"un Pueblo Olvidado" [J]

Christine, director of youth development for AM.

Christine, Lewis (assistant english teacher for AM), and I spent the bulk of this past week in a neighboring town called Brasilito. Brasilito is a recently established beach town, as I understand it, the majority of the inhabitants are either first or second generation Brasilitoans. The town is very poor; drug abuse is a major issue in Brasilito. Yet there are many children who are full of life. Children who continually face issues on their own due to their parents missing in action. They have established an adorable sense of brotherhood to counter their abandonment.

Explaining to Ervin in his interview that AM aims to
balance the education level of Costa Rica. 

We came to Brasilito to participate in a two week summer camp of fun and learning. In cooperation with the Peace Corp., CEPIA, and San Diego State University, we entertain roughly 100 children per day, completely free of charge. Activities such as sports, english, art, dance, cooking, health safety, and water games. The main purpose of my involvement is to interview as many locals as possible on behalf of AM. Brasilito is AM's first project outside of Potrero. The expansion took place this past year. Initially, the idea was to replica Potreros program in Brasilito using the same strategy. However, a different town requires a different course of action. Thus, AM sent me to reevaluate the project definition into something that is more relevant to the needs of the people of Brasilito. I spent the first four days of camp having fun with mostly the older campers hoping that when I proceeded to interview them, they would see me as a friend rather than a new authority figure. On Friday, I interviewed the five boys who I found to be most influential, and also three parents. Kattie is the Peace Corp. representative in Brasilito who is in charge of the camp. I interviewed her informally, she has been significant in pointing me in the right direction. I hope to work with her more extensively next week.

Bowling was a hit.

4 corners.

There was an incident worth sharing which occurred on friday. A helicopter landed in a field nearby the camp which resulted in many campers dashing out, crossing a busy street, to get a closer look. The art teacher, Victor of Peace Corp. (last picture), and I went after them to chaperone them back to the camp. Victor handled the situation masterfully. When the runaways spotted us, believing they would be punished, they scattered. Then, Victor told them, "we need to get back to camp, but first, lets take a picture in front of the helicopter." Brilliant! the children immediately agreed. We took the photo, and slowly, returned to camp. Later, I applauded the humble Victor.

Snack time sponsored by one of the local markets.

Richard teaching Art class.