Hydroponics Course

Some women in my community had expressed concern in starting a hydroponics garden a few months ago so I started to research the process online.  I had mostly found information on large scale farming and growing with the plants floating in water.   It seemed a very complicated process.  However, about a month ago I heard that the 70 person town next to me was going to have a three day course.

So this week I went to teach in the morning and left at 11 to catch the bus to my town and walk a km to this course.  The first two days were theory which I had already read a lot about.  The main difference is a huge one though.  The class was taught by an engineer from the Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganaderia (MAG), which is the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock. Hydroponics is the growing of plants outside of soil.  He focused more on growing plants in solid substratum rather than water.  The best part about taking this course was learning how to make it happen here in rural Costa Rica and on a budget.  So the idea is that we build our containers out of stuff we have such as wood.

The most expensive materials will turn out to be the black plastic which protects the vegetables from bacteria and other growths.  Then ,we can use river rocks/sand, coconut fiber, or rice/coffee shells, most of which are inexpensive and can be used for several years.  It turns out the nutrient concentrates that we add to the water does not cost that much.

I'm in the beginning stages of how this class can benefit me.  I'm going to start growing a few things on my own here at home.  I haven't decided to just do one pot or to go all out and make one out of bamboo.  I've found a decent place to put it where it can get a lot of sun but I'm worried about the rains now in the rainy season.  Otherwise, I'm hoping to start a community garden but what looks more likely is a school garden that the school can use for its own veggies.  Plus it's a great tool to use for charlas on eating healthy, growing organically, and growing hydroponic vegetables that I'm hoping to do with the students at my elementary school.

I really enjoyed meeting new people from this town.  It was an interesting dynamic having half farmers and half house-wives there.  We even built our own container yesterday and learned how to  make the mixture to use as the solid substratum.  We have another charla scheduled to learn how to make plant extracts to use to naturally fight bacterias and other pests.  And we're going to take a tour to several different farms already growing hydroponic vegetables from small to big.  I'm excited to work with these farmers and learn from them.  They make up a large majority of my neighbors so it's really great to be able to relate to them more.  I'm excited to start growing tomatoes and peppers!  Mmm... I think it's lunch time!

Story-Time

When I came back from my visit to the states, at the very last minute I found space for three Dr. Seuss books I have.  I haven't gotten my hands on any fun and easy books in country so I knew these would be perfect. 
I got the elementary teacher I work with to let me try story-time with the students this Tuesday.  I had mentioned it to him before and actually written the title of the first book we would read the week before when we were learning how to describe animals, and the order of adjectives and nouns.  So One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish seemed an obvious choice. 

We first tried it with the second graders which are usually the roudiest. We left ten minutes at the end of class. We sat them in two rows. The ones on the ends tended to get a little distracted because they couldnt see as well but we made sure to ask them questions and they would come back to us. They would repeat each line and in the voices I had made so they really enjoyed themselves. Just before the bell rang we repeated the three pages and they remembered each of the new words they had learned.  

Our little angel first graders surprisingly didnt understand as much as the second graders. They speak a lot more than the second graders so that came as a surprise to me. But we definitely laid a good foundation for future story times.

With the third graders it was time for the teacher to do it on his own and the kids loved it.  He did a great job, but I think he needs to work on his voices, haha.  It might help if he had had a chance to read the book before that day.  

On Wednesday the students had exams.  While the teacher is outside administering the verbal exam to each student individually I stay inside and study with them.  We tried story time again but this time for a much longer time period.  They LOVE looking at the pictures.  I had forgotten how crazy the world of Seuss can get.  It was an amazing opportunity to see them get creative.  Trying to explain what a Gox is however can get complicated. 

Working with this teacher is amazing.  He is always open to my ideas and hands the class right over when I want to do an activity with the students.  We have to work a little on how he runs those same activities though.  But I am so excited to have Story-Time once or twice a week with the kids.  I'll let you all know what book we make our way up to later in the school year.

I had no idea how much I had missed Story-Time in my life!

Winter Break Soccer Tournament - Primary Students

To start with, Costa Rica is in the northern hemisphere and it is technically summer here now.  But to go with cultural norms I will refer to the two week break from classes we just had here as winter break.  The days seem shorter now, and it's cold after it rains to the point that I often cannot feel my fingers at night if I am not under the covers or exercising.

So just after I got back from my trip to the states I ingeniously planned a soccer tournament to start on July 4th without realizing it would restrict me from celebrating with any other gringos.  The first week of the two week break was for elementary students and the second for high school students.  We met from 8:30-11 am from Monday through Thursday of each week.  We trained and practiced from Monday-Wednesday and had our finishing game Thursday.



The elementary group was composed of about 22 elementary aged students with a few high school students who came to help and lead by example which was a huge help.  I had had kids sign up on a list beforehand and called most of their parents to explain to them what it was to entail exactly.  One of the neighboring town's school didn't get the list back to me so I didn't get anyone from there which was sad for me because I work with those students but I got a chance to meet a ton of new kids from other towns.

I had planned on having our local ex-professional soccer player and the high school students train but somehow I recalled a bunch of the drills we had done in soccer practice the one year I played in high school and it turned out amazingly!  It took some effort to expose the kids to an actual practice feel, getting them to jog a lap, stretch together and then do soccer drills.  The experience levels varied a ton but everyone was light hearted and ready to learn.  At the end of the practices we would have "mejengas" or informal games and put to work all that they learned.  It was funny trying to keep them from bunching up so much but they had fun.

Finally, on the Thursday of the elementary school students' games they had already been put into their groups and wore their blue or white shirt.  The teams that I had created turned out to be a little unfair and we added one of the high school boys watching to one of the teams creating the rule that none of the high school kids could score a goal, so they served mostly to get the ball out of the masses formed of little boys and girls and move it up the field.  They wound up being a gigantic help that way.

After they all bought snacks at the pulperia and we headed to the school to watch Cars 2 together and give them more of a camp feel.  For my first camp that I put together on my own and organized before I went on vacation got back and had three days to tie up all loose ends it turned out really well.  All of the kids really had fun and had something positive to do.  I made sure to teach them some basic health stuff such as stretching properly and not laying down after jogging and I know that that stuff will have the largest impact on them that lasts.  I look forward to arranging more of the kind in the future.

Recycling Project - The Start

I had two weeks between my trip to Nicaragua and home to work on my recycling project full steam.  I had nearly every weekday booked with workshops for students, faculty or community.  My goal is to have a workshop with all of the students and, then the community in each of the four towns we're working with.  The motivation of each school board I've worked with has varied and their persistence thereafter as well.  After numerous cancellations and reschedules I have finally finished the workshops in three towns.  However, I find much need to continue holding them in different forms to increase knowledge and continue motivating more people.

I heard from someone that one of the towns was starting a program and they had no idea I was involved with it which is exciting for me because it means people are talking about it.  One of the environmental groups I've spoken with told me that if this project doesn't work this generation will be disappointed to the point to not try it again so I really need to make it work.

Working with the students was exhausting, working from 7 am- 4:30 with them.  By the end I had recycling coming out of my ears.  It's incredible that they knew so little about recycling and now I value Miami-Dade County Public Schools even more, at least for the education I received.  Some classes were more enthusiastic than others.  Those I've worked with got a little out of hand at times since they can finally speak the language we were working with.  But in the end, they've been the gateway to getting the word throughout the communities.  Yesterday, I heard a little girl who only a few weeks ago was throwing trash in the streets say, "Mommy, that's plastic don't throw it away."  It reminded me of how everything we volunteers do does have an affect although at times it really seems to be a slow one.

The community workshops have been awkward... I don't want to treat the adults like children but in most cases they only have a 6th grade education which in most cases included 3-4 hours school days.  Although, the more educated attendees seem very bored at the beginning they've come out very motivated once they got a chance to really take over conversation.

The basics of the project are as follows: a recycling center in Aserri agreed to send a truck to pick up our recyclable materials once we have 1,000 kilograms worth.  Mind you that is one TON of plastic, aluminum, white paper, colored paper, newspaper, carton, glass bottles, and tetrabrik (a common milk/juice carton material here in Costa Rica that is extremely harmful if buried or burned). So I decided to work with the only institutions strong enough in my neighboring towns that could really reach out to entire communities.  The schools.  I went to all of the school board meetings and they agreed to be their town's recycling center.  The part that I hope really makes this a sustainable project is that once we can call the truck to pick up the materials, they will buy the materials from the schools providing them with a small extra income.

The idea is that the community members can drop off their materials twice a week at the schools and the sixth graders will organize them Fridays to go into storage.  One school started collecting a couple days before I went home.  We collected a good bit from just fifteen or so families.  And although I hadn't thought of it, the school's director had invited me to help them on that day.  The women dropping stuff off and staying to help organize had so many questions that I hadn't considered to adress.  It was a great learning process for all of us.

 
The schools have had "winter" vacation these first two weeks of July.  We have a lot of work to do to really get this project off the ground once classes start again and I'll be sure to update more once we do. But I'll leave you with our main recycling reminder, "limpio, aplastado, y separado!" For the gringos that's, "clean, compact, and separated!"