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.
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