The Carbonera School and Community - Karen and John Lewis, April, 1993, Developers of Lapa Rios, Peninsula de Osa, Costa Rica and Returned Peace Corps Volunteer secondary teachers, Kenya, East Africa, 1968-'70
The Carbonera School and Community - Karen and John Lewis, April, 1993, Developers of Lapa Rios, Peninsula de Osa, Costa Rica and Returned Peace Corps Volunteer secondary teachers, Kenya, East Africa, 1968-'70
The Carbonera School and Community
The Carbonera School is located on the Osa Peninsula in Southwestern Costa Rica. The famed Corcovado National Park is nearby. The Peninsula has always been considered the most rural and least developed region in the Costa Rica; there is no electrical nor telephone service, no water nor sewage system and a single primitive road winds through the area. The region is mountainous. This rugged terrain isolates the people from each other resulting in little sense of community. However, at a gathering of neighbors in January 1991 the idea of a community school was shifted from a dream into action. Most neighbors had never met each other nor known they shared a common ideal of educating their children. Now, two year later, there is a school and education has begun.
The future of the Osa, the largest tract of lowland tropical rain forest remaining in Central America, depends largely on the actions of the people living within its borders. With access to education, the local people can learn alternatives to their subsistent life styles and come to respect that a forest left standing is more valuable than one cut down. Unfortunately, the fate of the Osa and conservation itself is in question. While conservation is the goal of the government, deforestation remains a serious problem because the government frequently is unable to enforce its policies. Plus, policies regarding cutting of wood change constantly. Most of the Carbonera area is virgin forest with exception of the farms being cleared by community members. The local subsistence farmers perceive their only option for income is to clear more land for cash crops. Others see clear cutting land for cattle farming as ideal. Learning new ways to use preserved forests requires education.
Most families in the Carbonera area live on small farms, in simple huts with dirt floors. Very few have running water. None have electricity. Mostly tenant farmers or squatters, they survive off the food they raise, mostly beans and corn. Using slash and burn techniques, these farmers continue to deplete the rain forest. In addition, when the land becomes infertile the solution is to cut more forest, only increasing deforestation. To earn spending money for essentials the men work as laborers, stooped under the hot tropical sun with machetes in hand, clearing grass and brush for large-tract land owners preparing fields for rice or pulp trees. Only some local people in the Carbonera area respect and understand the rich bio-diversity of the region and the opportunities conservation offers.
Education about the Osa’s unique qualities has come from the perspective of outsiders who continually open the minds of the local people. Most community members are illiterate and had not envisioned a way to change their existence. Environmental education has begun on a simple scale. Children will benefit from both formal and environmental education as will the community as a whole.
The school’s very existence stands as a testament to the challenge of change and the courage it takes to do something about the present. Change, at all levels in all cultures, takes courage.
Some of the local people worked very hard on the actual building of the infrastructure and beginning support systems. Others have been bystanders, waiting for the school to happen. This community is no different than any other in the world—some will work diligently to realize a dream, others will be on the outside watching. Those who have organized the board of education, have worked on the collecting of funds and construction materials and involved themselves in construction are the people who want to see the Carbonera School a reality.
The results from more than a year’s work resulted in a successful school year in 1992 for 22 children, all transported by pickup truck to the Pto. Jiménez Primary School. During this rainy year parents helped ford rivers with children on their backs. Donations helped defray costs of transportation. The ongoing requests for donations during 1992 also brought money for building materials and hands-on workers from volunteer groups such as Global Volunteers and the U.S. National Guard.
The children came to the Carbonera School on March 1, 1993 because of the diligent work of many people. The government gave the community a teacher. By design, success for completion of construction depends on the local people continuing to raise money to finish the school project. Problems abound; a new water source must be located, as the spring no longer produces water. The teacher’s house, the latrine building, the dining hall and the kitchen are incomplete and waiting construction. The people must continue to work for their dream.
In April 1993 four additional families have enrolled their children in school and the attendance is almost 100% daily with 26 students. The children are hard working and tough: many boys have machete scars from years of work in the fields. The girls clean, cook and do laundry by hand from an early age. Although their new school shoes are dirty with mud from the long walks, they come. Some walk through the forest for over an hour to get to school. One first grade boy is 15; seven children in grades 1 and 2 are over 10 years old. But they all want to learn and their parents want them educated. One family has been so isolated their children barely speak recognizable Spanish. The students are eager to be part of the Costa Rican culture in their blue skirts/pants and crisp white shirts. They sit tall at their long bench desks made from scrap wood…but we must make a smaller bench for the 6 and 7 year olds...our well-meaning fathers thought one size would fit all!
This community effort is working because the people are not being stopped by their problems. We continue to look for sand to make concrete. We continue to look for enough money to hire a skilled person plus an assistant, workers who can read plans and be on site ALL day creating not just buildings but "progress". And we keep looking for money to purchase simple supplies like blackboards, chalk, a map, and a globe.
Together, the neighbors of Carbonera are beginning to see a difference in their lives and their future. They glimpse the meaning of ‘co-operation’. One concept the community knows for sure is that education is the key that leads to more opportunities and a healthier standard of living.
If you would like to share in the ongoing building of the Carbonera School, make your tax deductible contributions (marked "Carbonera School") to:
ASOCIACION de EDUCACION de ESCUELA CARBONERA Please Note New Address 8-2001: Costa Rica-Minnesota Foundation, 2424 Territorial Road , St. Paul, Minnesota, 55114. Tel (651) 645-410 Fax (651) 645 - 4684 E-mail: lupita.barahona@2424group.com Contact person: Lupita Barahona
A WISH LIST for the Carbonera School - Please visit and give what you can.
If you are in Lapa Rios make out a check to ASOCIACION de EDUCACION de ESCUELA CARBONERA and leave it in the general tip box at the reception desk. 100% of your gift helps continue the building fund.
Karen and John Lewis, April, 1993, Developers of Lapa Rios, Peninsula de Osa, Costa Rica and Returned Peace Corps Volunteer secondary teachers, Kenya, East Africa, 1968-'70
Lapa Rios - The Carbonera School and Community , Costa Rica, phone: + (506) 735-5130, fax: + (506) 735-5179
Please Click here for Carbonera School Journal - History from 1992 to the Present
Carbonera School Journal - 1992-1993 Carbonera School Journal - 1994-1995 Carbonera School Journal - 1996-1997 Carbonera School Journal - 1998-1999 Carbonera School Journal - 1999-2000 Carbonera School Journal - 2000-Present
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