Special Education Coordinator Andrea Bussue, left, accepts the teaching materials from Hands Across the Sea during the official handover ceremony at the Special Education School

Nevis Special Education students perform during the 2008 Christmas Program

We are excited to be back in warm Caribbean waters for the winter, and also to visit the schools we "adopted" last season in our Caribbean Literacy and School Support (CLASS) program. This week we visited the Special Education School on the island of Nevis just before they closed for the school holidays. The TV, DVD player, rolling cart, LeapPad items, and learning resources contributed by Hands donors were prominently displayed in the courtyard for the benefit of the local TV station as they filmed a formal "handing over ceremony" led by the Special Education Coordinator, Andrea Bussue and attended by the teachers and students. We are grateful to all the Hands donors who made this gift possible, and it was wonderful to see the outcome of Hands donors' efforts. Later in the week, we met with the teachers to create a list of resources that the Keith Middle School (New Bedford, MA) 8th graders can make in their art and sewing classes for the Special

The Nevis Special Special Education School has a front-row seat under cloud-topped Mt. Nevis, the island's dramatic (but dormant) volcano

Education students as part of a community service project this winter. We also attended a delightful Christmas program -- the students sang, danced, drummed, and recited poems before Santa arrived with a gift for each child. While special education students tend to be placed in mainstream classrooms in the U.S., it's clear that here on Nevis, these children were thriving being together in one school to develop skills to the best of their abilities.

After the Christmas holidays we'll sail to Union Island in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and to Roseau, on the island nation of Dominica, to visit the two other schools we adopted and see how they are using the donated resources. We hope to stay a while in Dominica and find additional schools to help. The Commonwealth of Dominica is the most struggling of the economies we have encountered in the Windward and Leeward Islands, and we believe there's a lot more we can do there. Many of these islands are dealing with high unemployment and increasing crime rates, and supporting education is one way to improve the prospects of future generations. The teachers we met are dedicated and devoted to their schools -- and they need more teaching resources than their governments currently provide.

We so appreciate everyone who has supported Hands Across the Sea, Inc., in 2008 with cash donations, donations of books and learning resources for the special education children, and support for the Hands crew in the form of moorings, borrowed cars, rides to the supermarket, and mail-drop sites. We wish everyone a joyful and safe holiday season and a 2009 filled with friendship and love.

If you'd like to help schools and make a tax-deductible contribution to Hands Across the Sea, Inc., we'd be thrilled. We are an IRS-registered, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and we will furnish a receipt for your tax return. Your donation can be any amount, either via credit card on the Donate page of our website (using the secure PayPal service, which deducts a 1.9% to 2.9% charge off the final amount we receive), or by mailing a check to our Florida mail-forwarding address. One hundred percent of your donation goes to teachers' wish lists and shipping costs. If you want to donate books, please contact us for instructions. The Hands crew is unsalaried -- we donate all of our time and we pay for all of our living and boat upkeep/upgrade expenses out of our own pocket. Your entire gift goes to the children, teachers, and schools who need it most. —T.L. and Harriet