La Carpio (by Erica)

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We have been immersed in this beautiful country for almost two weeks now! It’s hard to believe. It has passed so quickly. I personally have enjoyed each opportunity I’ve had to see the beautiful wonders of the land as well as the rich culture that is embedded in every pebble seen. I have to admit. I’ve never had such an impression as the one that I received during our visit as volunteers through The Costa Rican Humanitarian Foundation in a place called La Carpio.
La Carpio is an impoverished neighborhood in Costa Rica where the common struggles of everyday life consist of extreme poverty, physical and psychological abuse, malnutrition, drug addiction, and alcoholism.
I wanted to explain the experience correctly so whoever reads this might get a good sense of the impact the place leaves on you, so I went looking for facts on their Web site, and I ran across this description; “Volunteering with the CRHF offers a unique opportunity to grow, learn, and appreciate the world in new and challenging ways.” For me this fit well because seeing the hardships people in this area struggle through helped me to see the ease of my life. The CRHF is a non-profit organization whose goal is to help improve the quality of life as well as help the underprivileged population’s economic situation through programs like the daycare our group volunteered at. We spent four hours reading, putting together puzzles and just having a great time with children whose smiling faces were warm and open to us after a brief shy moment of adjusting to 14 new people. They gladly took us by the hand and led us through the activities planned. It was truly a wonderful feeling to see them laughing and playing without a worry of any language barrier. During the end of our visit we had the privilege to see the workings of another program the CRHF helped to structure. A women’s co-op group who make tote bags out of recycled coffee bags, hand crafted jewelry, and sold items brought in from indigenous people to help support themselves. It was all a wonderful yet humbling experience that I will never forget.

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Photos

Erica at La Carpio
This is Erica, the author of this blog entry, at the school in La Carpio during one of the few moments when she was not surrounded by children.

Whitney and Friend
Whitney and a young friend reading a book together

Alysse
Alysse was trying hard to get this little girl to smile

Courtney
This little girl was totally focused on Courtney's reading.

Organized Chaos
There wasn't much space, but everyone had something to do (and someone to do it with).

Proud
Someone was awfully proud of the puzzle that she finished!

Another Finished Puzzle
Some more proud puzzle finishers (Kayla and John)

Puppets
Erica was a natural with the animal puppets.

Stephen
Stephen and his new friend playing with puppets

More Puppets
Brayden, Laressia and Abby trying their hands at puppetry

Hailie
Hailie had to get down low for this picture.

John
John tried out the child-sized furniture

Justin
Justin spent quite a while reading to this little girl.

Play-Doh Time
Play-Doh brought out the child in all of us.

Kristen
Kristen and a friend working on a puzzle.

Lunch
We were served a simple but very colorful and tasty lunch at the school.

Eating Lunch
Erica, Justin, Stephen and Laressia eating lunch

Women's Cooperative
The foundation also runs a women's cooperative where women can work and sell their handiwork to help support their families.

Kayla
Kayla getting hugs as we said good-bye to the kids.

Comments

[Dr O]

Captions under photos
I just wanted everyone to know that Erica wrote the main body of this blog entry, but I wrote the captions under the photos. That's because I uploaded the photos and videos while she was writing. It just occurred to me that it looked kind of funny this way and maybe I should explain. Dr. O.