School Garden-
One cool thing about Costa Rica is it’s awesome climate for growing foods. I personally have next to nothing experience with gardening, but I quickly realized that growing vegetables in Costa Rica is a breeze. This probably has to do with the tropical climate, nutrient packed and relatively new volcanic soil, and also an abundance of cow and chicken shit to use as fertilizer. The photo above I took from a green house I started with the school kids in my town it’s a couple months old (now the whole green house is full). The actual structure of the green house was already there but needed a few reparations because it had been abandoned five years ago when the ex-teacher retired and moved away. Unfortunately, the new teacher didn’t want to keep the garden in the curriculum for the kids. However, he was open to the idea if I worked with them. People my age from the town remember taking care of the garden being their best memories from their school days, and my goal is to bring that back.
We have planted tomatoes, lettuce, celery, green beans, radishes, carrots, beets, chilies, cucumbers, cilantro, and papaya trees outside of the green house. The kids love it so far, especially because now they eat the same vegtables they planted everyday during lunch. It’s a cool learning process for the kids (and me) and can stick with them for the rest of their lives. It’s also healthy; sadly the majority of the locals don’t grow much of their own veggies for consumption, especially ones with good nutritional value. Resulting, in the majority of meals being heavily rice and beans with sometimes eggs or meat but no veggies because they’re expensive to buy. This garden should change that problem at least in the school. The school’s cook likes the changes and is working with me as well; my hope is that she can keep it going when I leave to be something sustainable for the kids.
MOPT materials
If you have been keeping up with my blog, you might have heard me talk about some materials that MOPT (ministerio de obras publico y transporte) Ministry of public works and transportation) donated after I wrote a solicitation. Below are a couple pictures of the kids from the school in my town (one of two schools I teach English in). The first two pics are taken inside the old school room. You can notice cement (55 bags), wood, paint, a toilet, plywood and hardboard, and square metal bars for security on the windows. We’re in the process of remolding the school and kitchen. Community members that don’t have a salary-paying job (they only make money during the months of picking coffee) are doing the work and getting paid with a program I solicited from the Ministerio de trabajo (Ministry of work). So the project is pretty cool because its bringing a little extra money to families that could use it and when that’s complete, my goal is to get internet, some public phones and turn it into a computer center/library. But it’s a slow process, so I’m taking it one step at a time.
The next photo is of the same school kids after I gave a class on brushing their teeth. The supplies that they are holding were donated by Ashley Carl and the dentist office where she works, thanks again Ash, you’re awesome! In general, Costa Ricans consume copious amounts of sugar. With every meal instead of water they drink refesco, which is nothing more than sugar water. Costa Rica is also known for great coffee; unfortunately the locals will never be ably to taste the difference because they make their coffee extremely weak and very sugary. Needless to say most adults have lost their teeth and have dentures. Since I have given the lecture on teeth hygine the students in both schools now brush their teeth after lunch.
The other pics are of my buddy´s dog Rabito and of coffee I toasted.
