AMIGOS Online Community

Photos from community visits and Encuentro numero dos!

mwolfes — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 17:25:00 GMT

Hello!

As promised, here are some photos from this last week. Some from community visits and others from the Youth Counterpart Encuentro this last Saturday. Enjoy!

Organic Garden in San Ramon Norte

Niños en la fiesta de Savegre

Corral in the Savegre mountains

View from Volunteer Community, Santa Teresa

Host Family House in Santa Marta

Encuentro: Defining Amigos Staff Roles and Responsibilities

Encuentro: Finding Your Resources CBI Group Work

Encuentro: Group Presentations

Casa Director Jeison Bartels speaks to the group

Youth Training and Community Selections!

mwolfes — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 20:58:00 GMT

Saludos!

Being that I just got back from the Staff Spring Training workshop in Houston, I thought it fitting to write a new blog updating all those in cyber-land what I have been up to recently.

Now that staff has been selected (see photo below) my focus from regular fellow tasks are changing to more summer project related. Here are some other things that I have been working on:

-Recruitment for Costa Ricans (or Ticos) to go to either of the two Panama projects or volunteers to go to another community here in Perez Zeledon.

-Next week I will be having a dinner/brainstorming session for those Ticos that have been volunteers with AMIGOS in either Costa Rica or Panama to start collecting materials and put together a training manual for Latin American volunteers that is more relative to their experience.

-This Saturday I will be having my second youth encuentro (or training) with representatives from 18 communities . We will be going over a basic history of AMIGOS and Casa de la Juventud, how to fill out their formulario (grant/material request), and explaining the basics of what consists of a CBI (Community Based Initiative).

-I am also starting Community Visits and confirming all the projects in each community are set up pre-volunteer arrival.

That among other things is what my life as an AMIGOS fellow looks like right now. It was great to be in Houston with all the Staff and speak some English for a while! It was a great opportunity to reevaluate my work here and be able to come back renewed and more excited than ever to start the project come July.

Please be posted as I will be posting pictures from this Saturdays encuentro as well as some community photos!!

Costa Rica 2008 Staff

Our "Replacement SPS Jonathan" for the Spring Training. Jonathan because of visa issues, could not come to the spring training, so we made his presence (represented in this form) be known. Here is the REAL Jonathan, our Costa Rican SPS...

J-term comes to an end!

mwolfes — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 20:33:00 GMT

Hello Amigos!

So finally now that Jterm has come to an end have I had time to write an update to the blog. J-term I believe went very well!

Quick Summary of how the volunteers spent their 3.5 weeks in beautiful Costa Rica:

The volunteers arrived in San Jose and for two days had their Amigos CV training. We heard from a guest speaker Jorge Barquero (a famous volcano expert and pretty much the only volcano expert in Costa Rica) who spoke about the varying flora and fauna Costa Rica has to offer. We also had a chance to visit Inbio Parque where volunteers actually got to experience the different environments and prepare a little assignment detailing the parks we would be going to.

Amigos vols at Inbio Parque

In total we were 9 US volunteers, and 15 Tico (Costa Rican) volunteers for each park. In addition to the volunteers we had 2 project staff for both Amigos and Casa de la Juventud. Generally what happened was we would spend a week in each park, and travel back to the host city San Isidro and spend a night there before heading to the next park.

The first park we visited was Parque Nacional Volcan Tenorio, a relatively new park (11 years old). There we stayed in the park housing and worked every morning from 7:30-12pm. It rained a lot on Tenorio because it is a cloud forest, but the rain didn't stop us! The first day there we were taken on hike to get to know the park. At times we were up to our waists in water! It was still a lot of fun. The work consisted of transporting large cement blocks that are put into the trails so when it rains, the trails do not get muddy. Park staff were extremely helpful and worked with us everyday and even went karaokeing with us! Volunteers enjoyed the parks practically to themselves int he afternoons and explored the Aguas Celestes, the waterfall, and thermal waters after a long day of work.

Volunteers and park staff carrying baldosas.
Work group in Tenorio!

The second park we visited was Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio, the second most visited park in Costa Rica. This park is hotter than the other two parks, has a jungley feel and is home to a beautiful beach. Volunteers stayed in housing in the middle of the park. The project in this park was by far the most interesting and revolutionary. We made trail separations out of concrete using bamboo found in the park for mold. We had to cut and measure bamboo, cut re-bar for reinforcements, mix and fill bamboo molds with cement. All in all we made about 500. Cement was used because of the humidity in this park, wood only lasts about 2 years. Although this work was time consuming, it will last much longer than trails with wood. When not working volunteers were able to lounge on the beach, hike, and occationally explore the town of Manuel Antonio. In addition to this, we also went on a night tour, and had a soccer match volunteers against park staff (they won, but not by much!). Waking up to the sound of howler and capuchin monkeys, sloths, lots and lots of raccoons, and other park animals was an amazing experience only our volunteers will get to experience!

The beach at sunset!

A not-so-shy White faced monkey (capuchin)

Mixing cement for the bamboo molds

The last park we visited was Parque Nacional Chirripo, the highest point in Costa Rica (3,820 meters or 12,533 ft high). Chirripo is an amazing place and the most different of all the parks. The hike up to the hostal 14.5 kilometers (9 miles) up and takes anywhere from 6 to 8 hours to climb. Once up top, volunteers experienced a cold very unlike that of most of Costa Rica, temperatures reaching freezing at night! Two main projects was the focus of our work in Chirripo. One was hauling rocks and placing them on a trail to prevent erosion during the rainy season. The other, construction of two foot bridges. These projects are very helpful to the parks being that all materials and food must be brought up either by person, or by horse. Volunteers were required to carry what they needed for the week up with them. Being that the park is so large, volunteers were never bored exploring. On our free day, volunteers left at 2:30 am to hike up to the cerro (or point) to watch the sunrise. It was extremely cold, but well worth it!

Volunteers carrying bags of sand in Chirripo

Taking a break while hiking Chirripo!

The trail we built!

Hike to the top! So Cold!

Speaking to volunteers from both Amigos and Casa de la Juventud, as well as park rangers, it seems like J-term was a success. Volunteers not only were able to participate in volunteer work, but learned about local culture including the flora and fauna, language, food, and of course people! It was amazing to see volunteers from two different countries come together and work toward a common goal, all the while having fun! It was an experience no one will forget!

Showing their "guns"

Volunteers playing Cabeza de Mierda, a favorite pastime during the campamentos

New Friends!

Community Visits with KILO, Oaxaca

bbeeman — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 19:32:00 GMT

Un Kilo de Ayuda Community Visits, Oaxaca

As part of the work I am doing here, I try to go on community visits with our partnership agencies as frequently as is possible. These visits are particularly helpful in giving me a hands-on understanding of the work our partnership agencies do with community members and the personalities of the communities they work in—all of which allows me to better assess which communities would be good placements for our AMIGOS volunteers. Recently I spent a 12 hour day with Un Kilo de Ayuda, one of our partner agencies, visiting communities. Licenciado Marcos Sosa Ramirez and I drove to the mountain community of Tutepetongo in the La Cañada region to give iron tests to the children who are part of the KILO program there. The drive was over 3 hours long through mountains filled with cacti and various types of other high desert plants.

Un Kilo de Ayuda is a non-governmental agency that works with malnourished children throughout Mexico. KILO works in 42 communities and supports about 1,800 families in this part of the state of Oaxaca (there is another KILO office near the Oaxacan coast). Children in the program range in ages of 0 – 3 years old and 3 – 5 years old. Every fourteen days KILO visits communities and conducts various tests to monitor the health of the children and of the expectant mothers in the program. These tests range from measuring the height and weight of the children to testing for anemia through pin *** blood tests. Families that are in the program can then buy "canastas de comida" (food baskets) with essential food items for very discounted prices through KILO. To learn more about KILO go to: http://www.unkilodeayuda.org.mx/

This summer AMIGOS will be working with KILO in 4 or 5 communities. Tutepetongo is a community that AMIGOS has worked with in the past and several AMIGOS murals are still visible in the playground area with the AMIGOS logo and volunteer names (see pics below). I met the host mother of the volunteers from 2006 and she and the other mothers asked for news of the volunteers. Stay tuned for more updates from Oaxaca! hasta pronto...

Thanksgiving Day in Oaxaca

bbeeman — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 19:27:00 GMT

I had the good fortune of spending the US Thanksgiving Holiday working with Puente a la Salud Comunitaria in a community in the Sierra Sur region of Oaxaca. It was the first time Puente had given a plactica (educational talk) in San Ildefonso Amatlan and by all accounts it was a great success. As a result, Puente plans to work with San Ildefonso Amatlan during the 2008 calendar and I hope to place AMIGOS volunteers there for the summer as well.

Puente Health Promoters Hitzel and Liliana and I left Oaxaca City at 6 a.m. in a Puente vocho (VW bug) filled with amaranth products, plactica materials, and kitchen utensils for the day’s visit. The drive was beautiful—taking us through Oaxaca’s high desert filled with a variety of cacti, passed foot hills and small towns including San Antonino Castillo Velasquez (my AMIGOS community from 1998 when I was a veteran volunteer in Oaxaca). Along the way Hitzel and Liliana and I talked about the plactica we would give to the “padres de la familia” in San Ildefonso Amatlan as well as other things like Lila Downs’ recent concert in Oaxaca City.

When we arrived to San Ildefonso Amatlan we were met by the supervisor of Accion Comunitaria, a municipal organization that helped organize our visit. After inviting us for coffee and pan dulce (sweet bread) at a local home, we were introduced to the Autoridades (local authorities) and taken to the large municipal meeting space where the “padres de familias” (parents of families) were arriving to work with us for the day. Soon, everyone had been given a red baseball cap and camisa (shirt) to promote Accion Comunitaria’s current campagn of healthy eating. After formal introductions by the Autoridades, Liliana and Hitzel began their plactica introducing Puente a la Salud Comunitaria and the use of amaranth to the community members.

Liliana and Hitzel gave a wonderful plactica which included breaking the participants up into 4 groups and drawing what they imagined an amaranth plant to look like. The women especially seemed to really enjoy this activity and then Liliana facilitated a discussion about what nutritional properties were contained within the leaves and seeds of the amaranth plant. The history of amaranth in Oaxaca was also given—the fact that amaranth was once a mainstay of the Oaxacan diet before the Spanish conquest and that over time the tradition has been lost.

What impressed me the most about San Ildefonso Amatlan was the high amount of enthusiasm in which we were received by the community members and the obvious effort they had made in organizing our visit. Not only were the mothers of the families present and participating but also the fathers of the families. Once the plactica had been given everyone joined in to help prepare the comida (meal) in the municipal kitchen. We prepared rice, huevos a la Mexican (scrambled eggs with tomato and chiles), chocolate (hot chocolate), and alegrias (a local tradition of popped amaranth and molasses in a bar). Each item that was cooked included amaranth in various forms. Everyone had a great time and we all enjoyed eating together our amaranth rich meal!

After our meal the large group of about 40 community members and their children walked to the local health clinic. There, Hitzel and Liliana did an activity about how to plant and take care of amaranth plants. We then did a sample planting in a plot within the health clinic grounds.

As the day wrapped up I really couldn’t imagine being anywhere else for Thanksgiving. I felt so blessed to be able to spend the day with the residents of San Ildefonso Amatlan and to work with Liliana and Hitzel from Puente. For a day that is meant for us to give thanks, I had a lot to be thankful for—this opportunity to work for AMIGOS again, to learn new things from our partner agencies, to be around the incredibly generous and loving Oaxacan people and to appreciate their culture. This was truly a beautiful day and one that I will always remember.

The local authorities and our Puente Team at day's end.

The drive home...a beautiful day.

Park Updates!

mwolfes — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 21:09:00 GMT

So no real exciting news to report, but I felt like I should post something before the project begins and we really don't have time to post.

My time here has been pretty occupied on getting things for J-term finalized: ordering project supplies, confirming transportation and hotels and organizing everything for the Tico vols. I am very excited for the volunteers to arrive and I think they are going to have a great time!

I do have some bad news however, the surprise we had planned for Chirripo had to be cancelled because the volunteer flights were so early that everything got cut short a day. None the less I think everyone is going to enjoy the projects.

The finalized projects for the parks are as follows:

In Manuel Antonio we will be constructing a new sort of trail barrier using resources from the park (making molds out of bamboo and using sand from the beach for the cement).

In Tenorio we will be continuing the work from last year in putting cement blocks down on the trails so that the paths do not get muddy.

And in Chirripo we will have two projects going, one is the construction of a new small pedestrian bridge and also trail maintenance.

I am very excited for everything to get going and started. I hope everyone has a great holiday break, and as always if you have any questions please feel free to email me:

amigosjterm2008@gmail.com

Hasta pronto!

Molly

My first post

aileahd — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 21:21:00 GMT

So here I am, now entwined in the futuristic world of the bloggers. I once declared that I would never take part in this online journal thing, but peer pressure got the best of me, as well as my own desire to show off my family and life with anyone who may be interested. Let's take a look at this and see what I can do...

Park Visits and photos! J-term Project updates

mwolfes — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 17:20:00 GMT

Hola a todos!

Last week I finished up my park visits and I am excited to let you all in on some advance information about the projects!!

I visited Manuel Antonio, Tenorio, and Chirripo (well San Gerardo the town at the base of the mountain) and all are rich in natural beauty and all are diverse and have something different to offer!

Manuel Antonio is hot, near the beach and has a very jungle-y feel. In the park you wake up to monkeys, sloths and birds all in the tree tops feet above your head! Manuel Antonio's project will be working on a Mirador (look out point) and/or trail maintenance. The guards have also suggested a nighttime tour of the park to possibly see cayman (small alligators!) --something a tourist would never get a chance to do!

Volcan Tenorio is in a cloud forest therefor much cooler than Manuel Antonio and is very far north. It is up in the mountains, and is one of Costa Rica's newest parks. For those reasons, this park is rarely visited and only by tourists and locals with their own transport. It is a shame because this park has some amazing and unique features! There is a waterfall, an odd, but amazing milky light blue color to the water because of mineral deposits, hot springs, and boiling thermal ponds. It is situated up in the mountains and is a jewel to be in! There we will be working on trail maintenance because of the rainy weather.

Lastly, Chirripo whose beauty is apparent even from below. I did not have a chance to climb Chirripo because it is a 6-8 hour hike up. However I am excited to challenge myself and from what I have heard it is very worth the hike! Once up, you can say you have been to the highest point in Costa Rica! Temperatures are much colder due to the altitude but can be warmer during the day. The project in Chirripo will also be trail maintenance and the possible construction of a bridge. I am also excited to report that the last day in Chirripo we might be doing a community clean up project with the local youth of San Gerardo followed by a big surprise (I don't want to ruin the surprise)!

All park staff are so knowledgeable and are very excited to be working with both Amigos and Casa de la Juventud. The youth here are signing up for the program are also very excited and are ready to go already! Below I have posted some pictures from each park.

As always, questions are welcome!

Until next time!

Manuel Antonio

Volcan Tenorio

Week 2 in San Izzy.

mwolfes — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 19:46:00 GMT

My first two weeks here in San Isidro have gone by so quickly! I have started my internship with our partner agency, Casa de la Juventud and met some really amazing people! The staff here are all very excited to continue working with Amigos and for the J-term project to begin.

Some updates on the J-term project: We have a famous local volcanologist Jorge Barquero coming to talk at Tenorio park and possibly for the CV training in San Jose. Applications have been made for the Costa Rican youth to fill out and we have been getting a lot of people interested! We also have made plans to visit Inbio parque right outside of San Jose. Have an advance look here:

http://www.inbio.ac.cr/inbioparque/es/index.html

Casa has already selected their supervisor Denis, who went to all three parks on previous campamentos and he is a high school teacher in one of the communities towards the southern part of Pérez Zeledón. Next week I will be surveying the three parks: Tenorio, Manuel Antonio, and Chirripo. The park directors also seemed very enthused to work with us again this year and are excited to meet with me! I will be sure to take some pictures at the park so that you may get a chance to see the beauty these parks contain.

I think that for the first two weeks we are off to a great start! I look forward to meeting those who have applied and if there are any questions or comments please feel free to post them and I will try to get back to you asap!

Until next week (when I should have some more park information)!

¡Pura Vida!

Oh, I have included some pictures and a video I took with Kristen H. from IO in Dominical my first weekend here.

Playa Dominical

Relaxing by the water in Dominical

Street view of San Isidro de el General

Costa Rica AMIGOS Fellow

twhite — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 16:27:00 GMT

Welcome to the Costa Rica AMIGOS Fellow Blog. I am the 2007 Costa Rica AMIGOS Fellow, Molly Wolfes! I will focus on Latin American youth initiatives and curriculum development among other efforts during my year in San Isidrio. I am really pumped to be working for Amigos again and I am excited to see the advances both Beca (the Oaxaca Fellow) and I can make in our time here in our respective countries.

In addition to being the Amigos fellow, I will be the Project Director for J-term and Summer 2008. I anticipate that I will be posting about a blog a week to update anyone who is interested in what I am doing, and I encourage any questions and comments!!

Pura Vida!

Oaxaca AMIGOS Fellow Blog

twhite — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 14:33:00 GMT

Welcome to the Oaxaca AMIGOS Fellow Blog. I am the 2007 Oaxaca AMIGOS Fellow, Beca Beeman! I will focus on Latin American youth initiatives and curriculum development among other efforts.
My first weeks in Oaxaca have been full of community visits, partner organization meetings, and investigating possibilities to involve youth in the summer projects. I have also been planning a visit to Guanajuato and Michoacan where I hope to recruit and train Latin American youth for our summer projects.
Besides these work related activities, I have been enjoying getting to know Oaxaca by making new friends, enjoying the food, local festivals, and warm weather. Kate McGuire, Regional Director, and I arrived in Oaxaca during the Day of the Dead festivities. While she was here, Kate and I were able to partake in some of the beautiful traditions associated with Day of the Dead. Below, please find photos of the Day of the Dead.
Soon to come...pictures and more info on my community visits and activities! Check back soon!

Here are some great photos from 2007 as well!

aamiralavi — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 19:14:00 GMT

I visited a community in Paraguay, and it was very exciting. I saw a beautiful mural in a school about friendship:

I also went to Uruguay and caught a glimpse of some kids playing Candomble:

I hope you enjoyed the pictures!

2007 project highlights

aamiralavi — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 21:32:00 GMT

Here is a great video about our 2007 project highlights. Enjoy!

View Video
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Check out my blog!

lisina — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 23:51:00 GMT

My current blog is located at http://www.myndstorm.com. Thanks for visiting!

HEY!

matisun — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 01:54:00 GMT

I am actually quite excited, this blog is working when I didn't really know it would.

I am Mati, and I am going to Paraguay this summer to do a youth-to-youth program.

I am really only seeing what this online community is all about so I am testing everything to see what I can and cannot do. I don't know that much about computers, so if this is kinda boring, you can close or whatnot it won't hurt my feelings.

Buring Question: What should I pack?

Quite honestly, packing is my biggest concern. Whether I pack too much of something and not enough of another. Or too much of everything or not enough of everything. This question is eating me alive. Not really, because that would hurt, but it could if it wanted to. If you have any thoughts or experiences that would be way cool. Thanks!

Adios amigos!

The IO

mcloster — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 21:23:00 GMT

For all the fans of "The O.C.," "The West Wing," and "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," welcome to The IO. To Aaron Sorkin, here's the pitch to a new series direct from 5618 Star Lane. Overlooking the lone star strip outside the Houston loop, you wouldn't believe the bustling activities happening inside AMIGOS headquarters. There's drama, comedy, action, and maybe a little romance behind every nook and cranny. There's heroism and sadly enough, tragedy. Especially when it comes to anything remotely connected to IT or our copy machine, which has overstayed its welcome.

It might be a little challenging for cameras to weave in and out of hallways and follow characters' dialogues that flow in and out of each other. First of all, there are no hallways. And secondly, our morning ritual sets the tone for the day: We walk through the front door in the morning (this of course only happens when we remember our office keys and spend five minutes cursing the new locking system), we put our bag lunches in the overpacked refrigerator (seriously, when are we going to get rid of that 10 week old guacamole?), pour a cup of Café AMIGOS coffee (that is, if we're lucky to be the ones not having to make it -- order online at cafeamigos.org), and scatter to our respective offices, never to speak to each other in person for the rest of the day (except at lunch where we talk about dogs, food, and Continental Airlines). I'm just kidding. A flurry of activity occurs after we check the inbox. Every form of communication is used: speaker phone, regular phone, IM, e-mail, text messages on cell phones, skype Internet phone, even mental telepathy.

Plenty of life happens outside The IO, where staffers frequent the local pubs for a rousing game of darts, play intense games of racquetball at the local Y, or kickbox and spin through an hour of sweat. And when we're in a good mood, maybe we'll throw some hot dogs on the grill, break open a piñata, and kick a soccerball around in the middle of the street. Good time, really. There are twists and turns every weekend, including the occasional salsa romps and the always engaging game of cherades or Cranium.

But it's the characters, storylines, and thrills that makes The IO worth its Thursday night time slot, in between "Grey's Anatomy" and "ER" of course. When your job is to give 600 teenagers the summer of their lives, you're always going to be running with scissors. Just wait until the summer, when the series comes to its thrilling climax: we find out who the real heroes and villains are, who has been having secret relationships, and who stole Glenn's stapler.

You just gotta be creative in this business. That's why this show will have intrigue and charisma. There's never a dull moment in our imaginary big glass building in downtown Houston. Come see for yourself.

Visit here to see some photos: http://community.amigoslink.org/photos/mcloster/default.aspx