The Dream

I have come to realize my idealistic vision of Peace Corps and what I would accomplish is not going to happen, and I am fine with that. I came wide eyed and filled with big hopes for my communities, but it was very unrealistic.

If I leave in two years having only touched one life and not completed any substantial project, that’s okay! I will have lived in Costa Rica, learned Spanish, and experienced an invaluable opportunity.

With that being said…I still have the big dreams inside me.

It has now be 8 ½ months into my service and things have been coming together. I still need to practice Spanish but there is a different feel to my life. I am more comfortable with the people, culture, and my daily activities in general. Of course I still have a lot to learn and work through, but I am now more confident in my capability to do so. I look forward to living alone and being more involved with the school. I am about to write my very first grant proposals ever, and they’ll be in Spanish.

I have learned you really can’t do anything without money. The majority of the Costa Rican’s just sit around waiting for things to be given to them. This is because sometimes they are given great assets to their towns but with no sustainability. Therefore, they have learned if they wait long enough someone will give it to them. For example: the money for a million dollar Catholic Church was donated and the Church is beautiful for the 17 people that attend Mass, but they cannot afford the upkeep. A group of high school kids came in and built a recreational room/kitchen at the school, but it has caused conflicts in the town.

The truth is, I would love for groups to come in and do everything. That way a lot could be accomplished while I am here. However, the Costa Ricans would never learn anything and think that life could be handed to them.

So, in the next few weeks and months I embark on writing 10-15 paged grant proposals in Spanish. Even to ask my friends and family for donations I need to get approval. (Heads up I may do this). This will be the next skill I will learn and I look forward to the challenge. Oh yay, that and teaching English is an everyday challenge. I now feel for all teachers and praise them.

I don’t know if any of you remember the movie where this guy has to spend a million dollars in one day in order to inherit like 20million, but he can’t spend it on himself. If that was me, here is what I would do…

Caña Blanca:
The town with only a few people I never get to because it takes so long to walk back up the hill.
- Buy all the material to finish road. $5,000
- Find a water source and build a tank so the 12 people that live there could have government regulated clean water. $6,000
- Fix the small bridge that fell down. $$

La Alfombra: The town I refer to as the one I like
- Finish the community building they started 13 years ago. $4,000+
- Find a small plot of land and build a park $3,000 if the land is donated
- Help finish the church $1000
- Re-do the road $$$$
- Get a new water tank $2,500

Las Tumbas: The town I don’t go to.
- Put a fence around the school $1,000
- Get the school a computer $700
- Get electricity on the second main road in town $$$
- Re-do the water tubing to the second main road so there is actually enough to shower. $$$

San Cristóbal de Tinamastes de Barú: The town I refer to as the one I don’t like but it is growing on me and I want to focus on them more and more.
- Finish the damn rodeo stadium $20,000
- Repair the communal kitchen and building $5,000
- Put a fence around the school and paint it. $2,500
- Get the school computers and internet $1,000
- Build a park $3,000
- Build SIDEWALKS $5,000
- Pay for the new water well $2,500
- Pay for the new water tank $3,500
- Start a woman’s group $ material or to pay instructors
- Start boy scouts (girls can join too here) $ for uniforms and material
- Hopefully have the woman’s group or someone else open a bakery $$$$

All Communities:
- Get phone lines
- Get internet
- Do workshops on recycling and the environment
- Give the kids something or somewhere productive to go
- Help the issues with water
- Teach them general health, like birth control and burning plastic is bad for you

So that’s the wish list. I know some of it will be done but I am a realist. It’s a slow process here and I am not here to do the work for them. Also, we have the government stacked against us when it comes to some things. There have been families on waiting list for a phone line for years.

I’ll keep you updated.