Keep on Trucking!!!!

 

I know I wait so long between posts but time is truly flying! I can’t believe that in 8 months I will be back in New York, but I have truly missed home and all my friends & family.  In the meantime there is still much work left to be done.  The past couple months have been a little bit crazy (in terms of the slow lifestyle I have adapted to lol).  Since my last post I’ve had a couple salient events that have been a set back in my project plans but have managed to motivate me even more.  After my camp in July I took my own vacation to Barbados to see my mommy!!!! And that was wonderful, I was also able to spend time with my best friend, uncle, cousins, & other friends and family that were able to come out.  I realized at the end of my vacation how much I have grown since I last saw my mom & friends.  My first vacation it was so hard for me to come back and leaving my mom and watching everyone resume their lives was a difficult process for me.  This time I came back to Costa Rica and  when I arrived in my apartment I actually felt like I came back “home'”.  It was nice to feel like I am truly integrated in my community and can call Matina another home.   At the same time I came back to madness lol. 

Two days after I left for vacation there was a major flood in my town.  Many people lost there homes & property and 6 people lost their lives.  Since I was out of town, I heard of the flood via Facebook, and immediately called one of my friends in town to find out the what happened.  Due to heavy rains & storms, the river flooded and the dam, which was built many years ago, broke at several points and flooded the town.  This flood was apparently one the worst floods in the history of Matina.  Initially I feared my apartment was flooded and all belongings were floating around in water and mud.  Thankfully my apartment is a bit elevated and the water did not enter into my home.  When I returned to my community after vacation I was very saddened and my heart heavy to see the damages that occurred and to hear what people went through.  The flood also affected my work. My community partners who were helping to coordinate the ALA camp had to pull out at the last minute due to their own personal issues that resulted from the flood. The Matina river runs directly in front of the high school therefore it received a great deal of damage as well.  Classrooms were ruined, school materials were lost (desks, chairs, computers, books) the basketball court, as well as some of the materials I brought from the grant we received to repair the court.

At first I felt so overwhelmed about what to do but was encouraged by the heart and positivity of my community members.  As soon as I came back my ADI (Community Association) approached me and said no matter what we were going to finish this project and that was all I needed to hear.  Before the flood they planned a Bingo to raise money to pay for the manual labor, I thought they would cancel; instead they decided to reschedule and it was such a success.  I never felt more proud of my town then in that moment.  We worked together and were able to raise 3/4 of the funds needed for the manual labor!  We used the funds raised and the rest of the grant money that was meant to buy the backboard and hoops to buy some of the materials lost in the flood so that we could start  to work on the court.  I am so thankful that were were able to at least repair the main infrastructure because on Sept. 5th there was a 7.9 earthquake.  If we had not done the little bit of work we did before this earthquake the whole court would have collapsed.  Although we started the repairs we are not able to finish without buying the rest of the materials needed.  Since many people are still trying to recoup from the flood fundraising within my town is very difficult.  Therefore our best chance is donations.  This is where you come in!!! Below I have posted a link with the address to the Peace Corps website where you can donate to my project.  I have also put together pictures and a video of the flood. 

I know I mentioned the earthquake like it was nothing but it was one the most frightening moments of my life. I was sleeping and violently shaken out of my bed because my apartment was swaying back and forth!  Thankful once again to the big guy above that there were no damages and everyone was safe.

Needless to say there were some big events that went down in these last 2 months.  Yet I am still going, moving forward with positivity and motivation that we will get things done.  Every moment has been a blessing and the trials a test and I will not fail. I  am still planning on doing my ALA camp but I have decide to change the venue and work with the new Peace Corps volunteers in my area to make it bigger and better!  Big thanks to all my supporters, friends, and family for being such a huge encouragement. 

(UPDATE: As I was about to post this blog and put in the link to for donations I found out my project has been fully funded.  Since I posted the link 3 days ago on Facebook, friends and family have already donated all the funds needed, allowing me to reach my goal!!!! So happy )

Till next time, Abrazos

 

The entrance of the high school/ all the chairs and desks that were destroyed

The basketball court

A houses that were destroyed

Inside my friend’s home/ A visitor from the flood water

The main road (It was just newly paved about 9 months ago)

On My Grind!

I know it has been awhile therefore I was determined to get this post out tonight, while everything is still fresh in my mind.  Since my last post I have been quite busy to my own surprise.  In May I finished up my MST (Mid-Service Training) for Peace Corps and left feeling motivated and full of ideas.  MST is just a training where you get together with fellow volunteers from your training group to share ideas & projects that you have been working on.  Seeing projects that other volunteers are working on in their communities gave me lots of ideas of possible projects I could do within my community.  So since May I have added a couple of projects to my work plan which includes 2 camps, 1 which I just finished up this past week, and  starting a recycling program within the elementary school.

This past Friday was the last day of a week long Art, Sports, & Recreation day camp that I planned and coordinated.  The camp was for children between the ages of 6-13, and consisted of 2 days of Art & Crafts activities and 3 days of Sports & Recreation.  For the the arts portion of the camp we did animal bean bags, pipe cleaners rings & flowers, god's eye lanyard, rock painting, coloring, drawing & origami.  The sports activities included ultimate Frisbee, volleyball & soccer along which recreational games such as amoeba tag, water balloon fights, dragon race, & other games.  In retrospect it was a great experience and I am proud of myself for doing it but I will NEVER do it again lol.  I personally put a lot of work into planning this camp from choosing the art activities, soliciting volunteers from the local high school, putting together fliers, buying materials, to going around to every single class at both elementary schools to announce to the camp.  Initially I gave out permission  slips and asked they be signed & returned before the start of the camp but I knew that getting them back was going to be like pulling teeth.  This made it difficult to plan how many students would be participating but I decided not to stress and see how many came.  I had 8 volunteers from the local high school helping me out as camp counselors for their required community service.  Although they were supposed to be my support sometimes they drove me more crazy than the little kids.  The first day of camp I arrived at the local library expecting 50 kids to show up!  I was a bit ambitious and found myself disappointed when only 11 came.  This sentiment quickly faded though when I saw the kids doing there art projects and having fun.  In the end I had an average of 20 kids for the week and in my eyes the camp was a success.  The kids that came enjoyed themselves and had something fun to do during their school break .  

Now that I have 1 camp done I am in the process of applying for a grant to fund materials for another camp in October.  This camp will be for older youth between 15-22 yrs old and will focus on environmental education.  The program is called ALA and consist of 5 workshops with a concentration on environmental themes such as water, soil & climate.  The youth participating in the camp will have to create a multimedia project that centers on at least 1 of themes from the workshops.  Afterwards they will participate in camping trip to the shores of Matina where they will take part in another series of workshops and activities that focus on reforestation & cleaning the beach.  I will be coordinating and facilitating the activities of this program with local eco-tourism group.  I am still in the early planning stages and hopefully the project will be a success.  If I am able to obtain the funds it will be used to buy materials such as tents and food since the area will the camp will be is not equipped with electricity or lodging.  

So these are a couple a new projects that I am working on as well as my current projects (English class, volleyball teams, building 2 courts).  I wanted to make a point of focusing on my work in this blog entry because sometimes its hard for me to explain what I do.  I have been at my site for over a year now and there are some people who I see everyday and they still don't understand what my job is or what is my purpose in the community.  One thing I can appreciate about being a volunteer is that I don't have a conventional "job".  My time here and the work I do is whatever I make of it.  It is not often you have the opportunity to have the freedom to design and implement your own projects, your own ideas & concepts.  And  for me it is  so rewarding seeing them become a reality.  Obviously I cant do everything alone and my community has been very supportive as well as friends & family back home, and for that I am grateful.  As I begin my countdown, (10 months left!) I hope that when my time is up I have achieved the goals that I set and in the process build lasting impactful relationships that will create memories well beyond my years.  

That's all for now, Below is a link for some pics.  Thanks for reading :-)

Picasa Album (Work)

A Long Time Coming….

 

Ok, so I know an update has been long overdue but in my defense I didn’t have much to write during the holidays and then all of a sudden I got so busy I didn’t have time to write.  Sad excuse but here I am full of news.

Since my last entry ended with the arrival my mother I will start there.  My mom came to visit me in November and I was so excited to see her and made sure we had plenty to do for the week she was here.  She was a real trooper and took the 4 hr bus rides to Manuel Antonio, where we visited the National Park.  The park is filled with many animals and reptiles including white face monkeys, raccoons, frogs, and snakes that live in Costa Rica and also has 3 beaches which we took advantage of.   I was also able to show her my site here in Matina, Limon so she got a first hand view of my daily life in Costa Rica.  Afterwards we both headed to out to the states and visited the West Coast.  It was my first time on the West Coast and I had a ball.  But like all things in life my wonderful vacation had come to an end and it was time to head back to CR.

When I first got back after vacation I found it very difficult to readjust.  Since December & January is “summertime”, school was about to be finished for the year, which meant not a lot of work for me to do.  Plus most of teachers that work in the school, who also became my friends, don’t live in my town I began to feel a little lonely.  Most of my fellow PCV were starting their vacation and were out of the country so the holiday season became a little depressing but dark clouds do pass and I found the bright side of all that free time; playing dominoes with my neighbors!  This was very helpful to my integration and really gave me a chance to learn about my community as well as giving them the opportunity to learn more about me. 

With the new  year beginning I felt motivated and ready to start on projects so I hit the ground running and it paid off.  I started working with the president of my local Community Development Association and put together a proposal to fix the recreational area located within the local high school.  While working with the kids in my English class I discovered their interest in learning and playing other sports other than soccer but due to the lack of recreational areas, youth within my community were left with minimal options.  So I decided to start with the local learning institutions by create a basketball and volleyball team for students.  Since the high school already had the basic infrastructure of a court that was previously built, but in very bad condition due to damages from a flood several years ago, I chose to start there .   So in February I applied for a grant from a organization called World Connect to pay for the materials needed to reconstruct the court and turn it into a multiuse court for basketball, volleyball & soccer.  Last week I found out my project was fully funded!  I am very excited about this project and working with my community to get the manual labor to begin reconstructing the court. 

As part of my project I am working with the Physical Ed teachers to create a basketball and volleyball team.  Initially I was seeking more of a partnership with the teachers but quickly found out they expected me to do the lessons on my own and would support me by providing equipment and a group of students to work with.  Thank god for Youtube which I have been using a guide to learn and teach volleyball.   My goal is to have a semi-official team by August/Sept. of this year.  I am also working with a group of girls at the local elementary school since I plan to have a court built there as well. Unlike the high school the elementary school does not have a current court and it would need to be built from scratch.  I have already put together a grant proposal from a program called Courts 4 Kids and I am working on finding other financial resources to aid in building an Olympic size multiuse court.  If would like to support my project please check out the Courts 4 Kids  website.

This month also marks my one year anniversary in my site and I cant believe time has passed so quickly.  I can truly say that I am enjoying my time here and really enthusiastic about the work I am doing.  Having the opportunity to create my own programs and watch them come to life is a very gratifying experience.  I will put up a separate blog with some photos.  I promise to update again soon and not wait such a long time between blogs.  Thanks for following me & all the support .