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A Tour of Tico Culture: Culture, Science and Education in Costa Rica, 2005
Cooperative Extension Service Vice President for Public Service and Outreach In June 2005, a diverse group of educators—teachers, principals, agricultural extension agents, and one family and consumer science specialist—sponsored by the Center for Latino Achievement & Success in Education (CLASE), the Cooperative Extension Service and the Vice President for Public Service and Outreach—arrived at the La Amistad Hotel in San Jose, Costa Rica to begin a two-week cross-cultural seminar in this thriving Central American country. The goal of the seminar, "Culture, Science and Education in Costa Rica," was to help educators better understand and work more effectively with Georgia's growing Latino population, which is expected to reach one million in 2007.
The seminar began with a presentation on the cultivation and history of coffee in Costa Rica at Café Britt, an agro-tourism complex in the outskirts of San Jose. Coffee, tourism and Intel computer chips are among the largest employers and foreign exchange earners in Costa Rica. Then the group started the four-hour drive to the UGA Ecolodge San Luis at the base of the Monteverde cloud forest. Along the way, they experienced some of the challenges of Costa Rica, driving over unpaved roads on the side of a mountain during a heavy rainstorm.
At the Ecolodge San Luis, highlights of the agents study of Costa Rican culture, education, and rural economy included home stays with small-scale farm families at Finca La Bella, a hike up La Trocha (shortcut to Monteverde), and visits to rural primary and secondary schools in Santa Elena. During their home stay with the farm families in San Luis, the extension agents observed their families' dedication to education. "Children are motivated to learn and parents pay close attention to their kids doing thir homework, even by candle light," said one agent during a reflective session on their home stay experience.
The small-scale farm families at Finca La Bella were very limited resource farmers, owning two to ten acres on steep hillsides, intercropping coffee, beans, bananas and vegetables for home consumption. Milking by hand began at 5:00 a.m. for the early risers. Fresh milk was consumed at home, converted to cheese or sold to the Monteverde Cheese Factory.
The condition of the small garden at Los Altos de San Luis reflected the scarce resources devoted to country schools. Upon his return to Georgia, Bobby Wilson, county extension agent in charge of the Atlanta Urban Gardening Program in Fulton and DeKalb County, sent an eight pound box of seeds to the school so that the children can learn more about vegetable production and gardening practices. The agents unanimously exclaimed, "If you offer this course again, you should include a service learning project during the home stays so that we can leave something of value to this community."
At the end of the first week, the agents left the Ecolodge San Luis to learn about agricultural and environmental research at the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE) in Turrialba on the Atlantic side of the country. Jason Donovan, a former UGA graduate and Rural Enterprise Specialist at the Center for Competitiveness of Eco-enterprises (CeCoEco), organized an intense six-day program of farm visits ranging from simple cacao producer cooperatives to large scale international agribusinesses.
The agents visit to APOT, an organic farmers' cooperative, illustrated the challenges of small farm survival in a risky environment. Small farmers receive no support from the government, organic certification can be expensive, and marketing a challenge. A local farmer gave them a tour of his small diversified five-acre farm, producing everything from vegetables under plastic to dairy and beef cattle on land that was formerly growing coffee and sugarcane before prices of both commodities collapsed.
On Sunday morning, the agents began a lengthy visit to small scale milk and cheese producers in Santa Cruz, a community on the slopes of the Turrialba volcano. The focus of the eco-enterprise in this dairy region is artesian cheese which is well known in Costa Rica. Food safety dominated the agents' discussion about local cheese production.
During the week-long tour of eco-enterprises, the agents visited a sugar cane farm and processing plant, a mini-vegetable producing region on the slopes of the Irazú volcano, a pineapple plantation, and a certified women's organic cacao cooperative operated by an indigenous community. The extension agents reflective session on their cross-cultural experiences were intense and poignant as they discussed their plans to utilize them in CES programming activities, speaking engagements, and 4-H programs. "Our group's experiences in Costa Rica will provide an additional perspective on our state's Hispanic community," remarked one extension agent. Another commented, "I firmly believe that we will see immediate and long-term benefits for programs designed to build a better understanding of our Latino community in Georgia."
—Glenn C. W. Ames |
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