Costa Rica Service Trip 2015
March 13, 2015
The Costa Rica crew of 20 students (including three students from Riverview High who blended well with the Chargers) tore down a corrugated tin wall and worked hard to prepare and lay the foundation for a cement block wall to replace it. This entailed digging a trench some 25' long about 16" deep and about 10" wide through hard-packed soil studded with rocks and roots. With the ditch dug, some members of the Service Week group shaped rebar while others lugged sand, gravel, and cement and then mixed the ingredients manually in relatively small batches to fill in the ditch and hold the rebar in place. They were disappointed not to be able actually to build the replacement wall, but time moves a little more slowly in Latin America, and another group will build on their foundation.
Other members of the group prepared and planted a garden at a pedestrian intersection to add color and life. On a rotating basis, students spent time with the youngest members of the La Carpio community - the pre-schoolers and kindergarteners who attend the daycare center that is our base.
Shorecrest volunteers were able to take some local children for a tour of a dairy farm and artisan cheese-making enterprise well out into the beautiful Costa Rican countryside. It was an amazing change from the world in which the children live - open spaces, green pastures and forest clumps as far as the eye can see, and, of course, cows, calves, horses, and one dog! The kids got to milk cows, pat horses, and taste some of the cheeses that are made on site.
The volunteer group also shared various donations they had brought from Florida, most notably some 150 pairs of shoes collected through the efforts of sophomore Ben P. They also had over 60 hygiene kits to distribute, boys and girls clothing, as well as school supplies for the day care center and its affiliated Montessori school.
Other members of the group prepared and planted a garden at a pedestrian intersection to add color and life. On a rotating basis, students spent time with the youngest members of the La Carpio community - the pre-schoolers and kindergarteners who attend the daycare center that is our base.
Shorecrest volunteers were able to take some local children for a tour of a dairy farm and artisan cheese-making enterprise well out into the beautiful Costa Rican countryside. It was an amazing change from the world in which the children live - open spaces, green pastures and forest clumps as far as the eye can see, and, of course, cows, calves, horses, and one dog! The kids got to milk cows, pat horses, and taste some of the cheeses that are made on site.
The volunteer group also shared various donations they had brought from Florida, most notably some 150 pairs of shoes collected through the efforts of sophomore Ben P. They also had over 60 hygiene kits to distribute, boys and girls clothing, as well as school supplies for the day care center and its affiliated Montessori school.
Chargers then headed north to the Arenal area to relax for a day before returning home from a fulfilling week!
(Mobile users click here for photos)
(Mobile users click here for photos)
