Presenting "My Costa Rican Experience" by Robert Lamagno

Mission Statement:

I/we want to help preserve the culture and language of the Bribri and Costa Ricans. We want to empower them with the knowledge to protect their land and the rain forests of Costa Rica. These forests benefit the entire world by providing oxygen and water and therefore life to us all. (I encourage you to watch the movie “An inconvenient Truth” and study www.climatecrisis.net to learn more about global warming.)

Costa Rica is a peaceful country without a military. It is our goal to maintain their peaceful existence without violent intrusion and capitalism. We want to do our part in protecting autonomy without opening up to commerce and “Walmarting” the country, Walmarting meaning bringing in conglomerations and putting the local tradesmen and merchants out of business.

We are helping in the development of Education Plans to educate local tribes and communities to be self-sufficient and to create a healthier more comfortable lifestyle without changing their loving, happy culture and family values.

Why Costa Rica?

I have been looking for a place to move to for about three years. I wanted to be surrounded by nature, water and serenity. I wanted a peaceful place filled with loving, appreciative, compassionate people. I did hours of research. I even traveled to some of a few top choices. I found just what I wanted in the amazingly beautiful country-Costa Rica.

Personally, I am helping in the development of many volunteer programs new and existing to do just that. I am helping with marketing and promotion and general business consulting. I am only working with projects, which I have researched and feel comfortable with in that all proceeds and donations go directly to the needs of the project and the community.

Beyond my consulting work I will be working and living with the Watsi tribe. Scott and Laura of “Tropical Adventures” coordinated my trip and tours. Scott and I were introduced via email through our mutual friend Trent from Palm Springs about six months ago. We admired each other’s work, energy and values. Once we met in person we knew we would be life long friends. His partner Isaac is equally as wonderful. I am very blessed to have been introduced to Laura, the volunteer coordinator and project manager as well. She is an amazing woman and has become a very dear friend. She has been an intricate element to the development of these projects. We all share the compassion for others, teaching love by example. We realize the more we give of ourselves the more we are blessed in life. Scott and Laura arranged for me to stay with the Chief of the Uatsi and his wonderful family. Within one week of working and living with them on their beautiful reservation we were all in love. I spent three hours a morning with the children. I had about twenty-five students and about ten to twenty-five adult students in the afternoon. I taught English and arts/crafts and business development.

I have committed to continue working with their education. I will be teaching English and business as well as creating a more sophisticated market/store and tours. Construction has already begun on a four bedroom Indigeonous Ranch-home. This home will have consistent running water and bathrooms of which they currently do NOT have. The home will be built with a large kitchen to not only feed the families but volunteers and visitors to the reservation. Bungalows will later be built as the money is raised. The bungalows will be used for volunteers to stay as well as paying guests who want to enjoy the serenity and beauty of the land and it’s people. We will also be raising money to build a Cultural/Education building. This indigenous building will be used for: town meetings, family events, educating visitors about the tribe’s language and culture as well as educating the locals in English, Business and Ecology. We will be working towards providing secondary school education for grades 7-12. There is currently Not a continuing education program beyond 6th grade near Uatsi. This same building can be rented out to special interest groups and used for retreats and sleeping large groups. Uatsi is an ALL-denominational tribe believing that “there are many pathways to God but the view is always the same at the summit.” All Spiritual/Religious Church groups are welcome to experience Costa Rica and the wonderful people of the Uatsi reservation. We will be surrounding the Center with a botanical garden and education trails complete with tropical flowers, medicinal plants, trees and ORCHIDS!

The home will be built out of all materials possible from the land on which it sits. We are making every effort to use wood from trees that are dying or have fallen. Most the furniture as well as plates, bowls and glasses will be hand made. The bathrooms and kitchen counters will be mosaic tile done by local artisans. The walls will be adorned with their beautiful art work and crafts. Don Timoteo Jackson, the Chief of Watsi, has provided several acres of beautiful land atop a mountain with amazing views. It is surrounded with rivers, waterfalls and streams, trees and flora that go on for miles.

How you can help:

We need your help to help empower these wonderful people. We need funds to build the village of Uatsi. It is surprisingly very inexpensive to construct. We can build and furnish the Cultural/Educational Center for two thousand dollars. I have committed to build and furnish the house on my own. Each hut used for Volunteers will cost Five Hundred Dollars and would sleep four. We are hoping for at least six of these such huts. The gardens and trails would cost approximately one thousand dollars. This is very important because tourism is their main source of income. Butterfly and Iguana habitats can be built for about two thousand five hundred dollars. The more interesting and informative we can make their tours the better the income will be. Thus allowing the families to support themselves. We can buy horses for fewer than two hundred dollars each. They can be rented for tours as well as work on the reservation. I would love to get someone to help design and build a Zip-line/Canopy on the reservation as well.

My goal is to create a model for other communities to follow. This village will grow it’s own food including a Tilapia fish farm. The families need education on crop planting, maintenance and rotating. They would like to buy their own chickens to produce eggs for themselves and of course to eat.

I will need teaching materials and general school supplies for sixty students as well as “home school” materials for grades 7-12. We are looking for volunteers to help in these programs. Our goal is to help educate the adults to be able to support their families. Having the knowledge to own and run an education and tour business is one way to do just that. We want to educate the children to prepare them for University. We want them to have the tools necessary to protect their land, rain forests and values and essentially Peace.

We are looking for volunteers to teach special skills like home and furnishing construction. Art and craftsmen, assistance in design and trail building, teachers and teacher assistants, translators, physical education, health and nutrition instructors, vegetable, fish and livestock farming educators, all denominational spiritual teachers and retreat leaders, botanical gardeners and designers and anyone willing to just come and share their experiences with these wonderful people. Trust me you will gain much more than you give and leave uplifted and filled with love.

We will need:

A satellite for Television and Internet access
Dictionaries
English/Spanish Books
Educational Materials and Games
School Supplies of all kinds
Computer/Printer/Scanner
Tables and Chairs
Graphic Designers
Printed Shirts and Hats for the tour guides and to sell to tourists
Signage
Marketing and promotion materials

The families need:

OH JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING but specifically:
Clothes
Candles,
Matches, lighters
Kitchen supplies
Furnishings (at least chairs!)
Canned foods
Appliances especially refrigeration and freezers.

Please take some time to look at Tropical Adventures’ web site for more information and ways you can help on a personal level.