Volunteer Placement Profile Agricultural Training Volunteer

Volunteer Placement Profile Agricultural Training Volunteer Escuela de Guayabal Tejar De El Guarco, Costa Rica www.volunteerbasecamp.com Escuela de Guayabal Placement ID: 895 Country: Costa Rica Location: Tejar De El Guarco Placement Category: Community Development Placement Type: Agriculture Organization Type: School - Elementary Minimum Duration: 3 weeks Language Skill: Intermediate Placement Fee: None Accommodation: Host Family Only Months Not Available: Jul,Dec www.volunteerbasecamp.com Quick Facts: Placement ID: IND-895 Location: Tejar De El Guarco, Costa Rica Sector: Community Development Category: Min Duration: 3 weeks Lodging: Language: Intermediate Job Description Located in an agriculture area, Escuela de Guayabal has the facilities to teach agriculture to the students as part of their formal educational program conducted by the Ministry of Education. However, due to the lack of teachers interested in teaching in this area, the school does not have the necessary number of staff to teach all subjects. Therefore, the science teacher strives to teach aspects of agriculture to the students when possible. An agriculture teacher volunteer would be expected to help the science teacher develop and implement an agriculture program that would be geared towards the different grades at the school. This program would stress the importance of agriculture in the twenty-first century and cover topics such as organic farming, the use of fertilizers and insecticides, rotation of crops, specific types of crops best suited at various locations, as well as the role of reforestation and the effects of global warming etc. Volunteers at this placement must be at least a current student at an agriculture or agronomy school and have intermediate Spanish language skills. The volunteers need to have a sincere desire to develop stimulating agriculture programs for the students and are willing to put in the time and effort that this entails. Volunteer Tasks Required Organic Farming Process Agriculture teacher volunteers must be able to teach the techniques involved in organic farming and the importance it has in the current agriculture system, with more international competition for agriculture products. Volunteers must be knowledgeable regarding how organic farming is accomplished in Costa Rica and the tools required. Growing Process Agriculture teacher volunteers must be very creative in order to teach the growing process of vegetables and fruit and stimulate the interest of the children so that they actively participate in this endeavour. The school provides a large orchard but they do not have the technology tools for the learning process. The Importance of Agriculture In the global world where technology displays such an important role in the daily routine of humans, children have lost interest in the importance that agriculture has in the world market. An agriculture training volunteer would be expected to help raise awareness of the importance of agriculture in our daily lives. Community Involvement As an agriculture teacher volunteer, you will be able to assign homework to the students to do at home with their families thus involving them in the learning process. Volunteers will be able to plan and implement an www.volunteerbasecamp.com agriculture fair before the end of the program in order to demonstrate the skills and knowledge learned by the children during their agriculture studies. www.volunteerbasecamp.com Organization Details About the Organization Escuela de Guayabal is a public institution under the regime of the Ministry of Public Education. The school receives approximately 144 children per year from the age of 5 to 13 years old. The classes are divided into four primary classrooms and one kindergarten classroom. The school has two difference schedules per day. Half of the children attend classes during the morning from 7:00 am to 12:10 pm and the other half from 12:30 pm to 5:40 pm. The students comprise of children from low-income families who's occupation is usually that of a farmer. Most of the children receive a scholarship from the government which stimulates the families to send their children to school. The scholarship covers the basic needs: uniforms, some school materials, as well as, daily transportation to the school. However, breakfast and lunch offered at the school, in their little dining room, is not provided. The school has nine teachers who divide the overall student population; to teach the basic lessons such as Math, Spanish, Social Studies, Agriculture, Science and English but the school does not have a Music or Physical Education teacher. To meet this need, as well as, to provide support to the English teacher they rely on the help of volunteers. When the Organization was Founded The school was founded in 1986 by the Costa Rican government with the help of the local community. The land was bought by a contribution of all the neighbors in the community, who realized due to an increase in the student population in the Guayabal district a school was needed. How the Organization is Funded This school is part of Costa Rica's public school system. Therefore, the government provides the funds to pay salaries of the teachers and basic construction materials for improvements. For any major improvements needed, the school must obtain the funds from the local community. The community gets the funds from annual fundraising activities like bingo. Role of Religion Within This Organization Although the Costa Rican Constitution establishes the Catholic Faith as the state religion, it also assures religious freedom for all. The school teaches Catholic principasl only to the Catholic students. www.volunteerbasecamp.com Placement Location Information Tejar del Guarco is located just 15-20 minutes by bus to Cartago's downtown. At the area is very common to see farms with plantations of lettuce, carrots, eggplants, watermelon, potatoes and other produce. Agriculture is the main income of families in this area. Downtown offers all the important services like banks, internet cafes, supermarkets, laundromats, little restaurants and clothing, furniture and technology stores. Guayabal is the name of the main suburb area where the school is located. It has a different environment from Tejar downtown, this area is more rural with very little facilities. There is no supermarkets but it has a pulperia which is a Costa Rican Spanish word for convenience store. City Description Tejar de El Guarco is located minutes away from the city of Cartago, which was the capital of Costa Rica until 1823. Geographically it is situated at an altitude of 1,435m above sea level on the slopes of Irazu Volcano, 24 km east of the city of San Jose. It is still the capital of the province of Cartago. The city is located in Costa Rica's Central Valley, approximately 25km from San Jose. Tejar del Guarco is located just 15-20 minutes by bus to Cartago downtown, here it is very common to see farms and plantations of: lettuce, carrots, eggplants, watermelon, etc. Agriculture here is very important for family livelihood. Guayabal is a smaller town, very traditional for example you can see people using carts pulled by cows to transport different products, vegetables and fruits. Cartago is one of the smallest provinces in Costa Rica but has the most abundantly preserved traditional colonial way of life. Points of Interest In pre-Columbian times the area now the canton of El Guarco, was inhabited by indigenous of the Huetar Eastern kingdom, which were Cacique's domains, who died before or in the first conquest, assuming the chieftainship was his child Correque. Don Juan de Cavallon, in 1561 sent an expedition led by Ignacio Cota, who discovered the valley of El Guarco. In June 1563, the conquer Don Juan Vazquez de Coronado made a recognition of the valley in order to check the references provided by Don Juan de Illanes de Castro, and to choose a place to move the population of Garcimuñoz, which had been founded in the valley of Santa Ana. The distribution of Indians made by Don Perafán de Rivera in 1569, Tobosi appeared divided into Guayacacic with 50 native and Tobosi with 100. In 1572 Don Perafán decided to take population of Cartago, located between the rivers Purires and Coris, the plains of Mata Redonda, to the actual canton of San José. The first chapel was built in the region between 1570 and 1581. In 1900 efforts began to build a church and a rectory, in La Concepcion town now the actual city of El Tejar. In the territorial division of 1886 school districts appear as La Concepción (now city of El Tejar) and Tobosi with the numbers five and fourteen, respectively, in the canton of Cartago. The first school was built in 1894, in the administration of Jose Joaquin Rodriguez Zeledon, which now takes the name of Ricardo Jimenez Oreamuno School. Elias Leiva Quiros College, began his teaching activities in March 1970, in the government of Jose Joaquin Trejos Fernandez. In 1923 steps were taken to install piping and two years later the electricity and telegraph in the second government of Ricardo Jimenez Oreamuno. www.volunteerbasecamp.com Ricardo Jimenez Oreamuno. On February 3, 1941 the first session of the Council of El Guarco was held, composed of the owners; Mr. Antonio Rojas Camacho, President Monge Jesus Ortiz, Vice President, and Emilio Granados. The city Clerk was Don Carlos Leiva Leiva and Political Chief Rafael Angel Alfaro Brenes. In the Administrative Territorial Division published in 1942 by the Department of Statistics, appears as El Tejar Villa. Subsequently, on August 16, 1969, in the administration of Don Jose Joaquin Trejos Fernández, was decreed by law No. 4379, which gave the town the status of city. Weather in the Area The high elevation of Cartago and frequent cloud cover give the city and surrounding areas relatively cool temperatures throughout the year.

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