Tuesday, March 17, 2009

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!

Grupo de mujeres

Today we formed a women's group! This morning I was a little hesitant about how the meeting would go, and if we would have trouble electing the officers, but everything went smoothly. I had the women do a lot of brainstorming; to discuss the resources in the community, the necessities and then possible projects for the women's group. We only went off on a few tangents, which is quite an accomplishment!

In the end we had the elections (or discussion about who should be in which post) and it wasn't too difficult. The women would throw out names and that person would say whether she was willing to assume the post or not. The former director of the school was chosen as President, which is great because everyone respects her in the community, she is well educated and very organized.

All of the 23 women who showed up to the meeting seem pretty excited about forming the group and working together. We'll see what happens in the next few months!

On Wednesday, people from Costa Rica's equivalent of the 4-H are coming to meet with us, and hopefully help us with the legalization of the group and maybe with possible project ideas.

One year anniversary

I can't believe how fast time flies! Before signing up for the Peace Corps, I remember that one hesitation I had was about the time commitment. Could I really be away for 2 years? Now that I have been here for a year (though only 10 months in site, which means that I will be here for another year and 2 months) the two-year commitment seems not that big. And I begin to wonder if it is enough to complete all that I am doing in my community.


During training, everyone always said that the Peace Corps is a two-year program because they have found that development workers need at least that long to see progress in their work. I totally agree with that finding. After nine months in my community, things are just now really starting to pick up. This week I have a meeting every day of the week!


So I begin thinking, what did I do in my first 9 months here? The answer is: getting to know the community, its members and groups, and figuring out its needs. I guess it has taken me this long to feel really comfortable in the community and to figure out the different group dynamics etc. This past 9 months consisted of a lot of cafecitos while visiting the different houses, lots of sitting in on meetings of the community groups, and also lots of reading in my house.


I am excited about all the upcoming activities/projects in the year to come! Here are some things I will be working on:


Building a park and playground

Forming a Women's group

Teaching English in the elementary school

Working with the Junta de Educacion (School Board) to improve the school and maybe build a kindergarten classroom

Helping with the accounting and organization of the community bank

Helping out with the new night high school

Starting a community garden at the school


And who knows what else might come up!


Thursday, March 5, 2009

The Nuts and Bolts

As my first blog post, I thought I would share the three goals of the Peace Corps and the goals of my program, Rural Community Development. As you can see, this blog fulfills goal number 3!


Peace Corps Goals:

Goal 1: To help the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women

Goal 2: To help promote a better understanding of the American people on the part of the peoples served

Goal 3: To help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of the American people.

Rural Community Development:

Residents of small rural Costa Rican communities will experience improved quality of life through improved organizational development and increased engagement in educational opportunities (or educational enrichment).

Organizational Development: Local Development Associations and community groups will improve skills and practices in organizational management to plan, organize, lead and obtain and coordinate resources to meet community development priorities.

Objectives include: Planning, Organizing, Leadership, Coordinating/managing financial resources, Fundraising and Proposal Writing

Educational Development: Rural community members will expand activities and improve resources to increase access to and quality of educational opportunities.

Objectives include: Strengthening English Skills, Organizing Extra-Curricular Activities, Improving Educational Resources, and Expanding Vocational Education.

Monday, March 2, 2009

My first post

Hello readers!

I am trying out this new technology (my first blog post ever!) while I am sitting at a Pizza Hut in Ciudad Quesada. It has wireless internet!

This past weekend we had our 1-year anniversary of being in Costa Rica. I really can't believe that I have been here that long, and that I haven't been to the US in over a year. I am really enjoying my life here as a Rural Community Development volunteer, and hopefully through this blog I will be able to share a bit more of my life with all of you.

Well, I have to run to catch a bus to my site.