Day 2: Sun., July 31, 2011

The adult group had a great day learning more about the challenges and opportunities facing Costa Ricans and supporting and celebrating the work of the St. Mark’s youth group during their week of service.

After breakfast at Earth University, we traveled to Iglesia Episcopal Santa Cruz in Guacimo, Limon to worship with their congregation and the St. Mark’s youth.  In 2010, St. Mark’s partnered with Iglesia Episcopal Santa Cruz to build walls along the side of the church property, lay a tile floor in the chapel, create an altar, make improvements to the church’s bell tower, and paint a mural in the church’s fellowship space (to learn more, visit the 2010 blog).  Everyone was excited to see the completed space, the changes, and church’s parishioners, who were warm and welcoming as soon as we approached the chapel.  We, the St. Mark’s youth, and the congregation worshipped, shared Communion, and sang together in a mostly Spanish service.  After pictures, hugs and thanks from both Rev. Pedro and Rev. Sarah, we shared lunch in the church’s fellowship space and walked a few blocks to see one of the youth group’s projects – a community garden for play and reflection.

Guacimo, the area surrounding Iglesia Episcopal Santa Cruz, is known as a dangerous area where drug-related activity is prevalent.  To give parents and children a safe place to play and meet, the St. Mark’s youth group worked for several days, clearing a field of tall grasses, digging, removing large rocks, creating paths and flower beds, and planting trees and flowers donated by Earth University (to learn more, visit the 2011 youth mission trip blog).  The youth group shared their garden and experiences with us and the congregation, noting the parallels between creating a garden and the Creation story, and how in changing the land, the group hoped to change the community.  After pictures, garden strolls, more hugs and farewells, the youth and adults were bused a few blocks away to San Lucas in Hermania to visit the youth group’s other project worksite.

Children have few safe places to play and learn, and teen pregnancy is a major problem both in Hermania and throughout Costa Rica, though the country’s efforts to address this issue have been minimal.  In San Lucas, the St. Mark’s youth group challenged themselves to practice “radical welcome,” an ideology that charges us to become more inclusive, go into the community, and welcome “outsiders” into our midst and include them in our activities.  The teens of St. Mark’s stepped outside of their comfort zones and invited children they saw outside or encountered on the streets to join them for games and play in the San Lucas parish hall.  Over several nights, the youth group hosted a cookout, played games with children, and had a movie night (Toy Story 3) for children ages 2 – 16.  Several 15-year-old mothers brought their toddler children, as well.  The number of children coming to San Lucas increased from 15 the first night to nearly 60 the third and fourth nights, demonstrating how much the children in Hermania need the ministry and safe haven provided by the youth group.  It was clear that the children appreciated the play and activities as much as the youth group enjoyed playing and interacting with them. 

The adult group was very impressed and excited by the youth group’s work, and discussed how to develop long-term youth programming to help the children around San Lucas and how to expand similar programming to other areas in Costa Rica.  Fortunately, Rev. Pedro may have found someone to continue the youth group’s activities at San Lucas and give the area’s children a place for play and help build a safer community for them to grow and develop.  On a larger scale, N.C. Episcopal diocesan representatives and diocesan leaders in San Jose and Limon are working to develop an infrastructure to create/design youth programming and employ support staff to carry out that vision.

After celebrating the youth group’s successful projects, the adults and youth returned to Earth University to take a tour of the campus.  We saw various eco-friendly means of food production and recycled materials (soda bottles, oil cans, tires) used to create garden beds.  We toured a garden full of tropical herbs and plants used for medicinal purposes, and our guide told us more about the university and efforts students are making to return home to improve their communities’ quality of life with their knowledge.

Following the tour, the adult and youth groups went to dinner with Rev. Pedro to celebrate their work and bid farewells.  Mike Tinsley, Rev. Pedro, and the youth group’s bus driver made speeches of thanks and gratitude, and everyone enjoyed the time together.  On the bus ride home, the adults shared “pows and wows” (high and low points of the day).  Most of the pows were about realizing the poverty and dangerous conditions children face in Guacimo and Hermania, but the wows focused on the steps being taken to improve those conditions, the youth group’s hard work, the community’s excitement about new ideas and resources to bring about change, and the youth group’s excitement about being an agent for that change.