15 Days Left, So Much to Do

My deepest apologies for being AWOL. I guess this summer has been a good induction into the world of non-profits and NGOs. There are always a million things to do and way too few people to actually do them all. I have been telling myself I would sit down and write a new blog post for the past three weeks, and it has just been pushed to a back burner again and again.

This past week I helped coach a community soccer camp witch ADE organized. Two groups of high school students came down from the states to help run the camps and work on the farm. The first night the groups were here, Ben and Frances gave a short talk on ADE and what it is we do. What we believe and why we do what we do. As ADE primarily focuses on education, they have made a point of saying that they want short term groups that come to work with them to share in that education. As a Community Development major studying under some of the leading thinkers and writers in this area, Ben and Frances had me share a little bit. While I felt like I rambled a bit, and didn't quite convey as well as I would have liked to the points I was making, I realized something. I have been studying Community Development for three years. I am on an internship that is intended to give me a taste of the "real world" of com dev. And I got to share some of my thoughts and some of what I've been taught with a bunch of high school kids who had never heard it before. That was exactly what I have been preparing for. The transition from answering questions on tests to talking excitedly in front of a couple youth groups was slow and gradual, but it felt good. Community Development isn't just something that I'm studying anymore. Its what I want to do. Its what I believe God has called me to do, and has called us as Christians to do.

Unfortunately, that realization doesn't let me off the hook as far as getting these papers written and finishing all my assignments this summer. On that front the progress has been slow. After the "learning module" session with Ben and Frances, I began picking their brains about education, community development, and what kinds of projects and research they would like to see happen here in Costa Rica. Ben began explaining that he would like to see sometime of research done to assess the affects of short term groups on the community. It seems that most of the research done about missions and short term missions teams is done on the groups themselves. So we began to toss around some ideas of how we can do that here in Vara Blanca. We decided that first we need to start with a small group. We can't test the whole community. Frances suggested the high school. It is a captive audience and have more exposure to ADE and the groups that come with ADE than any other group in the community, and if their teachers say "Fill out this survey" they have to do it.

So with my 15 days that I have left in Costa Rica (I know, I can't believe its gone so fast), I plan on creating a survey which will be given to the students in the high school, as well as conducting interviews. The goal of these surveys and interviews will be to see how they have been affected by the groups that come to visit their community. How do these groups affect their view of Americans? Their view of God? Do they get any opportunities to practice their English with these groups? By gathering this type of information I hope to provide ADE with a clear understanding of how short term groups affect the people who are the reason ADE is here.

I don't have much time. I have been working with Ben and Frances to formulate questions which will get at the heart of the issues, and I hope to spend time in the high school next week, gathering as much data as possible.

I'll try to keep you posted. With my track record I wont be surprised if my next blog post is written from  the kitchen table in my house in Pennsylvania, but I'll try to post at least once more before I leave this beautiful green country.

A Good Friend and a Trip to the Beach

Sorry my presence on this blog has been so sparse. I always love the idea of blogs, and I always get excited about finally being consistent with one of my blogs. As you can see, that excitement typically wanes pretty quick. But... here I am. I would like to share a little of what I have been able to do since I've been in Costa Rica (about a month now).

As I wrote in my second post, my primary focus so far has been working on the farm. It is a farm in the process of getting off the ground. The only animals you find here currently are a couple horses which belong to the neighbors and a plethora of dogs. However, chickens should be arriving within the next week, and as soon as we complete the adobe pen it will be occupied by some of the neighbor's pigs. The main goal of the farm is to produce blackberries, but it is also intended to be an educational tool to be used for visiting groups, and as an example farm for sustainable farming practices that can be used in the immediate community.

We've been dealing with some issues with the mud drying on the pig pen. When we leave it alone for a couple days it develops large cracks in the plaster. We have been trying to keep up the fight against these cracks while progressing with other projects such as the bio-digester.

My dear friend Luke Granholm came down for a visit about a week and a half ago. He is here for two full weeks and has been helping with the projects on the farm. It has been absolutely wonderful having Luke here. He has helped with the adjustment to a environment and culture that is completely foreign to me. This past weekend we got to accompany some of the ADE members to the port city of Limon. They were meeting with some schools and community members to explore the potential of a new ADE location, and we were able to hitch a ride with them to the beach. From Limon we took a bus to the small town of Cahuita. Cahuita is located on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica which is dominated by African and Jamaican cultures. We spent a day on the beach, saw some monkeys and sloths in the National Park, and spent the night in an incredible hotel which featured a private Caribbean lagoon (I know, tough internship).

When we got back from the beach I sat down with Tomas to chat about the blackberry project and my research project. Unfortunately the co-op has been in a sort of stand still. Tomas wants one of the local members to take leadership and possibly accept the role of administrator. However, most of the members are busy farmers and can't take the time to get things rolling. We decided that the most effective thing to do at this point is to get his blackberries producing as an example of what can come of a little pruning and perseverance.

With that in mind, Luke and I have been tackling the blackberries, mulching, setting up fences for them to grow on, planting new ones and eating the few ripe ones we can find. Setting up posts is a much harder task than it sounds as it involves a 10 minute one way walk in the jungle to where they were cut from a fallen hardwood tree. These posts weight about 25-30 pounds apiece, and we carry two of them on our shoulder back through the wet slippery jungle. Ok, I'll stop moping, its actually the best full body workout I've ever done.

This next week Luke will be heading home and I will be tackling the research side of this internship head on. Tomas and I will be going with the other members of the co-op to a co-op that has been operating for over 50 years. This co-op does all kinds of different things and has even established a bio-diesel plant where they recycle used vegetable oil from nearby restaurants. We will be checking out this co-op and hopefully talking to some of the people involved so that we can get an idea of what we need to be doing to get ours off the ground.

If you have been praying for me, I greatly appreciate it. The transition and adjustment to living here took me a little while, but I am in the swing of things and I am loving it. Still can't wait to see some of my friends and family again, but I'm really enjoying the time that I have here. What I could use prayer for now is focus. I have a pretty significant amount of academic work that I have to do (this internship counts as up to six credits towards my major). Its been pretty difficult for me to think about school when I get back from a day of hard work. I typically just want to watch episodes of "Chuck" that I have saved on my computer or read a book (I'm working through "The Brothers Karamazov," so I have a lot of reading to do). Pray for diligence. That I would remember why I'm here, and like I mentioned in the post below this one, that as my knowledge increases, love would abound.

Thanks for reading this long post, and thank you so much for your prayers and support.

Here's a link to my Facebook album that I keep updated with the latest photos. Yo estoy in Costa Rica!

"And this is my prayer, that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight." ~ Philippians 1:4-6

I remember a couple of weeks ago sitting in a big group of fellow community development students and Chalmers Center staff members talking and praying about our upcoming internships. We had a week before the first of us left, and it was all of a sudden feeling very real. We were finally going on our internships that we had been thinking about for the past three years, and planning for the past semester. Of the list of emotions I was feeling, nervousness and anxiety were steadily making their way to the top.

We were going around saying our names, where we were going to be all summer, and some kind of prayer request. One of my fellow students said his name, explained that he was going to some country in Africa and what he hoped to do there, and then he said something along of the lines of "Pray that I'll be able to love people." He further explained that the past three years of studying community development had in a sense made it harder to think about the people we were going to be working with as Christ would have us think about them. We spent the entire last semester learning about surveys and note taking, and how to talkt to people about their income level without offending them, but it was easy for many of us to forget that ultimately we are learning to love others.

So what my friend was asking was that he would be reminded that he is in need of Christ's grace that enables us to give love to others in the first place. He was asking that we would be able to see the people we work with as more than numbers on our surveys, or statistics in our reports, that we would see them as human beings made in God's image, broken by the fall and in need of the grace and love of Christ the same as us.

So just as Paul prayed that the Philippians would grow in love, and that it would abound more and more in knowledge and dept of insight, pray for me and my fellow students. Please pray that as our knowledge increases, as we learn more of what it is like to do community development in the field, that our love would grow, and our desire to share the grace of our Lord would flow forth from our hands and our tongues.

Support Letter

Here is my support letter which I sent out in early May. I was unable to send it to everyone I would have liked, but I hope that through email and by sharing it here everyone can get an idea of what I am planning to do and what I am actually doing this summer. Feel free to continue to support me throughout the summer. 

The original letter had some sweet pictures, but I was unable to format the letter to fit into a blog post with the pictures included. I will make up for it by posting some pictures in a separate post. 

Dear Family and Friends,

As many of you know, I am now finishing up my junior year at Covenant College with a major in Economic and Community Development.  “What’s that?” you may be asking.  In a nutshell, community development is a holistic ministry tool which focuses on enacting mercy ministry to the materially poor and marginalized by empowering the poor to help themselves.  In searching for new ways to reach the poor,

Within the Community Development major at Covenant, we are given the opportunity to experience community development firsthand through a research internship.  Lord willing, I will be embarking on my internship to Costa Rica, this summer to work with a development agency.

ADE which stands for Association for Development through Education is dedicated to the redevelopment of post-disaster regions and marginalized communities through innovative and holistic educational initiatives. ADE is working in Vara Blanca, Costa Rica which was ravaged by earthquakes in 2009. ADE has worked very hard to become an integral part of the community in Vara Blanca. Many of the staff at ADE teach English in local schools and run a host of programs for the benefit of the community members.

One important aspect of ADE’s ministry and work is their dedication to supporting themselves. In order to accomplish this, they have a variety of programs that raise money for their local initiatives. These include a language institute for native and international students, an ecology institute, and farming various cash crops. While in Costa Rica I will be conducting research about how to start and maintain an agricultural co-op for ADE’s new blackberry plants. Blackberries grow great in the Cloud Rainforest where ADE is located, and creating a co-op would enable ADE to better serve the community with their crops.

I will be leaving for Costa Rica in the second week of May and I will be returning in early August. I wholeheartedly request your prayers as the Lord takes me through this experience.  Pray that all the details for this trip would come together and that I would learn all that He would have me learn; but mostly, pray that His love will shine brightly through me.  Obviously, I need money!  I ask that you would pray about financially supporting me in this ministry with ADE this summer. I am trying to raise approximately $2,500 to make this trip happen.  I will be doing my best to keep a blog of my adventures and work this summer. If you would like to follow my blog or receive email prayer requests and updates, please indicate that on the included form.

I covet your prayers and thank you so much for your consideration in supporting me this summer,

Let your Love be strong,       

Robbie Brown

·      Please keep me in your prayers whenever you think of me.

·      I would like to follow Robbie’s blog and receive email notifications of new posts and updated prayer requests.

Email:_______________________________

·      I would like to contribute financially with a gift of: $__________________

Please make checks payable to Robbie Brown

            Include “Costa Rica” in the memo line

Please mail checks with this completed form to:

            Robbie Brown

118 S Summit Ave

            Quarryville PA, 17566

Costa Rica is incredible. It is so beautiful here and I have been seeing plants and animals that I have never seen before other than in a zoo. This morning I saw a bunch of Toucans nesting in a tree behind where I was working. I am located in a little community called Vara Blanca. There are a total of two stores in Vara Blanca and the population is mostly comprised of strawberry and dairy farmers. Vara Blanca is at about 6000 feet so the air is very thin. I almost died trying to play soccer the other day.

 

 I have been getting acquainted with ADE this past week. They are a wonderful group of people who are dedicated to spreading the love of Christ through community involvement and pursuing the education of the community members. Tomas was explaining to me that the reason they focus on Education is because they hope that the community members will be inspired and encouraged to take what they have learned and spread it with other communities. I won't say too much here because you can just go read their website.



Though their primary focus is education, ADE has a handful of initiatives that they are pursuing. This summer I will be involved most closely with the agriculture side of things. Tomas has a large piece of property on which he has been farming and trying out various agriculture experiments that he hopes will catch on in the community. The primary crop in Vara Blanca is strawberries. This is unfortunate because strawberries do not grow naturally here and they require expensive green houses and a whole host of chemicals to make them grow. Tomas hopes that through a blackberry co-op we will be working to start that he will encourage local farmers to pursue more sustainable crops that have healthier effects on the land.

Many of Tomas' experiments are met with disbelief from his neighbors. They think that he is crazy sometimes. That being said, the community members have a great deal of respect for Tomas. He is connected in some way with almost everyone. He is on local community boards and is good friends with all of his neighbors. He has had some difficulty convincing his neighbors that his latest idea is a good one, so he decided to just show them.

We have been working on a pig pen that is made from feed sacks filled with dirt, then plastered with an adobe mud plaster. There are countless benefits to building with earth bags. The materials are virtually free down here, and they are incredibly resistant to earthquakes and other possible hindrances. The picture to the left is the structure before any adobe plaster was added. Below is Tomas' neighbor Lindor smoothing out the plaster. The pig pen will serve two purposes though. He will be housing his neighbors pigs in exchange for their poop. Thats right. Tomas is also creating a bio-digester which will capture methane gas from the decomposing pig poop. This gas will then be piped up to his house which will be used for their water heater and for their gas stove, virtually eliminating the cost of gas from their expenses. The pig poop then comes out as incredibly rich, odorless fertilizer for the garden.

You can't see my rubber boots, but those and machetes are the staple farm implements here in Costa Rica.

Leaving Tomorrow

It's been an interesting couple of weeks. I finished up school in the first week of May and had a great time celebrating with some close friends who graduated this year. I enjoyed a few last days in Chattanooga and was getting ready to leave for Costa Rica as soon as my passport came the next week. I decided to come home to PA to visit with my family a bit and save money on food.

I wasn't home long before I began to worry about my Passport. It wasn't showing up in the mail and I tried to track it down. I spent a great deal of time on the phone with the Post Office (both in Quarryville and in Chattanooga), the government travel agency, and the Covenant mail room. I continued to wait, hoping each day that it would turn up.

I was finally able to go to Philadelphia and apply for a reissue, stating that my passport had been issued but had never arrived at my house. The agent was incredibly accommodating and was able to print me a new passport.

With my passport in hand I was able to book a flight and let my host organization that I was finally on my way! I am writing this blog post on my picnic table in my backyard at 11:30pm. My flight leaves tomorrow at 6:15am from Philadelphia. My bags are packed and I am ready to go. 

These past weeks have been a mixture of joy and frustration. It has certainly been fun to visit with friends and spend a few days with Stephen (this summer will be our longest separation in the 10 years that we have been friends). But it has also been frustrating as my plans fell through again and again. I need to be reminded fairly often that God is in control. I find myself depending on my ability to go with the flow and take what is thrown at me rather than depending on God to take care of me. This week has helped to remind me that the name of the game this summer is reliance on God. There will be times when I have no idea what I'm doing or how to love those who I'll be interacting with, and I will need to fall on God not my own abilities. 

One blessing that came from not being able to leave was the opportunity to see one of my close high school friends get married.  Ever since I was a groomsmen in my sister's wedding a couple years ago, weddings have been vivid reminders of God's faithfulness in my life and in the lives of his children. Seeing Adalie and AJ celebrate their relationship with Christ and promising to live out that relationship through their love for each other was an incredibly encouraging way to start the summer. God is faithful. He has been faithful to his Children for ages and ages and that wont change this summer just because I don't know what I'm doing or I fail to love others like he loves me. 

Congratulations Adalie and AJ, and thank you for the reminder of God's faithfulness.