CASEM gets new kitchen

Casem gets new kitchen for the dinner , it will probably open in January.

Please notice the tables we have been working on hand in hand with them also have surfaced!!

Yeahh!! For CASEM!!

Latest Cebadilla school pics

The Cebadilla one room school looking good after complete renovation last december and touch up work from another team this year.

Thanks to all ! Bright shiny and under blue skies!!

December 2010 , First Team, Second week , CASEM

Roseann and Marina work the back room and get rid of dust and take pricing on.

December 2010 , First Team, Second week , Cebadilla

AA!!! It's coming up...so we better get the party started!!!

Ellie and Eric continue construction of the walls on the second week along side Elbin, Minor and Gerardo. Four rows of blocks have been precisely measured and placed.

3 Kings or Queens make it to Christmas Celebration

Our Three "Queens" of CASEM , Alice, Margaret and Roseann, surprise the team of volunteers with costarrican treats during Christmas/Goodbye to first weekers celebration.

They are hard at work supporting the local Womens´Craft Coop. Everything from culinary expertise in making plans for the café that is about to open, recipes , to gardening and pricing items.

December 2010, First Team, Cebadilla ladies demonstrate tamal making for Christmas

First Weekers say Goodbye to Cebadilla

After a week of digging , Ryan says Good-bye to Minor and received a little token in appreciation of all his hard work. Sister Jess was here to support with major earth digging and rock placement for the septic tank system. Oh Canada!!

Emeline second time in Global Volunteers Service Program

Emeline Contreras lives in San Francisco and works in Palo Alto, California. She is now in her second volunteer abroad service in a consecutive year in Costa Rica with her 11 year old son! She helped dig and clear the community service in Cebadilla, she hauled wheel barrows of cement and translating spanish-english extensively!! Thanks Emeline and Zeke!

December 2010,First Team , the day of the dig

Team Journal Day 2

8:00am

The two shuttles arrived on time to take us to the Cebadilla village and CASEM.

Group 1 consisted of Margaret, Alice and Rosanne traveling to CASEM. They were greeted upon their arrival in a very friendly manner. Their first task was sanding of the tables which were made from slabs of cedar, very rustic. A short while later they were offered coffee, tea and cookies. Then they were back to work putting sealant on the wood.

Their next task was becoming the cleaning crew for the shop, there was plenty of dust for them to clean. They had a lovely lunch, then walked to the cheese factory where they encountered a snake with blue diamonds on its back. They treated themselves to some ice cream at the cheese factory. They were then headed back to work where they priced lots of new merchandise and re-priced the coffee.


Group 2 consisted of Jess, Ryan, Jim, Sandra, Eric, Amy, Elle, Emiliene, Zeke, and our leader Nia. We headed back on our bumpy gravel road, we proceeded to drive to the village of Cebadilla which consists of 150 people. Elbin the Host Partner leader, described the project to us. The project was to add on one toilet, one shower and a special needs toilet to the community centre and church. After we understood the project we each provided any special skills we had that we could contribute to the project, many people were keen to do labour, painting, cement mixing, and anything else the community wanted.
We tour the school which had been newly renovated by previous Global Volunteers teams.

We got back to the site, Minor and Alvin mapped out the area to dig for the septic tank and trough. The septic tank area had to be 1 meter deep and the trough had to be 80 centimeters deep. Elle and Emily were working at the back of the community center removing dirt, clearing brush, and organizing the area. Everyone worked extremely hard digging and wheel barrowing, Erik’s wheel barrowing and Amy’s digging really stood out amongst the team.

We had one official break called by Nia and then stopped for lunch at 12:30. We went to a very nice home, had a great meal (rice, noodles, chicken and potato stew, salad, and fruit). We later had a nice tour of the garden and saw the nativity scene in their living room.

We took a shortcut back to work and continued our digging and wheel barrowing until shortly after 3. We did a clean up, wash down, and back on the bumpy ride to downtown Santa Elena for an ice cream treat.

Jim

December 2010 , First Team of 2011, Arriving

On the left: Amy shows progress on the first day in Cebadilla Community Center.

Team Journal

Saturday 12-18-10: dinner reception

The adventure started with a nice sit down informal dinner at Las Orquideas. The night was pretty quiet, but to be expected because most people were jet lagged and none of us knew each other prior to this experience.


Sunday 12-19-10

9:00am: Orientation meeting

It seems as if the goals of the meeting were to start forming our team and to better understand the guiding principals and rules of this volunteer opportunity. It’s all about the people. The people on our team and the people we will be serving with. Whether talking about Global Volunteers or the local people, we are all learning about different cultures and their particular values on life.

We had about an hour to eat lunch and the food was good.

1:10pm: off to Monteverde

We are officially off on our “3 hour tour”. It was a beautiful day for the drive and not much traffic. The sky was so clear on the way up that Nia even let the driver pull over so we could be “tourists” and take the scenic photos of the beautiful landscape. And wow was it beautiful as we climbed the mountain! When we got to the gravel road, you could see and feel a little anxiety in the bus. We finally arrived at the hotels and had about 45 minutes to get settled in our rooms and/or adventure out for a bit.

5:20 pm: team meeting

We discussed team characteristics and did an informal Spanish lesson. I can’t believe how good Nia can speak English!

6:00: dinner

Dinner was brought to the hotel by a caterer and the food was great. We had fish, rice and salad. Rosanne had brought some delicious cornbread from Chicago and was gracious enough to share with the entire team. Delicioso!! With that, the night has ended. The real work begins tomorrow.

Amy

Spring into Service

"Spring into Service” with Global Volunteers to receive a special limited discount offer for our March and April 2011 teams!

Four or more volunteers who apply by January 31 for any of these 28 teams in 16 countries will receive a discount of $200 off our standard service program fee, per volunteer, for one-, two- or three-week international programs or $100 off our standard service program fee, per volunteer, for USA programs. No other discounts apply.

Please encourage others to volunteer in our five fundamental project areas: education (especially promotion of girls education), labor and community infrastructure, health care, child care, and food and nutrition. Call me at 800-487-1074 for details and I’ll assist you every step of the way.

Our worldwide host communities can’t wait to welcome you!

Be a bridge of understanding and peace! As a Global Volunteers team member, you're a catalyst for local people's vision of self-reliance and prosperity. You can truly make a difference! Global Volunteers pioneered direct service-learning programs abroad in 1984, and has mobilized more than 27,000 short-term volunteers on long-term development projects in more than 120 host communities on six continents.

Costa Rica Service Program Dates, March & April Teams:
19-Mar-11 to 2-Apr-11
30-Apr-11 to 14-May-11