Camino Claro Blog

Dear Raphel ,

Happy 26th birthday!

I hope you had a feliz día , even though I made you get out of the water for your “surprise cake party.” I hope you forgive me.

Sincerely, and with LOTS of love,

Haley

As you might remember from one of our posts back in May, the pending installation of the tuna farms in the Golfo Dulce continues to be a great threat to our home in many ways. Thus, the battle continues…

The Corrupt Tuna Project

Last June, MINAET (The Costa Rican Ministry of Environment) approved and granted most of the necessary permits for Granjas Atuneras, S.A. to install the destructive tuna farms in the Golfo Dulce. However, MINAET acted prematurely and suspiciously, as it was soon discovered that the permits were illegally issued. Business was conducted in violation of the Supreme Court’s decision to put the project on hold until ocean currents have been thoroughly studied and it has been established that fecal matter from the fish would indeed not enter the Golfo Dulce.

This study was recently completed and apparently it was altered in order to show the preferred results; that the ocean currents will not bring waste into the Gulf. This is, of course, ridiculous because it is common knowledge that our ocean currents go both ways and the prevailing winds are onshore, coming from the south and pushing the surface water into the gulf.

So, with the study results against us and the Ministry of Environment obviously working for bribes, Pavones’ community members have come together to form an official Anti-Tuna Farm Association, established at the beginning of this month.

Pavones Community Fights Corruption

The Anti-Tuna Farm Association represents the voice of all community members; locals, foreigners, and most importantly, the Guaymi Indigenous population. The Guaymi make up 60% of the voters in our district and they see the project as an invasion of their territory. The establishment of such a heterogeneous Association will allow us to more powerfully oppose Granjas Atuneras, S.A.

A few weeks ago I spoke with Vela Miles, one of the “movers and shakers” here in Pavones. She deserves many thanks for her hard work and dedication to the tuna project battle, but being a head member of the Anti-Tuna Farm Association is just one way she is invaluable to this community. Vela stated that now that the Association has legal status they are in the process of “asking the municipality of Golfito to approve the popular vote (plebiscito) in the district of Pavones. This allows Pavones to vote and voice their position. That is our constitutional right.” The municipality cannot install the tuna farms until Pavones votes on it.

As of now, the Association will continue to send letters to the municipality and work to educate this region on the negative affects of the Tuna Farms. The only thing preventing the installation of the Tuna Farms are the permits from the municipality. Although everything else has been approved, Pavones is still putting up a hard fight against the Granjas Atuneras.

ECC Student Speaks Out

All members- and all ages!- of the community will be affected by the impending tuna farms if it goes through. Below, 9-year-old ECC student, Leilani, voices her opinion about the impending tuna project: check out an excerpt of her very well-written (did I mention she is an ECC student?:) letter to Costa Rican President Oscar Arias.

“The other day I went surfing here in Pavones. It was such a beautiful day. The water was clear and pretty. I saw a manta ray jumping, a pelican diving in for his breakfast, and a sea turtle floating by. When I went under the water, I could hear the whales singing. Have you ever heard whales? They sing the most beautiful songs! As I came up from under the water, I had a terrible thought… Will there come a day when this Gulf that I love so much be so contaminated from the tuna farms that the manta rays will no longer jump? Will there be a day that the pelicans no longer come here to fish for their breakfast? Will there be a day that the turtles no longer want to lay their eggs on our beaches? Will there be a day when the whales no longer want to come and sing their sweet songs?
I hope with all my heart that this day will never come! This is why I am writing you today. I am asking you to please, please help us to stop the tuna farms from coming here!!! Please use all your power as president to stop this project from contaminating our beautiful Golfo Dulce.

Thank you for you time,
Leilani McGonagle
PS. I heard you recently were sick with Swine Flu. I hope you are feeling better!”

It’s never too late to make a donation to this important cause- EVERYTHING COUNTS. Thanks for your support,

Sincerely,
Raphel & Haley

Feria Multicultural

The design of every small village in Central America, it seems, is based on the central soccer field called the plaza. Even traveling through the tiniest of rural villages, I have always seen the plaza as the center of town activity. In Pavones, our plaza is the stage for not only weekend soccer games, but also elementary school P.E. activities, young children learning to ride their bikes without training wheels, late night hang-outs, as well as cloud-gazing and the general relaxation in the sun.

The multicultural fair that took place in Pavones last week was a brand new way to utilize our town square. It was a delightful celebration that sought to bring all parts of the community together and celebrate the multiculturalism of the Pavones area and, on a broader scale, Costa Rica as a whole.

Organized by the supervisor of the school district, each primary school was asked to research a different Costa Rican province, and then create an aesthetically pleasing booth with pictures, objects, and food from that area.  Additionally, the myriad of foreign residents that make up the semi-permanent population of Pavones showed up to represent their nation, thus, producing a bona fide multicultural event. There was even an appearance by the Guaymi to represent the nearby Indigenous Reservation and Pretoma, the Costa Rican ocean conservation group.

Below is the Puntarenas booth (Pavones’ province). Yes, we have a lot of bananas and coconuts here if you’ve never seen them before.

Some more regions represented: I was impressed by the creativity and color that went into the booths and extent to which they were thoughtfully organized.

Other activities that toom place were children’s art tables, speeches, marimba music, and dancing. Photos below: Baile Típico of Costa Rica and the Guaymi Indigenous.

Last but not least, allow me to introduce our NEW pre-kindergarten teacher, Lisa! She took our adorable pre-k class to the celebration, particularly fitting because this class is the most culturally diverse of all the ECC classes.

We’ll see you next year, as this will hopefully become an annual event!

Pictures: Lisa

Global Services Outreach Program (GSOP): Community service and cultural integration excursion for high school students.

Escuela Camino Claro’s pilot GSOP was a great success last year and we are thrilled to see another equally enthusiastic, open-minded, and motivated group of students again this year. Well into their three-week Central America adventure, the Kalapuya High School group from Eugene, Oregon has already accrued a multitude of new experiences; ones they will no doubt remember for the rest of their lives. These seven students have also already begun to immerse themselves in the community of Pavones and make some positive changes in our town.

The group’s itinerary is packed with lots of volunteer, outdoor, and community integration activities that will better our town while at the same time provide these teenagers with the opportunity to become integrated in other cultures. It’s a joy for us ECC teachers, as active members of Pavones, to help coordinate this program and witness cultural boundaries being broken!

What will they be doing here in Pavones?

The following are the primary activities the high school group will be involved in

Park Improvement Project: Landscaping, planting trees, and cleaning up the children’s playground area that was recently installed in Pavones’ center.

Guaymi Indigenous Reservation Homestay: Three nights with Guaymi families in the indigenous reservation located in the mountains outside of Pavones. Families are able to share their culture, generate income, and teach the high school students what rustic living really means (and we really mean rustic!).

Life Stories Series: Several notable members of the community, locals and foreigners alike, are invited to dine with the group and share their perspective on Pavones’ history and the changes taking place.

A Day in Colegio: Each student is paired with a local high school student and will accompany them for a half-day of school, including the bus ride and attending their classes.

Painting Escuela Camino Claro: Last year was outside, this year is inside (the group already finished and it looks GREAT, thank you!!!)

So let’s get started!

Put your heads together for the Park Improvement Project

The “Play” has already become the number one hangout for local kids- BUT, it is greatly in need of some changes. The group spent day one drawing maps and making plans for the work to come. Installing trash bins, gardening, building benches, and putting up tire swings turned out to be the top priorities, although there were lots of great ideas. It all sure brought back memories of elementary school recess (wall-ball, four-square, tether ball…remember?).

While planning, students consulted with head coordinator, Hadas, and created makeshift blueprints for the new and improved “Play”.

The next step was a bit of weeding and beautification of the walking path by adding stones and coconut shells.

Next was constructing benches: the hard part was trekking through the mud to gather logs for the bases. As you can see, it IS the beginning of the rainy season! Then the sun graced us with its presence during the building part and now they are ready to be painted tomorrow.

This is only the beginning…

So keep checking us out for more posts about the students’ progress as the next few weeks progress.

You can check out last year’s Kalapuya High School group on ECC’s website’s photo gallery.

Día de los Árboles

Who knew Costa Rica had a national tree day? Figures, considering 12% of the country is made up of National Parks and the tourism industry thrives off the rainforest and its diverse flora and fauna.

So here we are in Pavones, celebrating our bounty by sembrando árboles (planting trees) around the recently-installed playground! It was quite a spectacle last Monday, beginning with a parade leading from Pavones’ public grade school down the half mile path to the plaza in the center of town.

The children marched with signs, bearing seedlings in their arms and smiles on their faces (or where they just happy to be out of class and in the sun?). After a brief opening to reiterate the importance of Tree Day, they eagerly filled holes dug by a few parent volunteers and planted around 50 small trees and plants all around the newest addition to Pavones’ centro. Many members of the community also came to support the efforts and donate their small plants.

It was certainly a refreshing sight to witness so many young people get excited about planting trees and beautifying their town, which, inevitably, fosters a heightened respect for the environment. Indeed, the future is hopeful!

Escuela Camino Claro’s littlest ones got their hands dirty, literally: ECC’s pre-k teacher, Becky, with some of her class planting a palm tree.

Go, Raphel, Go!

It’s almost 10 pm on a Monday night. Eyelids are getting too heavy to look at the fluorescent computer screen much longer. Way past my bedtime, especially on a school night (notice fragmented sentences). Nevertheless, my lemongrass ginger tea and I are still perched on the living room couch finding humor in close-up pictures of Raphel playing soccer from last weekend. At the moment she is walking around the house in a tired haze too. Our conversation just went something like this:

Haley: Raphel, I’m putting a picture of you in the blog

Raphel: Blog? Oh, yeah, okay

Haley: Do you have any insightful quotes to include about your game?

Raphel: uuuhmm, “ECC teachers’ community involvement transcends the classroom.” (Then walks off to her room)

Haley: Wow, eloquent, well said. I think I should not be trying to do something requiring brain cells at this time of night. I’m losing it.

Run like the wind Raphel! Transcend the classroom! I am your biggest fan.

Anyway, too bad they lost… and good thing the waves were breaking on the other side of the soccer field (they only THOUGHT we were diligently watching the game!).

Anti-Tuna Farm Campaign Continues

Costa Rica’s first national rally held in Pavones on May 23^rd & 24^th

What an amazing event Pavones had the privilege of hosting a few weeks ago. The ¡No a las Granjas Atuneras! spirit was heavy in the air as hundreds of people joined Pavones residents in raising awareness and funds to halt the construction of tuna farms in the Golfo Dulce. It was a phenomenal success and, with a few more comparable fiestas, as well as increased signatures on Pretoma’s petition, newspaper articles, and press time, this exploitative project may actually be immobilized.

Pavones says NO

But first, a bit of political background…

Costa Rica’s Ministry of Environment (MINAET) has recently given the approval to Granjas Atuneras S.A. of Golfito to install tuna farms in the mouth of the Golfo Dulce. The tropical fjord is a pristine natural resource that is being threatened by this project. Fishing and tourism, the two economic strengths in the Golfo Dulce zone, will be gravely affected as well, just because some money-hungry individuals want to get rich harvesting and exporting tuna. Additionally, the project only has an 8-year life span (earning Granjas Atuneras 20 million a year!) until natural tuna stocks become exhausted. The Constitutional Court actually suspended the advancement of the project back in May 2007 because there was not enough evidence that this project would not pollute and destroy the gulf’s natural resources (duh- why wouldn’t it?!). Apparently MINAET has not heeded this suspension and the concerned communities are speaking out against any further action. Pavones is among these communities, demonstrated when we gathered more than 700 signatures for the anti-tuna farm letter that Pretoma, Costa Rica’s ocean conservation group, delivered to President Oscar Arias on May 28th. You can see their article covering the event by scrolling down to the links below.

Pavones proper only has a few hundred residents, so this high number of signatures should really tell you something about the general sentiment and passion for this issue.

Now, for some remarks on our delightful grass roots festival…

Children’s inspirational banner

¡Fiesta Fiesta! The best kind of party

Pavones has undoubtedly never experienced such community vigor and heated excitement as it did a few weeks ago. Granted, Escuela Camino Claro has only been here for a few years but everyone definitely agrees this was a first. After witnessing so many people join together with their knowledge, time, and energy (not to mention organizing and coordinating skills), I realize how proud I am to be a part of this diverse and special community. There seemed to be no dividing lines between Pavones’ locals, foreign residents, and surfer tourists as we all danced together to the live music and enjoyed the various activities during a sunny weekend in a remote corner of the world. Many members of the Guaymi indigenous group trekked into town from the reservation with their families to show their support.

¡De verdad, un día histórica para Pavones!

Pretoma’s presence at the festival was fundamental in spreading awareness to many parts of the community that otherwise would have stayed uninformed about the issue. Similarly, national press, including Tico Times and Repretel, were kept busy taking pictures and conducting interviews.

A team surf competition, a fashion show, an up-the-river boot race, garage and bake sales, children’s activities, and soccer games were some of the many events that took place at the festival. The ECC teachers failed to put together a team for the competition, but, needless to say, we were happy to help with trilingual signage (English, Spanish, and Guaymi!) and getting some of our students involved in the banner-painting project. This is obviously what we do best since, well, we are an English school, not a surf school. One of the most remarkable parts of the weekend, though, was the impressive lineup of music that got the whole town shaking. Indeed, a nice break from Reggaetón, as well as some cultural exposure than Pavones is not normally used to. Costa Rican marimba music, a bit of reggae, and San Jose’s Zege African percussion band with their incredible dancers were the highlights, as well as the traditional mariachi music and baile típico. I will never forget the look of amazement on people’s faces as they watched the beautiful, painted African dancers. It was a new, positive experience for many.

Close to home for two ECC teachers

After ECC’s Pura Vida Fundraiser last January, Raphel and I almost had an anxiety attack as soon as we heard the word “fundraiser” mentioned a few months ago. For those who don’t know about this annual Eugene, Oregon fundraiser and silent auction and that a large portion of ECC’s yearly expenses has been supported by it, feel free to check out the pictures on our website and the YOUTUBE video (links below).

So, did we want to be on the committee for the No a Las Granjas Atuneras Festival? Not at the moment, thanks- but we will definitely educate our students and get them involved as much as possible! After several Spanglish conversations on the topic and some artistic free time during class (art is a good stimulus for learning such things as colors), we arrived on the day of the Festival with manageable blood pressure and were able to enjoy the party from an outsider’s perspective. Knowing what it takes to plan and coordinate such an event, I have the utmost respect for everyone involved. Props to you all and thank you for bringing us all together! Sure, we don’t get a lot of live music or community/cultural events down here, but a few weeks ago I fell in love all over again with this magical place and all the people that coexist here. We must never take our lives here for granted because it may all change in the near future.

¡No a Las Granjas Atuneras!

Useful Links

• Pretoma’s website

www.pretoma.org   

• Pretoma’s article covering this event

www.pretoma.org/category/press-releases/

• ECC’s 2009 Pura Vida Fundraiser & Silent Auction PHOTO GALLERY

www.caminoclaro.org/photo-galleries/pura-vida-fundraiser.php

• ECC’s 2009 Pura Vida Fundraiser & Silent Auction YOUTUBE VIDEO

Part 1: www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8o4MYJqscQ

         Part 2: www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oDjMb5Vq5I    

Activities for everyone

The Green Team (Equipo Verde) kept everything tidy and promoted recycling

Something our town, and its sea wall, has surely never witnessed before: Fashion show!

The little ones strutting their stuff with Guaymi typical dress

Thank you Jessie Travis for your photos J

Now we can say we’ve successfully pulled of a bilingual and multicultural baby shower. Add that to ECC’s resume!

Figuring out how to explain the next baby shower game in two languages

Mama- to- be, Katie, shoveling cotton balls into a bowl with a blindfold on. Apparently this type of humor is cross-cultural.