Park and Playground

Greetings from Costa Rica! I hope that you are all doing well and surviving winter and the economic crisis. I am writing to tell you about a project that I am working on and to ask for your help.

I can’t believe that I have been in Costa Rica for over a year! I am really enjoying myself and very happy with my decision to be a Peace Corps Volunteer. Living in a rural Costa Rica, in a town of 300 people has turned out to not be as hard as I thought; I'm actually quite enjoying the farm life!

As I have written before, in the past year I went through 3 months of training, did a community analysis of my site by conducting interviews, started teaching English classes and am working with various community groups in Cristo Rey. In the past few months, I finally feel like I have a good idea of what the community’s priorities are and how I can help them achieve these goals. Thus, I can kind of picture how my final year and 2 months will play out. After all the surveying, one of the projects that the community of Cristo Rey is the most enthusiastic about (me too!) is the construction of a park and playground in the center of town.


I am currently working with a group of women who form the Comite Tutelar, a group formed last year to protect and promote the rights of children in the community. These women feel that the lack of safe recreational opportunities for the kids in the community is a major issue. And let me tell you, at least from an American perspective, there currently really isn't a place for kids to play--the few kids that have bikes ride them up and down the street, but the rest generally stay inside their homes.

Based upon the awesome work of these women, the local Catholic Church has generously donated a 20 x 20 meter piece of land right in the center of town. Our plan is to install the playground in the center, place benches on the outside and plant flowers and trees.


This park will make a huge difference in my community, not only for the kids, but for the whole town. It will not only be really pretty (my master gardener mother is helping research some of the best plants), but also extremely functional. My hope is that by working with the community and engaging the community in the building of the park, it becomes a point of pride for the whole community. Also, I am excited that the park will provide both kids and parents a healthy place to congregate and interact with one another. Even though the community is very small, it is still very common for the women and young kids to stay in their houses all day and have little interaction with their neighbors.

The women in the Comite Tutelar, and the community as a whole, are very excited and dedicated to this project, as am I. We can all picture what a difference it will make for the kids and the community.

The budget for this project is $5,000 and the community has committed to contributing 25% of expenses. Unfortunately, due to a number of reasons, raising the rest of the money in-country will be difficult (we don't have a title for the land, being one of many) and so, with Peace Corps approval, I am asking you, my friends, family, and friends of friends and family to help make a real difference in this community by donating to this project. Your contribution will be fully tax-deductible and you can do it online by visiting the Peace Corps website, http://www.peacecorps.gov/contribute. Once there, simply click on "Donate to Volunteer Projects", type in "515-153" to search for my project, and click submit (you may need to scroll down the page to see the project come up.) You can also see a more complete project description online if you are interested.

Please help Cristo Rey by donating to this project. I hear (through my NPR podcasts) that times are tough in the US with the economic crisis, but any amount that you can give, even $10 takes us a step closer to our goal. Also, we´re shooting to get started in May, before the rainy season starts, which means that I need to raise the money by the end of April. Again, anything that you can give will help a lot!

If you have any questions I am happy to send you more details or a complete project proposal. Also, please consider helping me even more by sending this to your friends and family who may not know me personally, but might be interested in helping build a playground! Everyone who donates will get playground construction updates (and serious thanks) from me!