Day 4: Monserrat School Visit/Community Service

Today marks our third and final day in the Monserrat Cloud Forest. The past two days have been full of learning, hiking, and more learning with a concentration on the flora and fauna of the Cloud Forest.  Today is our day to give back to the Costa Rican community of Montserrat with a service project focused on their little community school. The majority of us gals hopped into the back of a light blue pick-up truck and took a short, but very bumpy, fast, and hilarious ride to Monserrat School while the others jammed out to the radio in Margherita's small SUV. This school was a sight to see.  A long narrow building sitting on the crest of a hill, it contains four rooms: a classroom, a cafeteria, a library, each measuring about 12 by 14 and a very small bathroom measuring about 4 by 5.  Six children of different ages and grade levels make up the student body of the school with one teacher, Maria, who gives four lessons based on grade level each and every day.  The students live in the surrounding hills and walk to and from school, rain or shine.  All of the student wear uniforms which consists of a white polo or button down shirt and a navy skirt, shorts or long pair of pants.  

 

Since most of us are education majors 9/11, and even those of us who are not, we were amazed by this teacher and how well behaved her students were.  First, we took a tour around the yard. Down, in front of the school, there was a swing set and teeter totter that look like they could use some help, but the children played happily without any notice of it's imperfections. To the left of the building stands the small greenhouse the ASU students from 2012 built.  Bordering the right side of the school is a row small rose bushes and hibiscus that were partially in bloom.  A chain linked fence surrounded the total school grounds.   Looking around at this school, its yard its equipment, the children, forced all of us to take a step back and reflect at every detail of our own lives, causing us to realize how many things we all take for granted, and marvel at how lucky we all were during our school careers.

Next, we stopped by the green house that was built by the ASU 2012 Costa Rica students who traveled here last year. Every few months, the teacher and the students take time to plant seasonal fruits and vegetables that they later harvest and give to the children and their families. Currently, they had planted radishes, and are planning to plant strawberries next. It is nice to see that the project complete last year by the ASU ladies is still very meaningful to the teacher and students who attend Monserrat K-8 

school.  We were very excited to have the 
opportunity to add to their joy by offering our own service project to beautify and preserve the well warn school. Knowing that Maria was so proud of the green house, we instantly felt the pressure to impress her just as much this year with our contribution as they did last year. Our gift......to prepare and paint the entire outside of the school.

Our duty for the day was to prepare the outside of the school to be repainted.  The plan was to spend a few hours working, then have a lunch break, and finally finishing working until about 4pm. It may sound like a simple task for eleven girls to complete, but we soon found out that it was much more difficult than we had anticipated. After a few misunderstandings, many good ideas that failed, we finally figured out how to go about sanding down the old paint and slapping on some new colors. Even though there was some frustration with how long it was taking to remove the old paint, we all worked our butts off and felt accomplished with the work that we completed. We may have even walked away with futures as painters if teaching doesn't work out!   Or not.

Half way through our day we were invited to break for lunch.   The family across the road from the school prepared and served us our lunch.  Our lunch consisted of 
rice and beans, salad, chicken and juice.  It was very delicious.   The meal was prepare in an outdoor kitchen.   The thatched roof covered the six wood tables.  We sat among the tables eating and enjoying a light rainfall.   During our luncheon, we watched the local news on the outdoor television set.  At one point during our lunch the news was covering local topics and we watched an interview with Margherita about the area.   We were all so impressed with seeing Margherita on television.    We screamed for her to come and see.   Margherita is a very humble person who did not and does not make a big deal about her accomplishments.

After lunch and with full bellies, we returned to the school to complete the painting of the outside.  Within a couple of hours we were at a stopping point.  Clean up took just as much time as the prepping of the building.

Even though we had an early start to our morning,  believed our task to be a piece of 
cake, and that we would finish with plenty of time left to do even more, we were only able to finish painting a portion of Monserrat 

School. Although this disappointed us, we instantly received much appreciation and gratitude for giving our time. The joy it brought us to see the community so happy with what we did, even though we didn't finish, reinforced our love for the people of this country. Most of us, along with most Americans, do not take time to help others unless there is a national, devastating disaster. Today helped us realize that being a volunteer is rewarding and we ask all of you to try to spend more of your free time volunteering to those in need.  It is very gratifying to give without an expectation to receive something in return.  The appreciation from the community was heartfelt and softened our hearts.

We are all sad to say goodbye to Monserrat and its people. This community and its people have been more helpful and welcoming than we could ever ask for. We all became a small family, and they will be missed dearly. Tonight we will spend our time taking in our favorite place (at least so far). Our agenda for our final night will contain a few of our favorites: singing songs native to Costa Rica, playing games, and growing life long friendships.

Buenas Noches!

Love from all in Costa Rica.

Pura Vida!