Costa Rica Expert Interviews?

I would like for you to interview the Voz Que Clama Mission in Tuis de Turrialba. These are two amazing young Costa Ricans who take in the handicapped indigenous that are put out to die. You can ask them quwstions about the state of education on the Cabecar reservation. They make monthly 5 hour walks to the reservation to work with the children and assess their needs. Ask them about education for the children of Tuis.

These young men, Hector and Daniel are experts in their field. Lets hear how it really is from Tico’s. When I read stories written about Costa Rican education (Love it or leave it) in todays issue written by a Gringo tourist, I am reading what he has copied from brochures.

This is not the reality of the mjority of Costa Rican education and certainly not rural Costa Rica’s education. I will bet you he has not even been to a classroom. Go visit the mission, ask them about the level of education and literacy for Costa Ricans. What is the level for the Indigenous?

Shocking! I don’t think we are doing the Costa Rican people any favors by wearing rose colored glasses regarding their high level of education and literacy. It is simply not true.

The following is my letter to the author of today’s article.

The propaganda regarding education in Costa Rica is not accurate. What does high standard of literacy really mean and what does it mean to you or to me. Here is what I know to be true, I live in rural Costa Rica, South of Turrialba, and in our community we offer free reading lessons, and educational assistance.

Many rural schools have teachers who are not highly educated, may not in fact be a teacher, they may be someone’s cousin and that is their only qualification.

There are no books, not one, in the classroom.

The children have never read a story, nor been read to.

They neither have a dictionary nor do they know how to look up a word. Example, doctor, you start on page one of the dictionary and flip through every page until you find the word. They have no idea to start at d, do, doc, doct, docto, doctor. No idea.

This also means that they can not use a telephone book. I gave the telephone book to a 15 year old, in high school so that he could find a dentist and make an appointment to have his abscessed tooth fixed. Open the book to page one, and he flipped every page, never finding D for dentist. Who knew?

So I ask you? What does literacy mean, and what does it mean to you? We teach everyday English, simple phrase the people can use. How to use a dictionary in Spanish, and how to use a telephone book in Spanish. Simple but important, one little step forward in being literate. When 15 year olds are reading in Spanish, and they can not read the words that are in their Spanish newspaper, something is very wrong. They are, in my opinion not literate. It is time to take off the rose colored glasses.

Most of our donated reading material consists of children’s books in English. We have only a few Spanish books that have been donated by a publisher and they are mostly too complex for our students of all ages including the adults. So we learn to read in English through children’s books or in Spanish using the newspaper, dictionary, and yellow page phone books. Being able to sign your name and pick out a few words is not being literate. Many gringos say that Costa Ricans do not like to read. No, that is not it. They can’t enjoy a book, because they have never had one. They don’t know the words, and therefore are not literate.

If you would like to help the children of Costa Rica, let’s tell the truth about the educational system here. For the most part, rural education sucks big time. And if you want to know about Indigenous education I would be more than happy to share the truth. A 2 day visit to the reservation by a “teacher” is not an education. And what are his qualifications? Good question. The two that I have met, who leave their car at our farm, I don’t think they are educated. These “teachers” are poverty struck, in fact they do machete work for us. Are they literate, I don’t know, what does that mean?

We provide uniforms, pencils, paper, art supplies and books for the rural poor and Indigenous in our area. You can read more on my blog http://www.costaricamountain.blogspot.com

I have come to repeatedly ask the question, what does that mean? What does that mean to them? What does that mean to you? And what does that mean to me? Dig a lot deeper, because what you are told, and what the reality is, is not even close. I have provided two links at the end of this email that will verify what I have told you. There is far more information for you, but you know how to do research and why take my slanted view of the rural education I know and deal with.

The following is our wish list should you desire to help. And I will thank you now for your efforts. The need is real. A mind is a terrible thing to waste and if we want to end the poverty cycle, education is the only way.

Wish list,

Used lap top computers

chalk

pencils

colored pencils

scissors

pens

crayons

art paper

art supplies

craft paper

book bags

finger paints

powder craft paint

face paint

sweat shirts from the thrift store on 1/2 price day, sizes small and medium and children sizes These are small frame people. It is cold in the mountains.

good practical clothing, jeans, t-shirts, (small and medium sizes and children’s sizes)

Baby clothes

Cloth diapers

gathered skirts for girls (they like skirts)

sneakers, children’s sneakers, all sizes for children

good quality new socks

drum sticks ($2.00 a pair on the internet) develops the brain and is a tool for teaching counting and math

anything educational

flash cards

simple Spanish / English dictionaries

blow up beach ball globes of the world (they have never seen the world round, only flat)

Sincerely,

Ginnee

Ginnee y Felipe Hancock
Finca Quijote de Esperanza, SA
Costa Rica
http://www.costaricamountain.blogspot.com

http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/47/034.html

http://216.239.51.104/search?q=cache:rDvlFdQcJIQJ:www.crin.org/docs/resources/treaties/crc.23/costaricaNGOreport.pdf+teachers+report+rural+education+costa+rica,&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=9

Here’s my list of experts that I believe would provide an incredible interview and wonderful insight about Costa Rica:

– Carlos Ricardo Benavides (Minister of Tourism)
– Javier Bolanos (Director of Polo Turistico Papagayo)
– Pat Pattillo (Hacienda Pinilla)
– Bill Royster (Marriott Los Suenos)
– Alberto Kader (Grupo Genesis)
– Ronald Zurcher (Zurcher Arquitectos)

Scott, I would really like for you to interview Bill Royster in particular. I would love to learn more about his life story and his vision of creating the Marriott Los Suenos Resort, his experience in Costa Rica Real Estate, his future plans in Costa Rica or Panama, his view on the real estate market and the situation in Costa Rica in general. He created Costa Rica’s most famous and succesful Resort so this is definitely a person worth interviewing. What do you think?