After several months of planning we were excited to welcome the St. Michael Catholic Secondary School of Stratford, Canada. They arrived to Hojancha to help out in the community and do volunteer work. The group consisted of 27 people: 23 students and 4 chaperones.
St. Michael Secondary School has previously made many trips to New Orleans to build and rebuild houses there, but this was their first time in Costa Rica, and we were happy to have them here!
Over the week, students were divided into four groups and every day the members of each group changed so that everyone could have the opportunity to try out different work sites. This way the students were also able to see more of Hojancha’s everyday life.
During their stay, students were busy working at the elementary school, botanical garden, retirement home and the local library.
In the elementary school the students were helping to teach English to the kindergarden kids and played with the pre kindergarten kids. They also started building a greenhouse for the school that will be a great help for the kids, since this way the school will be able to grow their own organic vegetables for the school lunches. Next to the elementary school, the students also had the chance to do some crafts with the kids at the library.
Their second project was the retirement home, where the students were fixing and painting the fence. They also helped out with other everyday tasks such as cutting the grass in the front yard and cleaning the sidewalks to make the life of residents living there easier and nicer.
Our biggest project went on in the Botanical Garden where the students first had to get the ground ready for the new greenhouse by digging up some of the previous plants. After that the work for building the greenhouse started and was finished during their stay in Hojancha. Since the major objective of botanical gardens is to maintain extensive collections of plants, this greenhouse will be used as a teaching tool for the elementary school students and all the other people who would like to study more about the different plants and planting techniques. Moreover, in Hojancha the botanical garden also provides the town with free trees and plants.
Students were also rewarded with a full day trip to Playa Tamarindo and to the Monkey Jungle Zip-Line Canopy Tour, which they enjoyed a lot.
Tropical Adventures is very grateful for all the good-hearted students, teachers and parents from St. Michael Catholic School for their hard work and commitment. We hope to see you back in Hojancha next year!
If you feel like helping out the community of Hojancha and would like get to know more about the programs we offer, we are more than happy to help you. For more information, please contact us!
Written by Kertu Tutt, Marketing intern