Day 3 CR– Events that shaped the culture and values; values and culture of ecology, hospitality and culture of home life.

Today we spent time at a coffee cooperative followed by a talk from a sustainability coordinator that lives in a poorer area of Atenas and then a home visit to the host families.  The Cooperative was very interesting way of serving the people and creating capital for improvements and further business ventures.  It had 1300 members and all the profits were divided into investment funds, other business and shared dividends.  Out of the offshoot business ventures there were further cooperatives created for the transportation drivers.  These cooperatives gave the workers the ability to feel ownership and receive the fruits of their labour for themselves and future generations.  The largest point that came from this was that there had to be trust.  Trust in the leadership of the cooperatives to be effective.  Trust involves believing in the competency of the leaders and that they will do the right thing and that they have proven to be effective.  There is complete transparency in the workings of the cooperatives in order to maintain this trust.  This brings out greater quality and outcomes.  

This day was followed by a talk from Ruth who worked with our hotel to improve their ecological footprint and she also now works in the field of sustainability working at the recycling plant.  She also works in her local neighbourhood for the people.  She grew up there, married, went to school and returned there to raise her family.  She believes in the people and the local neighbourhood and knows that they can do better.  Many of the younger children drop out of school and have babies by the time they are 15.  She is working with the youth to support education.  We were humbled by some of the families opening their doors to us for a meal.  I went with Caleb and David to a home.  There we met Christina and her husband.  At first, her husband would not come out to meet us as he was embarrassed of their home.  He worked in construction and apparently had been given a grant for caring for their elderly mother to renovate the house.  He had painted, added a new ceiling and some new doors.  It looked much more finished than the other houses we saw.  Even with this situation, he still didn’t want to come out at first.  Caleb, David and I felt over dressed for this home.  The girl who was 26 was wearing a simple dress and when her husband came out he had on shorts and a t-shirt.  Ruth came and ate with us as well and she was wearing jeans and a tank top.  We had many laughs and by the end of the night I could begin to understand Ruth telling her stories.  The husband remained with us all in the room which was a good sign.  At the end they let us take a picture with them.  What I found interesting is that the girl had a cake making business on the side.  She had a facebook page that she allowed us to see where you could order her cakes. The Costa Rican people are resourceful, creative and appreciative.  Ruth also shared that she sells ecofriendly products locally online as a way of building up local artisans and keeping to the principles of sustainability.  She currently only sells these on a private facebook page to Costa Ricans.  She does not ship internationally.