So today was Monday and it was our first official day of service. I got up at 5 am because I wanted to take a walk to the town center before our 7:30 am departure to Manos de Jesus. A few of my group members joined me. We began our walk at 5:45 and returned at 6:30 am, just in time for breakfast. During our town visit, we saw school children attend church dressed in their school uniforms. This was surprising to me because this was not typical of the children back in the states (at least I was not aware of it). I definitely admired their faith and dedication to the church!!
Our breakfast was a typical American breakfast complete with eggs, toast, and fruit! However, the difference was the fruit was fresh and the jam flavors included guava and pineapple! Super delicious! We left for Manos de Jesus at 7:30 am. I was nervous to meet the residents. I wondered what they would think of us, if they wanted us there, or if they even needed our help???
The first image I have of Manos de Jesus was of a man walking alone. He approached our van as we pulled into the gates. As we got out of the van each one of us said, "Hi!" to him but we did not get much of a response from him. He simply smiled and continued walking alone. We then met Don Eduardo, the most gentle, kind, godly man I had seen in a very long time! Don Eduardo was the director of the facility and we all saw how much he poured his heart into the facility! We saw the care and love he had for each individual at the facility. He introduced us to each resident as they were lined up on the porch. We each shook each person's hands and smiled at them.
A few minutes later one of the residents said to one of the members (in spanish)," You come to help, but then you leave only after a week!" This broke my heart because it was true! We are only there for a week, but their problems don't go away when we leave. They still need us when we are gone. When I heard this, I knew what I needed to do. I NEEDED to make a difference in these people's lives! Some residents do not see family or friends for 10+ years. Their only human interaction involves the staff and us volunteers who only come periodically. After introductions we split off into our groups to work in various areas of the nursing home.
I volunteered to help the staff with cleaning. Another member and I swept and mopped a room adjacent to the physical therapy room. It took longer than expected because of the lack of materials but in the end, the room was cleaned and was ready to be used by the staff and residents for activities. We were then told to clean the stairs used for physical therapy. Once I finished, it was time for their meals so we walked, and wheeled the elders to the kitchen. We helped feed, distribute the food, and clean after the elders during meal times (this happened everyday). Almost half of the 50 residents needed help with their meals! I have no idea how the kitchen staff of 5 cooks, cleans, and feeds everyone! Nonetheless, the first day of service was amazing and by the time we left, I already felt we each made a connection with Manos de Jesus.
** I don't have any photos from the first day because we were not allowed to take pictures yet**
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Pizza and the Basilica de Los Angeles
The next morning (Sunday), I got up at 6 AM to shower (I haven't showered since Friday morning!) I guess that's what happens when you travel... The night before everyone was complaining how cold the shower was but when I took my shower I had warm, almost burning hot water. It pays to be patient ;) We left our hostel around 8:30 AM to head to the market for some souvenirs. I was on a search for hammocks for my parents. I didn't get any because I thought they were too expensive. Little did I know that they were actually cheap compared to the other shops I would see in Costa Rica. We split into two groups for breakfast. I opted out of beans and rice and had a pastry with meat instead. We could smell the fresh baked bread from down the street.
We headed back to the hostel to meet our drivers from Cross Cultural Solutions (our third party organization). We met the other two volunteers, Christine and Gina, who came on their own to volunteer. The drive from San Jose to Cartago was 45 minutes. Along the way we saw a million pizza restaurants, Dennys, Mc Donalds, and KFC. It was obvious that there was a lot of western influence. Before the trip, we were educated during our group meetings about the western influence and the increased obesity in Costa Rica because of it. Ironically, only the rich Costa Ricans could afford these American eateries. They were used as statu
s symbols.
We arrived at the homebase before our 3 pm orientation so we decided to visit the town. We walked to the Basilica de Los Angeles, which was only a 10 minute walk from the homebase and it was absolutely gorgeous! It was the largest Catholic church I have ever seen (Catholicism is the predominant religion in Costa Rica). Cartago was the original Costa Rican capitol and every year thousands of Costa Ricans participate in a pilgrimage to the basilica. We learned that people come to the basilica to pray for a cure or a job and once their prayers are answered they return with a silver pendent that signifies their answered prayers. From the first visit, I witnessed how special the basilica was to the people of Cartago.
We went back to the homebase for the orientation and dinner. During our orientation we were introduced to, Manos de Jesus, the site of our volunteer work. Manos de Jesus is a nursing home for abandoned elders who suffers from a variety of physical and mental illnesses. I was bit nervous and wasn't sure what to expect from myself. As I flipped through the binder filled with the resident's interests and dislikes I became unsure of why I was there. I felt as though there was nothing I could do to help them. I was not medically trained, nor was I fluent in Spanish. Before I went to bed that night I thought hard about what I wanted to accomplish the next day and I prayed that I would allow myself to help the elders in any way possible.
We headed back to the hostel to meet our drivers from Cross Cultural Solutions (our third party organization). We met the other two volunteers, Christine and Gina, who came on their own to volunteer. The drive from San Jose to Cartago was 45 minutes. Along the way we saw a million pizza restaurants, Dennys, Mc Donalds, and KFC. It was obvious that there was a lot of western influence. Before the trip, we were educated during our group meetings about the western influence and the increased obesity in Costa Rica because of it. Ironically, only the rich Costa Ricans could afford these American eateries. They were used as statu
s symbols.
We arrived at the homebase before our 3 pm orientation so we decided to visit the town. We walked to the Basilica de Los Angeles, which was only a 10 minute walk from the homebase and it was absolutely gorgeous! It was the largest Catholic church I have ever seen (Catholicism is the predominant religion in Costa Rica). Cartago was the original Costa Rican capitol and every year thousands of Costa Ricans participate in a pilgrimage to the basilica. We learned that people come to the basilica to pray for a cure or a job and once their prayers are answered they return with a silver pendent that signifies their answered prayers. From the first visit, I witnessed how special the basilica was to the people of Cartago.
We went back to the homebase for the orientation and dinner. During our orientation we were introduced to, Manos de Jesus, the site of our volunteer work. Manos de Jesus is a nursing home for abandoned elders who suffers from a variety of physical and mental illnesses. I was bit nervous and wasn't sure what to expect from myself. As I flipped through the binder filled with the resident's interests and dislikes I became unsure of why I was there. I felt as though there was nothing I could do to help them. I was not medically trained, nor was I fluent in Spanish. Before I went to bed that night I thought hard about what I wanted to accomplish the next day and I prayed that I would allow myself to help the elders in any way possible.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Passport Ready :)
Seems quite odd that I am now starting my blog, 2 days after my return from Costa Rica, but I didn't want to use technology while I was doing my service project. Instead, I wrote down my thoughts in a journal my sister had bought for me during her time in Costa Rica.
We left San Diego around 7:40 pm on Friday March 18th, not too far off of our planned 7:00 pm departure. We had 7 members and 3 cars. The other 5 members were meeting us at LAX. I drove 2 other members (Ashley & Eliza) and we arrived in Westminster (Mimi's House) around 9:30 pm. We were lucky to have Mimi's dad drive us to LAX. I got to avoid airport parking fees by leaving my car in their driveway for a week :).
We arrived at LAX at 11:00 pm where Derek, Daphne, Beatrice, and Isai met us at the terminal. I had only traveled twice before (once when I was a baby coming to the U.S. and the other time with my daddy and brother to Vietnam). As expected, I w
as a bit overwhelmed but everything went a lot smoother than I anticipated and all 12 of us boarded our fli
ght.
We arrived in San Jose Costa Rica at 9:30 AM and met our driver. The drive to La Paz Waterfalls was quite scary. We were going up the mountain making sharp turns without any rails. As we were driving up I took note of the beautiful landscape. There were trees, cows, and coffee plantations almost at every turn. La Paz waterfall reminded me the American zoos with all of its exhibits. There were snakes, monkeys, butterflies, and frog exhibits and at the end we got to try pudding cake, cheese, and a sugarcane drink. The
cow in which the cheese was from was right outside... We then walked along the guided trail towards the waterfalls which were absolutely beautiful! This was the first time I had ever seen a waterfall. It was even more beautiful than I had imagined.
Since, we weren't able to see the volcano, our driver offered to drive us to a town about an hour away to sight see. The name of the town was Barva. We visited the iglesia (church) and saw sooo many pizza places. A few of us went into our very first panaderia which would become one of the highlights of my trip. The smell of fresh baked empanadas and bread was too good to ignore! I got a pastry for less than .50!
We then drove to San Jose where we would be staying until the next morning. We stayed at Hostel 1110 for $12 a night! Not bad for a bunk bed and 1 bathroom and shower to share among 12 people! haha We definitely became 10X closer because of this! For dinner we went to a very touristy restaurant for som
e rice & beans! I only got a salad because I was trying to stretch my dollars but then realized at the end, the salad was more expensive than the rice & beans :(. We had quite the night when we all got back to the hostel. As we were trying to go to bed, some strange man came through our door and went straight into another door. This other door was an entry to the store next to the hostel. When we notified the hostel attendant, she just told us that it was normal and that the hostel shares the door with the store... Welcome to Costa Rica :)
We left San Diego around 7:40 pm on Friday March 18th, not too far off of our planned 7:00 pm departure. We had 7 members and 3 cars. The other 5 members were meeting us at LAX. I drove 2 other members (Ashley & Eliza) and we arrived in Westminster (Mimi's House) around 9:30 pm. We were lucky to have Mimi's dad drive us to LAX. I got to avoid airport parking fees by leaving my car in their driveway for a week :).
We arrived at LAX at 11:00 pm where Derek, Daphne, Beatrice, and Isai met us at the terminal. I had only traveled twice before (once when I was a baby coming to the U.S. and the other time with my daddy and brother to Vietnam). As expected, I w
as a bit overwhelmed but everything went a lot smoother than I anticipated and all 12 of us boarded our fli
ght.We arrived in San Jose Costa Rica at 9:30 AM and met our driver. The drive to La Paz Waterfalls was quite scary. We were going up the mountain making sharp turns without any rails. As we were driving up I took note of the beautiful landscape. There were trees, cows, and coffee plantations almost at every turn. La Paz waterfall reminded me the American zoos with all of its exhibits. There were snakes, monkeys, butterflies, and frog exhibits and at the end we got to try pudding cake, cheese, and a sugarcane drink. The
cow in which the cheese was from was right outside... We then walked along the guided trail towards the waterfalls which were absolutely beautiful! This was the first time I had ever seen a waterfall. It was even more beautiful than I had imagined.Since, we weren't able to see the volcano, our driver offered to drive us to a town about an hour away to sight see. The name of the town was Barva. We visited the iglesia (church) and saw sooo many pizza places. A few of us went into our very first panaderia which would become one of the highlights of my trip. The smell of fresh baked empanadas and bread was too good to ignore! I got a pastry for less than .50!
We then drove to San Jose where we would be staying until the next morning. We stayed at Hostel 1110 for $12 a night! Not bad for a bunk bed and 1 bathroom and shower to share among 12 people! haha We definitely became 10X closer because of this! For dinner we went to a very touristy restaurant for som
e rice & beans! I only got a salad because I was trying to stretch my dollars but then realized at the end, the salad was more expensive than the rice & beans :(. We had quite the night when we all got back to the hostel. As we were trying to go to bed, some strange man came through our door and went straight into another door. This other door was an entry to the store next to the hostel. When we notified the hostel attendant, she just told us that it was normal and that the hostel shares the door with the store... Welcome to Costa Rica :)
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