This morning we traveled to La Carpio which is a piece of land adjacent to the local landfill/trash dump--a neighborhood of 36,000 refugees from Nicaragua and other Central American countries who have been allowed to homestead in the area. Here, we met Gail who organizes a humanitarian effort to help the women of La Carpio and their families. The area has a strong smell of sulfur and is very loud as there are over 100 garbage trucks that pass through the area daily. Sometimes, we could barely hear Gale as she spoke--a condition very familiar to the local students.
Gail spoke of "poverty as a childhood disease" and stated that we very often "put a mask on it" so we don't have to address the issue and sometimes it is right in front of us but we never realize it, because parents are too proud to ask for help. It's true that poverty is very familiar to the families of La Carpio. Gail talked about the strains these people face daily such as; no water/or no clean water, no housing, no food/or no good food, no healthcare, no belongings, abusive family members, and an uncertain future. As a result the people experience a lot of stress and feel isolated, disempowered and "invisible" because nobody wants to hear their stories. Gail stated that she tried to keep the long term vision in her mind while she dealt with the immediate needs of the people (her examples included a 13 year old girl becoming pregnant with her husband beating her and having the roof of their house fall apart). She described the peoples' needs as a hierarchy similar to Masolow's ideas in which basic needs of food and water were the most important and as these survival needs are met, then the people can look more positively at the future in which they might receive better housing, education and employment. Gail made it clear that she did not live in La Carpio and stated: "If you live with the people, then you become the people...and then you can't help them." She descried a learning activity in which the children were asked to draw pictures of what they had eaten that day. One child drew only one picture--his school lunch, and that was because it was all that he had eaten that day.
The service learning project that day was to assist the local "Grandmothers Program" go door to door and hand out flyers to the residents with our leader Rosa. We spoke to them about keeping the trash indoors until the pick up day (Wed & Fri) so that dogs did not tear the bags and spread the garbage along the street. The goal was to help everyone understand that keeping the streets clean helps to protect everyone's health. In La Carpio, the water runoff is on the edges of the street and I noticed how careful Rosa was to avoid contact with that water. In the future, Gail hopes to encourage the local people to separate their organic waste and recycle it, which is a good idea if it can be implemented.
It's always tough to be exposed to people living in a poverty-stricken environment. However, it's something that I see here in Springfield daily. There are homeless camps in the woods near my home and our city is known nationally as a place that has a big outreach program which in turn, draws many of these people to Springfield. I think a lot of us wanted to help the people of La Carpio but it's also very difficult to understand. When I discussed my visit with the local working-class people of Heredia, they were quick to say these people were not invited to their country and most thought of them as "criminals" and "lazy people" who didn't contribute to the economy. That sounded harsh to me, but I couldn't just dismiss their opinions. I honestly don't know how to help this situation. However, as a teacher I think I will have more empathy for those children who come to school hungry and cold. It's heartbreaking to realize that some children only have one decent meal a day and that they get that meal at school. I guess it's best to take a line from Gale and focus on the immediate need in front of you and try to keep the perspective of the long term vision...it's challenging for everyone, that much I'm sure of.
a
neighborhood of 36,000 refugees from Nicaragua and other Central
American countries who have been allowed to homestead in the area. - See
more at:
http://news.co.cr/la-carpio-costa-rica-36000-refugees-from-nicaragua-and-other-central-american-countries/12773/#sthash.PvDBnqup.dpuf
a
neighborhood of 36,000 refugees from Nicaragua and other Central
American countries who have been allowed to homestead in the area. - See
more at:
http://news.co.cr/la-carpio-costa-rica-36000-refugees-from-nicaragua-and-other-central-american-countries/12773/#sthash.PvDBnqup.dpuf
a
neighborhood of 36,000 refugees from Nicaragua and other Central
American countries who have been allowed to homestead in the area. - See
more at:
http://news.co.cr/la-carpio-costa-rica-36000-refugees-from-nicaragua-and-other-central-american-countries/12773/#sthash.PvDBnqup.dpuf
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