I´m writing on the last day of my short-term volunteer experience with SCLC. I arrived about a month ago with the long-term volunteers: Meghan and Mandi, the English teachers, Sara, the After School Program volunteer, Aysha, the tourism volunteer, and Anna, the Environmental Education volunteer. The last month has been a lot of fun for us, getting to know one another, the Center, and the community we´re hoping to serve. We´ve learned a lot very quickly, about how the center runs day-to-day, the different kinds of birds and monkeys we can see from our porch, and that rice and beans three meals a day sounds boring, but is in fact fantastic.
My job at the center over the past month has been to tackle the closet of mystery, in order to organize the water-monitoring equipment for use with After School Programs and Eco-Club. Turns out, in addition to two types of water-monitoring systems, the center is in possession of a large novelty magnet, walkey talkeys, and various other gems. Currently we´re hot on the trail to replacing some of the expired chemical reagents for testing the river. I love picturing Sara and Anna by the river with their students, reading pH levels.
I have been living with a host family about 2 kilometers from the center, which has been an eventful experience and definitely a boost for my Spanish. In addition to my host mother, and myself, there is always a rotating cast of children in the house, mostly boys between the ages of 5 and 8. Of course at times living in close quarters with so many people speaking rapid-fire Spanish is stressful, and the thought of reading a book quietly in my bed seems a distant impossibility. However, I´ve had a blast with the kids, playing cards, for some ill-advised reason teaching them to arm-wrestle, and seriously debating the merits of Hombre Araña verses Batman (who is for some reason not known as Hombre Murcièlago).
As I get ready to leave Sarapiqui, I know I will miss the staff and volunteers at the Center, as well as other friends I´ve made in the community over the last month. I will definitely miss my walk to and from the center everyday. Although it´s along what I´ve come to think of as ¨The Road of Death¨ (think Pet Cemetery, the first one), with huge trucks powering by every few minutes, it´s definitely one of the highlights of my day. In the 25 minutes, I pass by two bar/restaurants, two small grocers, the school, a shoe repair shop, and very little else besides cows, grass, and houses. This morning my walk was slowed by a woman walking her goats out to pasture along sidewalk, something I will be sure to remember at home in Baltimore. Although I rarely think of it on my walk, the sidewalk that I use every day was built by SCLC, and is used by the whole community to avoid the perilous road. It is a very substantial demonstration of how our efforts can really improve the quality of life in a community, and engage the community in that process. I´m very pleased to have been involved with a group that acknowledges the power of such efforts over this past month.
More updates to come from other volunteers, stay tuned!
Olivia Cumming
Friday, February 13, 2009
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