Students at the Newtown Primary School on the island of Dominica with some of the 10 boxes of books donated by Hands supporters. Thank you!

• Unpacked the 10 boxes of donated children's books that arrived for Newtown Primary School.
• Built and painted 12 bookcases — one for each classroom at the school.
• Sorted and distributed books to the classrooms.
• Watched while excited students have clustered around their classroom bookcases to

Dominica, known as the "nature isle" of the Caribbean, has lush rainforests, abundant waterfalls, and awesome scuba diving

find a good book to read!
• Tutored remedial readers, substitute taught, and read aloud to the students when teachers were attending teacher-training courses.
• Provided U.S. $560 in seed money to build a playground at Goodwill Primary — a school with 750 students but no playground.
• Been warmly welcomed by some wonderful people on Dominica!

In our last Hands Log in December, 2008, we were on the island of Nevis, where we visited the Special Education School. After we left, the school received a shipment of books collected by Hands Across the Sea supporters and shipped courtesy of Boaters for Books and Tropical Shipping. Another sailing yacht, Catalyst, with Sue

Newtown Primary School principal Jerry Coipel helped us sand and paint bookshelves over several weekends

and Rob aboard, who had heard about the Special Education School from Kathy Oberle of Boaters for Books, visited the school and made a donation to support some hungry students being cared for by a foster father. We are grateful that the word has spread about this wonderful school.

From Nevis we sailed to Antigua to make some equipment repairs, catch up with friends, and ogle the "megayacht" (private yachts over 100 feet) scene around English and Falmouth Harbours. We met up with old friends Beth and Evans on Hawk, who had sailed

TL constructed a dozen bookshelves with supervision from very enthusiastic schoolkids

3,900 miles from St. Helena in the South Atlantic; Caribbean 1500 friends on Althea, Jadimean, Ostinato, Stray Kitty, and Honeymoon, and made new friends on Blue Heron and Belle Brise. There's tremendous maritime and colonial era history in Antigua. Nelson's Dockyard in English Harbour is a beautifully restored British naval shipyard from the 1700s; walking along the ridge between the two harbors takes you by ruins of ancient sentry posts. It's easy to imagine a sweaty soldier on duty scanning the horizon for French ships 250 years ago. Modern cruising yachts now tie up stern-to along the dockyard walls — it's very entertaining to stroll around the perimeter of the waterfront looking at the boats.

Falmouth Harbour is home to the megayacht scene. We saw Maltese Falcon, Tom Perkins' (of Kleiner Perkins VC firm fame) yacht, and others almost as large. A sign of status for today's super rich is owning a yacht with masts so high that you need red lights at the top at night to warn aircraft! Ashore at Antigua Yacht Club, there's quite the European café scene with a contingent of Italians sipping espresso at tiny tables. The waitresses wear t-shirts that read: "Heaven is a place where the police

Harriet, along with Betsy from the sailing yacht Belair, substitute-taught a 3rd grade class at Newtown Primary

are British, the mechanics are German, the cooks are Italian, the lovers are French, and it's all organized by the Swiss." There's also a large group of twenty somethings who work as crew on the yachts, cleaning, scrubbing and polishing by day in their uniforms and then partying at night in the bars.

From Antigua we sailed south to Dominica with a brief overnight stop in Guadeloupe (we did not go ashore on this French island due to civil unrest). After a boisterous sail across the channel between the islands, we motored down the west coast of Dominica and encountered showers, rainbows, and waterfalls tumbling from the rainforest. There were four cruise ships anchored off the Roseau waterfront, and we settled onto a mooring.

A special day celebrating Carnival was great fun for the students

We spent the next five weeks volunteering at our adopted school, Newtown Primary, a school with 247 students in grades K through 6. We arrived just in time for the arrival of 10 boxes of children's books we had collected in Massachusetts. After leaving Massachusetts, the books travelled to Punta Gorda, Florida, where they were checked and repacked (if necessary) by Boaters for Books, which then shipped the books via Tropical Shipping to our adopted schools on Nevis, Union Island, and Dominica. We were fortunate to be here on the island when our books arrived and along with Solange Payne, the French teacher at the school, we attended a "handing over ceremony" at the Dominica Lions club. A huge thank you to Boaters for Books and the Lions Club for generous logistical assistance.

At Newtown Primary, Harriet tutored remedial readers, cleaned the teachers' resources room, unpacked and sorted the books, and substitute taught on a few occasions. She was thankful to have Betsy Baillie from the sailing yacht Belair with her on one Friday as we tried to teach and tame some energetic third graders. We were rewarded with hugs at the end of the day.

Meanwhile, TL purchased lumber and supplies to construct 12 bookcases, one for each classroom at the school. Building bookcases was a team effort over several weeks and weekends. We enlisted help from the principal, Jerry Coipel, and 5th former (10th grader) Jonel Lawrence, who signed on as part of his required community service hours. TL designed, hand sawed, and managed assembly of the bookcases. We received sanding and painting help from cruisers Jim and Katie Thomsen on the yacht Tenaya. The real joy has been seeing the students and teachers cluster around their

Harriet gets a hug from Ekane, a 3rd grader

bookcases looking for good books to read. The teachers have new books to read aloud and students have a variety of books to choose from when it's time for silent reading. TL, inspired by the energy of the schoolkids, chose bright Caribbean colors for the bookshelves. Thank you to everyone who donated books and made a cash contribution to Hands Across the Sea. We were fortunate to witness what your contributions mean to these students — and we've been amply rewarded in hugs.

Additional support came from the sailing family on the catamaran Stray Kitty, who donated books to the school and had the pleasure of handing them over in person. In addition, the Lewis family of Maine sailed into town on their chartered catamaran and saw firsthand what their cash donation had accomplished. They brought along a LeapFrog LeapPad interactive learning tool to pass on to some excited children.

Solange Payne, Newtown Primary's highly dedicated French teacher

We are grateful for the warm welcome from Solange Payne, the school's French teacher, who we assisted with resources; her principal, Jerry Coipel; the teachers at Newtown Primary and the Southern District Education officer, Marylise Titre. Solange has taken good care of us, introduced us to her family and friends, and made sure we got a great view of the Carnival parades. Our next dispatch will highlight our new Dominica projects, including the new playground at Goodwill Primary.

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 3% 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 the teachers' wish lists and to any shipping costs. If you wish to donate books, please contact us for detailed 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 where it makes a difference - to the children, teachers, and schools who need it. —T.L. and Harriet