Raleigh Costa Rica and Nicaragua: Raleigh Projects

Showing posts with label Raleigh Projects. Show all posts

Thursday, 28 February 2013

Artist's Blog: Phase 1 & Changeover

With every phase, each group are given Arts Kits. It provides everyone with materials that they can use to document their time whilst on project. All groups have been fantastically creative; Alpha 4 at Carara, experimented with photography and produced some incredible images.

Using PM Emma's artistic expertise, they also created a beautiful diagram of their adventures at the National Park.

Alpha 8 at San Ramon used art as a means of engaging with the community. Asking the local children what they wanted to be when they grew up and their dreams for the future, what came out of these questions were wonderful drawings, which will hopefully be turned into a mural for the soon-to-be-completed school.

During changeover, the venturers got involved with an arts project, which consisted of a lot of clingfilm and plenty of paint. Quite a few went off on Phase 2 still looking very much like paint palettes… it was a messy affair, but then good art always is!

Here are a few pictures from the venturers who submitted their work for the changeover exhibition: the ‘Rallery’ (we do love puns).

ALPHA 1:

Jeff Young

ALPHA 3:

Jaq Potts

ALPHA 5:

Nick Varney

Paul Davies & Anna Bakker

Matt Heathcote

Holly Howarth

ALPHA 6:

ALPHA 8:

Alex Bailey-Smith

ALPHA 10:

Alejandra Salas Ruiz & Elpha Perkins

The works have been excellent and I am really looking forward to seeing what’s been done in Phase 2!

Wednesday, 27 February 2013

Raleigh & Sustainable Development: What does it actually mean?

“Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” – Brundtland Report, 1987

X-Ray 10 working on building sustainable housing in Arenilla, Nicaragua

For Raleigh International sustainable development is about our work in partnership with local people. Supporting their efforts to improve their standard of living. Bringing in low cost technologies such as biogas ovens, gravity fed water systems and composting toilets. Enabling communities to access basic services such as water, sanitation, education and energy. Using resources that are renewable. And working with local governments and organisations to improve conservation efforts in protected areas.

Raleigh’s philosophy is based on a commitment to work together to improve people's lives without destroying their environment. Working to this philosophy in everything. Raleigh demand the same from all teams of volunteers who help make this work happen. All of the projects provide a lasting sustainable benefit.

X-Ray 8 are building a school in partnership with UCA San Ramon in Siares, San Ramon, Nicaragua

The permanent in-country staff and operations team have spent months and years within Costa Rica and Nicaragua developing relationships. Julian, Country Director, Pedro, Country Programme Manager, Simon, Country Expedition Manager and Keiner, Host-Country Venturer Coordinator ensure Raleigh Costa Rica and Nicaraguas work is sustainable and ongoing. They develop relationships with communities, local NGOs and government departments. They recruit and train our local young people as part of the team. They listen to what is needed so that we they can plan and provide projects that are successful. For this generation and the next.

X-Ray 4,5 & 6 are working on environment projects in Costa Rica in partnership with MINAE & SINAC

This work wouldn't be possible without the work and funding of Raleigh’s volunteers and supporters, whose commitment is vital to continuing Raleigh's incredible and valuable work in sustainable development.

Wednesday, 20 February 2013

Alpha 7, 8 and 10

Our community projects across Nicaragua encompass a water project by Alpha 7, Alpha 8 are building a pre-school and Alpha 10 have been undertaking a house building project. All are located in remote communities who have embraced our volunteers as their own. We thought the best way for you to see the teams' progress would be through the photos of our brilliant photographer Liz:

Alpha 10: Arenilla, Miraflor

Beautiful Miraflor

Working together with the local community, building houses with mud cement and mud bricks

Collecting "barba del viejo" - old man's beard

Receiving messages from the blog

Gathering together for the end of day review

Alpha 8: Siares, San Ramon

Getting to know the local community

Rakeem

Receiving messages from the blog

Alpha 7: Matapalo, Achuapa

Heading out to start work

Tireless trench digging for the water pipes

Setting up radio to communicate with fieldbase

Receiving messages from the blog

Everyone is on their way back to Fieldbase which is very exciting! Also just to let you know all of our Explorer Venturers have arrived safe and sound in Turrialba and we will be bringing you an update of their training and arrival tomorrow.

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?”