Camino Claro Blog

2^nd Annual GSOP High School Program

Two action-packed months have passed and it is definitely time for another ECC Newsletter. June has been our busiest month so far this year and we have lots of exciting things to share with our supporters.

First, this month welcomed ECC’s 2009 highlight as we hosted our 2^nd annual Global Services Outreach Program (GSOP). GSOP is ECC’s cultural integration and community service program for American high school students. Students are invited to come to Pavones with an open mind and experience the unique and diverse culture of our little town. Their visit was comprised of the following activities:

Art and Community Service Projects

The group from Kalapuya High School in Eugene, OR kicked off their community service work by painting the inside of Escuela Camino Claro. It looks beautiful and I can’t resist including a little excerpt from a Thank You letter written by one of our 7-year old ESL students:

Thank you for painting the school.

It looks beautiful and nice.

I like the color yellow. Hakuna Matata.

Please paint my house.

After painting our building, the students worked on a park improvement project for the next two weeks. A playground was recently built in the center of Pavones and though it is all the craze among the kids it was in need of a few aesthetic improvements. Under the guidance of Hadas Barkan, our dear friend and one of Pavones’ most talented artists/teachers/volunteers, Kalapuya students worked VERY hard making changes. They spent many hours beautifying the park area as well as building, designing, and painting benches to provide seating in the park for the community! The benches look beautiful and we are so grateful to the students for making what was just a playground placed in an empty lot into a truly community space.

Guaymi Indigenous Reservations Home-stay

During the second weekend of their stay, the students hiked 2 hours along the beach for a 3-night home-stay at the Guaymi Indigenous Reservation. The students braved torrential rains, encounters with poisonous snakes, ravenous mosquitoes, and humble portions of rice and beans while learning first-hand about the Guaymi culture and lifestyle.

Life Stories Series

Members of the community were invited to share a meal and their life stories with the group. Students were able to see the Pavones from the perspective of a variety of community members, all who offered a unique perspective on daily life, development, and changes in Pavones.

Between the park improvement project, Guaymi visit, beach clean-ups, a visit to the local high school, evening local speakers, the Kalapuya students had a packed schedule during their three weeks in Pavones. Of course they still found time to enjoy the beach, try a hand at surfing, and mingle with local peers. I was really impressed with how well these students immersed themselves in the culture and formed friendships with many locals. It was a great experience for all!

Recycling in Pavones

One of our other accomplishments these past two months was our first successful community recycle pick-up. Over the years several Pavones community members have made whole-hearted attempts to organize a sustainable recycling system. These efforts eventually failed due to location and lack of participation and organization.

Determined to try again, Haley and I have been working with Lili, the owner of one of the most beautiful rustic hotels in Pavones, Mira Olas, to implement a recycling system. Due to Pavones’ remote location and pot-hole ridden gravel roads strewn with precarious wooden bridges, it is a challenge in itself just to convince the recycling truck to make the trek out to our small town. The truck will make the laborious trip if we can promise a worthwhile amount of recycling, which it is difficult to estimate considering we are just starting this project and are only accepting a few items such as aluminum cans, plastic beverage bottles, and glass.

A week before the scheduled pick-up, black plastic bags and overflowing cardboard boxes had piled up along the side of Escuela Camino Claro. It may be a small beginning but we are determined to make it a success. Though it is not ideal to have our building serve as a recycling center, we will continue to host the community’s “trash” until a sustainable recycling center can be built in Pavones.

All work and no play… well, you know the rest

In the midst of all of these activities, Haley and I continued teaching our classes and managing ECC. We found time to work on a mural at the local public school with Hadas, participate in the Anti-Tuna Farm Celebration (all in the blog!), and, of course, log some hours enjoying the sun and surf. A little exhausted, we are presently welcoming our two-week vacation and have both taken a short hiatus from Pavones. Such success and excitement calls for a little breather! Thank you to all who helped make each of the past two months possible. We are so grateful.

As I decompress for these next two weeks, I like to remember the words of my 7-year old students in order to help me relax and enjoy each present moment…

Hakuna Matata. Please paint my house!

Raphel

We got ourselves some hard-workers!

It’s been a jam-packed few weeks for the Kalapuya High School group and it’s not even over yet. We’ve sure been busy keeping them busy with projects, excursions, and lots of fun activities. So busy, in fact, that I run the risk of another long-winded post (big surprise, eh?).

The main community service project has been painting benches and landscaping the new playground (more on that later), but while the paint is drying and the shovels and wheelbarrows are put aside, here’s a taste of what they’ve been up to.

Colegio Visit

This was definitely a first for everyone involved. Kalapuya High School students were each paired with a Pavones local to attend their high school for half a day. It was mind-opening, they reported, to witness such striking differences between their liberal, alternative high school in Eugene, Oregon and Comte’s 7^th-12^th grade colegio; a vastly different system of education. Start with an hour and a half bumpy bus ride at 5:30 am, and then add the lack of polyester uniforms, the language barrier, and the general disorientation, it was quite challenging for the seven high school students, some of whom said, “It was pretty chaotic and the teachers didn’t seem to have any control over their classes. Everyone was talking and playing in the halls,” and “The fence around the whole school made it feel like a jail!” While trying to ignore questioning stares from local students, the visitors sat in on a few classes and played foosball in the courtyard, returning to Pavones relieved and with a newfound appreciation for their school.

Beach Cleanup

…is always successful here because, well, there is SO MUCH of it! Not to mention that the sight of a group of foreigners cleaning up garbage on the beach sets an example for the community, especially our ECC students. This community service activity goes hand in hand with our increasing efforts to create a sustainable recycle system for Pavones and surrounding areas. Fostering awareness for recycling and waste management has been a goal of ECC’s for the past few years and hopefully Kalapuya groups in the future will take part in building Pavones’ first recycle center.

Left- Do some of these people look out of place? Playing foosball at the Comte Colegio

Right- I told you we had some hard-workers: they covered about two miles of beach during the garbage cleanup.

What’s a trip to Costa Rica without some outdoor fun?

Taking advantage of “outdoor playground,” as my friend, Amy, most aptly calls our home, the students also have been surfing, swimming fishing and relaxing on the beach in their free time. The balance of work and play makes the trip a blast and meaningful at the same time.

Left- River walk up the Rio Claro

Right- Dorado for dinner!

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.