Costa Rica Briefing Report

Though it is technically wintertime here in Costa Rica, the people are used to the Veranillo de San Juan (the little summer of San Juan), a short summer period that usually gives a break from all the rain for a few weeks in July.  In the hot sun of this veranillo the Project Staff waited outside the airport with giddy anticipation for the Volunteers to exit.  While they were still adjusting to the humidity, the Volunteers loaded the bus and headed directly to San Isidro de el General Pérez Zeledón, a three and a half hour bus ride from the airport.  We unloaded at our partnering agency, La Casa de la Juventud, and attacked our lunch of spaghetti, salad and refresco natural de piña (fresh pineapple juice).   Volunteer energy held up in between activities about country specific health and safety, lesson planning and a guest lecture from a Costa Rican university professor, and they still found time to play cards, volleyball, and sit around and get to know their partners from diverse backgrounds and parts of the U.S.  Briefing ended with a visit from an energetic dance instructor the night before the Volunteers left for their communities and a bustling farewell ceremony the following morning on the 4^th of July. La Casa de la Juventud was jam-packed with the Volunteers, the community members who had come to pick them up and even the local press which shot a ten minute television piece on the Volunteers and even interviewed a few of them.  The Project Staff members were amazed at the lack of homesickness as the beaming Volunteers headed out to the cars and buses provided by community members to take them to their new homes and begin their summer with AMIGOS.

 This year’s project is split into three equal parts, each given equal weight and importance, all reflecting the culmination and combination of all that we have learned in the previous three years of working with CASA.  The first of our three tasks will consist of a construction-type project planned and organized by the communities before the Volunteer’s arrival.  Volunteers will lend a hand in some basic construction projects ranging from painting schools, building classrooms, and laying tile on classroom floors to building aqueducts, building community centers, and improving the local health clinic’s facilities.

For the second task, Volunteers will team up with local youth to plan and execute campamentos, or day camp activities, for all the children in their communities.  Schools are on winter break here for the first two weeks in July, and Volunteers will take advantage of this time to work with the kids on educational and fun activities with topics ranging from basic health and sanitation to art and music.  Campamentos are not limited to children, however, and Volunteers and Project Staff are excited to get creative and organize community-wide initiatives to involve everyone in educational and fun topics such as first aid, dance, or even karate!

The third part of our project requires that everyone work together to plan, organize, and execute a project called a Community-Based Initiative (CBI).  Volunteers and community members will brainstorm ideas for small-scale projects that in the past have included community gardens in which food is grown and used for school lunches, murals, trash pick-ups and community beautification, and park benches.  While our budget for these projects is limited, volunteers and community members execute their own fundraising activities and utilize local resources to accomplish some incredibly creative and impressive projects.

Volunteers are adjusting to their new homes amazingly fast and are already underway with their projects.  Most have already held their first campamento meetings with their kids!