Raleigh Costa Rica and Nicaragua: Overview

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Wednesday, 23 January 2013

Expedition 13A: Our Incredible Community and Environmental Projects

Over the coming weeks we will be discussing in detail all of the projects Raleigh Costa Rica and Nicaragua will be undertaking during expedition 13A; with information on why those specific projects are chosen and what we are hoping the outcomes will be. However for now we thought you would like to see a quick overview of everything we are doing and who from our incredible team of Project Managers have been allocated to which projects.

Environmental Projects

Raleigh environmental projects aim to fulfil the UN Millenium Development Goal 7a; reducing loss of biodiversity. Hoping to ensure environmental sustainability through education of local society, protection and preserving natural habitats and resources and also important species of plants and animals.

Alpha 4: Carara National Park, Costa Rica

Holly, Marisa, Lou and Emma

Objectives: Maintaining and creating new trails in the park, increasing tourist numbers and ensuring income for the park and local economy.

Project Managers: Louise, Emma, Marisa and Holly

Project Partners: SINAC

Summary: Literally translated Carara means 'the park of the crocodiles', a beautiful National Park in the South of Costa Rica teaming with diverse species of animals. At the moment the park is suffering from illegal logging and also issues with their trails which flood easily. Raleigh will be helping to create a new trail in a less likely to flood area to try and increase tourist numbers. This increased income will mean more money to fund rangers which will hinder the illegal logging, ensure maintenance of the area and benefit protection of this incredible area for future generations.

Alpha 5: RNVS San Lucas Wildlife Refuge, Costa Rica

Sally, Paul, Kate and Claire

Objectives: Environemental Protection Project - creating new trail, development of visitor centre.

Project Managers: Sally, Paul and Kate

Project Partners: SINAC

Summary: Once a prison, this island is now a wildlife refuge. High in biodiversity, the island suffers from poachers who arrive on a beach which at the moment is inaccessible for Rangers. Raleigh will be creating a trail which traverses the island, between two beaches, ensuring the rangers have easier access in order to patrol the refuge. Similar to Carara the project encompasses helping to develop visitor facilities, tourist monies ensure rangers income and maintenance of the parks.

Alpha 6: Cabo Blanco, Costa Rica

Zoe and Clive

Objectives: Environmental Sustainability Project - working alongside park rangers to maintain park infrastructure

Project Managers: Dr.Zoe and Clive

Summary: Cabo Blanco was set up in order to protect an area of rainforest which was under threat from illegal logging. This area of biodiversity has countless species of animals along it's stunning beaches and within the rainforest. Raleigh will be maintaining the trail network, painting parts of the ranger station and removing unwanted waste from beaches.

Community Projects
Basic Human Rights of education, access to safe clean water sources and disaster relief.

Alpha 7: Matapalo/ Monte Frio, Achuapa, Nicaragua

Lena and Antonio

Objectives: UN Millenium Development Goal to improve the health of the community through education in water sanitation and installation of a gravity water feed.

Project Managers: Antonio and Dr.Lena

Project Partner: Multi-stakeholder partnership with the local community, Cooperativa Juan Francisco Paz Silva and Raleigh

Summary: Installing a gravity water feed to deliver clean and safe running water to 40 families close to the town of Achuapa, this area is one of the poorest and most remote areas of Nicaragua. Currently the local community use water from the local river which often dries up in the summer and comes from polluted water sources. 21% of the Nicaraguan population do not have access to a safe water source.

Alpha 8: Siares, San Ramon, Nicaragua

Denise, Dav and Marie

Objectives: UN Millenium Development Goal 2: Universal Primary Education, Alpha 8 will be building a pre-school, installing two latrines and a water standpipe.

Project Managers: Dr.Dav, Denise and Marie

Project Partners: A new Raleigh partner UCA San Ramon, an association of small coffee farming cooperatives and families living within the San Ramon area.

Summary: Recent statistics show that 22% of the population in Nicaragua are illiterate. These problems are most felt in rural areas such as San Ramon where half of the population in Nicaragua live. In Siares there is a primary school however the younger pre-school children are educated in the same room as the elder children, a lot of disruption occurs and parents have removed their children entirely due to this. Improved education facilities and the creation of a pre-school will hopefully help achieve universal education in this area. Participation by the local community is integral and the team will be working on achieving this helping everyone to achieve the basic human right of education and the right to play for the area of Siares.

Alpha 9: Conte Burika - La Carona

Helena, Shane and Katharine

Objectives: Health Improvement Project, building a health post. This project hopes to improve the overall health of the community in treating conditions from respiratory issues to malnutrition.

Project Managers: Dr.Katharine, Shane and Helena

Project Partners: Conte Burika Community

Summary: Situated in the remote Burika Peninsula, this much needed medical centre will be built in Alto Rio Claro in Conte Burika Indigenous Territory. The Ngobe (or Guaymi) Indigenous people who live there currently, are subsistence farmers who maintain the cultural traditions of their ancestors and the project aims to improve the health of the community. Currently, visiting doctors (who walk 5 hours along a beach to reach the community) provide medical care for the local people at impromptu clinics based in the local school or community centre which makes providing adequate care very difficult.

Alpha 10: La Arenilla, Miraflor, Nicaragua

Angie, Victoria and Sacha

Objectives: creating sustainable housing using natural materials which ensures the local community can repair their properties themselves.

Project Managers: Sacha, Angie and Victoria

Project Partners: El Foro Miraflor - agricultural cooperatives whose members farm on the Miraflor Nature Reserve.

Summary: The Miraflor Reserve is 206sqkms of beautiful mountainous terrain with various different ecosystems such as tropical savannah, dry tropical forest and mountain cloud forest. This project will be undertaking building of sustainable housing, using natural materials local to the area and in partnership with the local community builders.

How to send your loved ones a message

It's easy. Scroll down to the bottom of the most recent entry and click the comments link. A box will then appear where you can write your comment - please don't forget to tell us who the message is for including the full name and project group of the recipient. You can select name/URL from the dropdown menu to tell us who it's from (you can leave the URL blank if you wish). Finally, click on 'Post Comment' and you're done.

As you can imagine there are 180 volunteers so hundreds of messages for loved ones, no comments go live immediately and have to be moderated for appropriateness, so please do bare with us.

All comments that are pertinent to the post will be publshed and all personal messages will be delivered (even if they don't appear published). Messages mean a lot to all the volunteers; thank you for your continued support.

Raleigh Lingo

Copy that?

Sometimes our Raleigh technical terms can be a tad confusing so we've put together a glossary for you blog followers. This will appear as a quick-reference section on the right-hand column so you can translate our Tico-terms into something a bit more palatable. And for those keen to brush up their Central American Spanish, we've included some handy translations. Here's a few to get you started...

Alpha, X-Ray and Zulu groups
(Grupos Alfa, X-Ray y Zulu)
The official name for project groups during the phases of CR&N 13A. Alpha will be out on project from 3rd to 23rd February, X-Ray from 24th February to 15th March and Zulu from 17th March to 5th April. Project groups are allocated during induction

Basha
Jungle ‘bed’: consists of a tarpaulin for shelter, a hammock and mosquito net. A basha is hung up between two trees and supported by rope, bamboo and canvas straps

Bodega
A Spanish word meaning store or warehouse

Bravo
A term of endearment for our hard-working Land Rovers. The four vehicles are officially, and imaginatively named Bravo One, Two, Three and Four

C.A.T.I.E.
The agricultural and development research institute on whose campus Fieldbase is situated. Find out more at http://www.catie.ac.cr/

Changeover (Cambio de Fase)
Two day period where all staff and Venturers return from their project sites for some respite before they are all reallocated and sent off to do it all over again...

Chicas, Chicos
Spanish term meaning girls (chicas) or guys (chicos) or both (chicos aswell). As in “Vamonos chicos!” or “Let’s go guys!”

Craic
A way to gauge how people are feeling, usually measured from 0 to 90. If your ‘craic’ is high, you’re pretty happy. If you announce a low craic, people will probably fix you up with an energy bomb and a nice big hug

CR&N 13A
Costa Rica and Nicaragua expeditions 13A

Day Leader (DL) (Líder del día)
Every day on project, one of the Team is designated DL – they are in charge of the day, including organising the day’s briefing, keeping group morale up, dealing with any problems, sticking to schedule and de-briefing at the end of the day. The DL role rotates round the whole group so everyone takes a turn

Energizer (Actividad Levanta Muertos)
An activity to gather the group together and raise energy levels. Can be used at the beginning of the day, or whenever a quick pick-me-up is required

Energy bombs (Explosión de azucar)
A trekking treat – mix together oats, raisins, condensed milk and chocolate powder and roll into little balls of gooey goodness to power you through the day

Fieldbase (FB) (Campo Base)
Refers to the Raleigh ‘office residence’ which is where the Fieldbase staff eat, sleep and work, whilst organising the expedition, manning the radios round the clock, supporting the projects, planning transport and logistics, keeping tabs on the finances and much, much more

Field Base Volunteer Managers (Equipo Logístico Voluntario del Campo Base)
Volunteer support staff for the expedition. The team looks after the ‘behind the scenes’ of the expedition and ensures everything runs smoothly. This consists of three permanent staff members - the Country Director, Country Project Manager and Country Expedition Manager - plus a team of volunteer staff including the, Medic, Photographer, Administrator, Finance Officer, three Logistics (logs) team members and the Communications Officer

Gallo Pinto
A traditional Costa Rican dish of rice and beans (yum!)

Icebreaker (Rompe Hielos)
A getting-to-know-you game

Longdrop (Letrina)
The camp loo. Literally a deep hole in the ground, it is one of the first tasks to complete when setting up jungle camp for obvious reasons! Short drops are similar, normally used for overnight stops when a shallower trench will suffice

Longs (Pantalones)
From 6pm onwards, we all don long trousers and sleeves to discourage the bugs that aren’t deterred by DEET

Maxis
Short for Maxi Pali, the stock-everything shop about a kilometer from Fieldbase where you can buy all those things you forgot/ran out of/lost

Nicas
An affectionate term referring to the native population of Nicaragua

Ninja
A popular game/energizer used by venturers and Project managers alike. Everyone stands in a circle and tries to hit the team members either side of them on the hand via a single ninja movements. Sound effects welcome

POPS
Legendary milkshake and ice-cream parlour chain found all over Costa Rica – perfect for a sweet splurge

Pork and beans (Frijoles con cerdo)
Another staple foodstuff for trekkers: tinned beans with a slightly sausage twang, served cold for lunch. Usually accompanied by dry cracker dust, sprinkled liberally on to the top. If you’re in a hurry, this can be consumed without cutlery straight from the can

Project Managers (PMs) (Guías)
Project staff for the expedition. Each of the groups has at least two PMs who work with the Venturers to develop skills, lead projects and challenge themselves

PURA VIDA!
A very special Costa Rican phrase that means hello, goodbye, I’m great, it’s good, pure life, basically any positive, feel-good thing can be Pura vida!

Radio check (Chequeo de Radio)
As well as a daily SITREP, all Alpha projects are required to complete a second radio call-in each day to check in, receive messages and report any developments

Review (Revisión)
A round-up that assesses how everyone feels, what went well and what needs work. This is sometimes an ‘activity’, sometimes a chat around the campfire, or sometimes just a bit of time to reflect. It’s an important part of everyone’s personal development so we make sure it happens every day

Roadtrip (Paseo Volando Rueda)
The logistics team and some of the Field Base team drive the Bravos on a loop round to each of the accessible project sites once per phase. They deliver kit, supplies, site visitors, messages from the blog and of course the all important post

Ropa Americana
Purveyors of the finest second hand American threads. Perfect for fancy dress/obtaining that long coveted college sports jersey

SITREP (Reporte de la Situación)
Literally Situation Report. A special radio message sent from the satellite project sites back to fieldbase once a day. It follows a certain format and includes all sort of handy information like where they are, what they’ve been up to, what they need and what they’re planning to do next

Tang
A fruity powder that is used to make squash. Jolly useful for taking away the chlorine taste of purified water

Ticos
An affectionate term referring to the native population of Costa Rica

Trangia (Mini Cocina)
A portable cooking stove. Used primarily for trekking, a trangia’s compact design makes it perfect for easy transportation. Literal translation in spanish - mini kitchen. Makes sense

Turrialba
The location of Fieldbase

Venturers (Aventureros)
Participants in the Raleigh expedition. Aged 17 to 24, they come in three varieties: Host Country Venturers (from Costa Rica and Nicaragua), Partnership Venturers (positive young people from disadvantaged backgrounds in the UK who participate in Raleigh expeditions as part of a longer term development programme) and UK and International Fundraising Participants (who work hard to raise money to contribute towards the charities work and expenses in order to take part in the expedition)

Wash up (Revisión Final)
The last few days of expedition, spent debriefing, returning equipment, performing skits, and most importantly enjoying the farewell party (tears alert)

Zero (Cero)
A radio term that identifies the radio controller at Fieldbase. Fieldbase monitors the radios 24-7, listening out on three frequencies for calls from our satellite project sites. When the radio alarm sounds, we might answer something like this: “Hello unknown call sign, hello unknown call sign, this is Zero, this is zero, do you copy, OVER?”