My Peace Corps Projects

1. Storm Recovery - Building Bridges
My first and most important project is the rebuilding of our town after the storm. I have spent most of the last few months with members of my town association and Comite de Emergencia going to meetings with the Municipality, Office of Public Works, Comision de Emergencia, etc. We meet with all these people and then I call and visit and email them until they respond. (Everyone in local government now knows me as the "Gringa muy necia.":)

The process has been very slow, and the main bridge in my town is still awaiting plans to be built.

This is the site where the main bridge in my town used to cross. Getting this rebuilt will be one of my main goals of the next 2 years.

Here I am helping measure another bridge that was washed away in the storm. In my town and the farms up the mountain a total of 8 bridges were lost.

This is the little bridge we now cross at the entrance to my town. The men in my town who have worked in New Jersey call this "the Verrazano."


2. Grupo de Mujeres
Herradura de Rivas has had a women's group for almost 20 years. During that time the women have attended many courses to learn baking, pastry-making, arts and crafts. They have also maintained an organic greenhouse in my town.

They are now ready for the first time to harness their knowledge and skills and start their own business. They want to open a cafe, bakery, and crafts shop in the town. This would be an incredible step because there is no other formal employment for women in my area.

In the last few months, I have been working with the women on a strategic planning process to plan the vision, design, and management of their business.

Here are the women at our first strategic planning meeting. If you look closely in the back you can see my chart paper where we analyzed "Resources, Accomplishments, Needs, and Dreams."

Here are some examples of the crafts the women would like to sell if they had a bakery and crafts shop.

Here we are testing out an oven that the women's group has on loan. The homemade bread they make is unbelievably delicious -- chocolate, banana, carrot, etc. One of the first investments the women must make is the purchase of their own oven.


3. Sustainable Tourism
A very important project all over Costa Rica and especially in my town is the development of sustainable tourism or "Ecotourism." My town is an absolutely gorgeous spot with incredible flora and fauna, a clear river, waterfalls, hot springs, and all types of rural community activities like coffee harvesting, horseback riding, and organic farming. So far, however, my town has been largely undiscovered by tourists.

Our main job now is to seek out the economic advantages of tourism while protecting the incredible natural resources of the town. Tourism could bring jobs and income to the people in my town who do not have work or who are forced to leave their families for menial labor jobs in the US. At the same time, preserving the natural environment by becoming an innovative "Sustainable Tourism" attraction is essential.

I am currently imagining all types of innovations like solar panels, recycling, composting, electric vehicles, no plastic bags or water bottles, etc., that could make our town a noteworthy and unique destination for ecotourists.

A beautiful view of the mountains and lush greenery in my town.

Here I am on a hike with the horses to deliver milk from a "lecheria" or milk farm. This could be a fun activity for tourists interested in rural community life.

Here we are in the hotsprings down the road from my town. Not a bad place for tourists to visit!


4. Grupo de Jovenes
One of the things I heard most in my house to house interviews was the need for productive recreation and occupation for the young people in my town. We are now in the process of starting an official Youth Group or "Grupo de Jovenes." The mission of this group will be to provide healthy recreational activities like sports (especially for girls), book clubs, movie nights, camps and intercambios (learning exchanges).

I am also talking with the young people about starting a youth business. Peace Corps works with a program called Junior Achievement that offers training in business skills to young people and even gives access to small amounts of credit. The young people in my town are very active and are interested in starting the town's first internet cafe or another new business that could give them a form of income now and skills and training for the future.

Here I am with a group of the high school students in my town. The high school they attend is about an hour away by bus and is shared by about 10 towns in the area.

Here are some of the young people in my town working on a project to repaint the pulperia (my family's store) after the tropical storm.


5. ESL (English as a Second Language)
One of the most valuable skills in Costa Rica today is the ability to speak English. While I did not want this to be the focus of my Peace Corps work, it is something extremely important for the town and something the community requests from me most. I have therefore started 2 English classes - one for children in the school and one in the evenings for adults and youth.

Here is a sign for my first community meeting of adults and youth interested in learning English. Peace Corps has an excellent agreement with Centro Cultural in San Jose that provides us with training and resources to offer an official English program in our town with a diploma from Centro Cultural.

Here are the kids at my school learning the alphabet in English. I am teaching kindergarten, 1-3 grade, and 4-6 grade - each 2 times a week. Though Costa Rica is pushing a big initiative to start English in the schools, our school has no English teacher. Lobbying for a more permanent English teacher will be another one of my projects.

As you can see, I am keeping myself quite busy, and I look forward to developing all of these projects in the next couple years. Suddenly 2 years seems much shorter than it did!

Natural Disaster - Costa Rica

On Thursday, May 29, Tropical Storm Alma hit Costa Rica and severely damaged my town. The river washed away major parts of the town center, our main road, and 8 bridges.

Here is the center of my town a few days after the storm. Behind the rubble you can see still standing the frame for our new Salon Comunal.

Here is our main road the morning before the storm.

Here is that same main road the day after the storm. The entire line of trees and grass and most of the road were washed away.

Here is that same road a week after the storm. Now it's an open river bed.

Here are the remains of the Evangelical Church.

And the main bridge that was smashed into 2 pieces. (You can see one cement part in the background)

And another bridge hit by a tree trunk. The river was strong enough to carry huge boulders, trees, and plots of land.

Here is the river the day of the storm. Normally the water is calm and crystal clear.

This is a video taken from my family's cabin (where we now live temporarily) the day of the storm. You can see the fierce river and if you look closely you will see the refrigerator and washing machine of the house of my host cousin washing away in the river.

Here I am in front of one of the many huge landslides blocking our roads. On this day I was doing a survey of the damage to send to the government. What a crazy experience this has been!! Wish us luck...

For a YouTube video of local news on the storm: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uo_VTrwYInM&feature=related

My New Community

I finally received my site assignment! I am going to live in a beautiful town in the mountains south of San Jose in a district called Pérez Zeledón. Last week I went to visit my new town for the first time.

Here is a picture of my new house, surrounded by a garden and flowers.

From the garden (with fishpond), you can sit on benches and look out over the town's soccer field.

Here is my host father and two host sisters (ages 17 and 1 year), watching the Sunday soccer game.

Here are the players, including my oldest host brother.

And here are my two host brothers (ages 22 and 15), with the baby sister.

Here I am taking a ride on my family's horse - a great way to get around town.

And here is the family's garden and greenhouse above our house.

My host parents love roses, and they grow gorgeous roses of all colors and sizes.

Behind the house is a beautiful mountain and tropical forest. The family has made trails through the forest for exploring.

All the plants are beautifully colorful and lush.

And some benches for resting in the shade.

From the top of my family's mountain, you can look way down and see the center of our town.

On my visit I climbed the mountain with my host father to help plant potatoes on the farm at the top.

Here is my host father with all the potatoes.

And here I am placing each seed in its place.

Later I snacked with some new friends on fresh honey from a beehive!

And on my last day I picked baskets of blackberries to sell in the farmer's market.

A final shot of the mountains of my town behind the blackberry bushes. I am very excited this will be my home for the next 2 years!

Dia de la Tierra

On Earth Day, my friend Tes and I led a community activity in our training town for the 4 to 6 graders at our school.

First the kids made posters about "Dia de la Tierra" and what it means to protect the environment.

Here is a poster with "Reducir, Reusar, Reciclar."

Here I am, providing some guidance.

And here's Tes, working with a group that made cut-outs of the globe.

Afterwards, the students posed with their posters on the wall of the school.


The posters were very creative.

Next, we led a big Trash Pickup competition at the school.

All the kids raced to collect the most garbage.

We also gave them plastic bags to protect their hands.

Here I am with one group and their trash bag.

In the end, Tes and I were very happy and took a moment to pose with the artwork.