Norstroem, born in 1984 in Kongsvinger, Norway. I’ve always liked to travel and international questions have always interested me. Therefore I started to study international development after I finished high school. This study programme gave me the chance live 4 months in East Africa, and it inspired me to move to Nicaragua for 5 months last year. During my stay in Nicaragua, I visited Puerto Viejo and knew that I had to come back and live here for a longer period. Now that we’ve been here for three months I lknow that I need to stay even longer. I hope to be able to come back to Puerto Viejo and The Bridge next year. “

These ladies are EVERYwhere! Along with serving soup at the Community Kitchen, they've been: chopping vegetables, making up a thermonuclear concoction called “chilero”, a spicy tidbit “relished” by the locals (Panamanian chiles, used in the brew, are hot enough to be VERY uncomfortable), and helping in the kitchen for our various holiday celebrations.

We’ll really be missing them when they leave! And, we’ll be overjoyed when they return!

Thank you both for your service to The Bridge!

(Taken from the December 22, 2007 newsletter)