I greatly appreciated all the support that I had while in Costa Rica, so it's about time I update you on how the trip went. All 9 of us Coloradan women made our way to the AMCA house in the San Francisco area of San Jose where our trip together began. It's a great place for groups to stay, and we ended up sharing the house with a group of girls from the Fellowship of Christian Cheerleaders. Needless to say, they made the house pretty lively, but I enjoyed getting to chat with them and hear about the work they were doing.
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| AMCA House is the yellow one |
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| Lots of bunk beds to provide plenty of room for groups |
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| The shared eating/meeting area |
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| From the other perspective looking back at the kitchen |
The AMCA house has a chef that cooks for the groups. The lovely lady in the apron made us a delicious breakfast and dinner every day!
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| A small taste of the amazing plant life in Costa Rica right outside |
We hit the ground running on Monday morning with an intro from Christina to Costa Rica and the ministries we would be working with. Christina was one of our partners from Food for the Hungry who helped us all week. She and her husband (Luis Diego) and two boys (Joseph and Benjamin), live in San Jose and work with many of the children of the mothers that we were working with. They were great to spend time with and I was so thankful for how much they helped organize our time and always watched out for us. We were given a short amount of time to go find food for lunch; our first little venture out on the streets. I very quickly found that there was a produce stand just down the road selling fresh drinking coconuts!
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| I was a happy camper! |
We also successfully completed our first mission of finding the post office.
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| If you ever need to know what it looks like in Costa Rica |
We made it back just in time to leave for our first day of training. This involved walking about a mile to a bus stop and then catching a bus that took us on about a 25 minute ride into the neighborhood where we were working. I honestly never figured out where we were; I just got on the bus and got off when I saw the "God is Love" sign. I was glad we got to always take the public transportation because I think it gives you more of an opportunity to see real life and interact with more people.
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| Bus Cementerio |
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| Jessie & Barb - teammates and roommates |
We held the training at a place called the Bethesda House, which is where one of the groups of women meets regularly for their Bible study and sewing.
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| Welcome! |
Space was tight, but we made it work. We had about 35 women and 3 brave men in the training. It was great to see how eager the women were to be there. Most people live on "Tico time" which means they may show up an hour or two late. But for the training, everyone showed up every day on time and sometimes early. That was a big deal! We had a fantastic head translator who translated everything we taught from the front.
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| Andres translating for Amanda V. |
For those of us who were not fluent in Spanish, we also had a translator for our small group discussions.
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| Yorleny - so thankful for her friendship and translation skills! |
The first day was a little chaotic with trying to figure out how to arrange all of the chairs and learning how everything worked. But it was still a great day of having the women dream big and share their ideas of what they might want to do.
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| My Day 1 Group |
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| These women have big dreams and ideas to share! |
Day 2 was more organized. We had assigned groups that we ended up keeping for the rest of the week. It helped to have consistency and be able to get to know them better so that we could build on each day. It was exciting to hear them share, see light bulbs come one, and watch their confidence build in just a few days. I discovered that many of them already have some sort of small business going - jewelry making, sewing, food - but they want skills that will help them take their business to the next level. Many of them are selling on the street, but want to have a store. Some of them have little shops, but want to know how to be more profitable or manage the business better. They all had great skills and talents already, so they were ideal candidates for the training. During training they were able to learn about budgeting, saving, pricing, customer service, marketing, and more. We take so much of this for granted, but I heard from multiple women how eye-opening these topics were. They shared experiences with each other. They helped each other. They had great questions. Some of them were even ready for a more in depth training on running a business because they were wanting to know more about tracking inventory. If we had any problem, it was that the women were too eager to share and talked a little too much.
One of the most tangible learning moments I saw in my group was using a calculator. There were a few women in my group who had never used a calculator before. They were very hesitant to even try using one at first. They kept trying to hand it off to other women so that they could just copy the answers. The teacher in me insisted that they be the ones to use the calculators. Hands-on is the best way to learn and I knew that they could. So I had them keep practicing until I could visibly see them start to relax and feel more confident. By the last day, they were grabbing the calculators and calculating their own budgets and were so proud when they were able to determine their profit. It was a great reminder of why I love teaching so much. Seeing the entrepreneurs' faces light up was such a joy!
During the training there were several skits that made for some good laughs and great visual demonstrations.
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Providing great customer service to get Yorleny to buy the
red shirt that would look so nice on her |
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How NOT to make the sale - trying to sell a dead chicken
to someone who wants a live chicken |
We also got to talk about how God made each of us unique. We all have gifts that He has given us that we can use to serve Him and serve our communities. We talked about how things are so much more beautiful when we all use our unique gifts and talents.
Everyone always got excited about the coffee break. We were in Costa Rica after all.
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| They love their coffee! |
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Coffee breaks also offered a great opportunity for more
discussion and follow-up on topics just covered |
The whole thing seemed to fly by and before we knew it, it was the final day and what everyone had been looking forward to - Graduation! They had invited a local missionary to come and play a few worship songs before the ceremony. It was a beautiful time of praise and thanksgiving for what God had provided throughout the week.
Even though I hardly understood a word, I always love hearing people sing praises to God in their heart language. I can only imagine how amazing that will be when all nations, tribes, and tongues stand before the throne.
After that, each entrepreneur was called up individually to receive their certificate. This was such a big deal. Many of them have never graduated high school, so this may be the first certificate they have ever received. They cheered just as loud and big for each person from the first to the last.
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Proudly displaying her earned certificate - she has owned
her own hair salon for 14 years and will use this training
to improve her business even more |
After graduation, a seemingly endless round of group photos ensued, but I don't blame them :)
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| The whole graduating class of entrepreneurs |
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My group of wonderful entrepreneurs!
Saray, Evelyn, Maricella, Karen, Priscilla & Carmen |
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Yep, we just took up the whole street. Good thing there
are rarely cars driving through. |
I was so thankful to see the training in action. I loved seeing how it empowered them to make a difference in their own communities. I loved that we were leaving them with tools and knowledge that they could use. They didn't need us to stay and do it for them. As I mentioned before I left, these are women who are struggling through abuse, single motherhood, joblessness and more. But you would hardly know it. They are full of ambition. Full of love. Full of life. And after this week, more full of hope for a better future.
Outside of training, we were given a lot of freedom to explore the city and get a little bit more taste of the culture. One morning, a group of us set out on an adventure. Elizabeth, one of the girls on our team, was born in Costa Rica. She wanted to find the hospital that she was born in, so we were on board to help her find it. It was kind of a comical experience with none of us really knowing where we were going, Elizabeth having semi-fluent Spanish, and watching bus after bus go by because it turns out we were waiting on the wrong one. We ended up finally just getting on one that seemed to be going the right direction. We soon found out that our angel was on that bus. Elizabeth just asked the couple beside her if they knew where the hospital was, and the woman replied that she worked right beside it and would walk us there. Perfect!
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| Elizabeth at her place of birth - Clinica Biblica |
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Of course we took a little stroll inside, which I'm sure looked
very suspicious to the staff, but we couldn't help ourselves.
It was very nice inside and probably the nicest bathroom
we got to use in Costa Rica ;) |
On Tuesday morning, we were there for the Costa Rica vs. England game in the World Cup. That was so fun to see the excitement of the whole country. School was cancelled for everyone, streets were full of people selling flags, and everyone had their jersey on. Our hosts graciously invited us to their home to watch the game with them.
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| It took a little work to get the rabbit ears just right |
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What's a game watching party without snacks? We made
guacamole, which apparently is not a Tico thing, but they
enjoyed it anyway |
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It also turned into a hair salon because Yorleny would like
to be a hairstylist, so why not let her practice on us? |
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The picture doesn't do it justice, but this was
a cool braid she put in my hair - "Magic" |
The game was a bit anti-climatic with the score being 0-0 in the end, but it was still fun to see the national excitement, and it meant there was still another game to come.
Thursday morning, we all took a trip to downtown San Jose to see the sights and shop at the big market.
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| The National Theater |
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| Downtown - looks like a pretty typical big city |
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| Lots of cabs and buses |
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I thought this was funny and also a great idea;
a little area out front for people who just
wanted ice cream |
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Luis Diego took us to a really fun restaurant
with traditional Tico fair and decoration |
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| Great atmosphere |
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| Slightly random/crazy/eclectic decor |
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| I love anything served on a banana leaf! |
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That is a giant plantain covered in cheese.
Never seen anything quite like that before! |
I will go ahead and warn you that I'm going to end on a heavy note, but it is an important part of the trip that cannot be left out. In fact, it may have had the biggest impact on me of the entire trip.
For our final evening together, Kylie took us all out for a dinner downtown. In the process, we stumbled across the largest brothel in all of San Jose. At first glance, it looks like a fancy hotel with a casino. It's right by all the nice restaurants, has a nice sign and exterior. But a closer look reveals that it is surrounded by Caucasian security guards, Tico pimps, and mini-skirted Tican chicas. Not a single window is open to allow you to see in. This unexpected run-in gave us another picture and another side of the Costa Rican story. It gave us another understanding. It disturbed us and shocked us, but it impacted us in a way that we could not have planned. It's something that I've read about and heard about, but never before had it been so right in my face. My heart aches for the girls. I pray that they find freedom from captivity, release from darkness, true hope, and complete healing.
It all circles back to Isaiah 61, what Jesus came to do and what He still wants to do for these precious children of His. Hopefully through empowering work like Yobel is doing, this life of slavery can be prevented.
There are organizations doing great work in this area if you want to learn more:
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." -Jeremiah 29:11
