When I first get home from one of our volunteer mission trips I am always struck by the complexity of our lives here at home, or at least my life anyway. Living is so much different here. I’ve already made a list of things to do and it is only 10 am in the morning!

Despite the early hour that I got to bed this morning, it appears that I must wake up and launch back into the pace of my life. Early morning calls from recruiters, doctor calls regarding my parents, status updates on their health from my brother, calls about real estate deals. Not all of these are bad things, you understand. I’ve not yet slipped to that stage of re entry when everything I see and do here seems trite and unimportant. No, these things are all okay; however, it is so obvious on my first day back how much contrast there is between the two cultures.

Don’t get me wrong, things are complex and fast-paced there too. Poverty has many faces, and their lives are just as busy as ours. I was often overloaded with the sights, the sounds and the stories of those living with such poverty. Their story is about survival. Ours is a different kind of survival. Ours, or should I say mine, makes it hard to separate the important things in life from the all-consuming parts, significant or not. They have no choice; everything they do is important to their survival.

So here I am at my computer downloading no less than 190 emails, and these are just the ones that haven’t been spammed out. I am just trying to separate the ones I want from the ones I don’t. This is part of my complexity but not even nearly in the same category as trying to put food on the table. My life doesn’t require figuring out a way through my town that will be safe as I take my children to and from school each day. Email vs. safety…. No, no es equal. No es contesto.

Re-entry is as interesting as adjusting to the culture you are going to. It often reflects the level of impact the trip has had on you so it is important to take notice of it.

Look for further entries on this site telling some of our stories from our trip to Costa Rica. I am glad to be home.

Diane and Team Costa Rica took off at midnight on June 21st for San Jose, the capital city of Costa Rica, for our first 10-day trip to Fundavita, a group we have become aware of that have an enormous heart to serve kids and families in the poorest parts of this huge city. Our objective is to roll our sleeves up and be of service to this organization, observe their many programs and its suitability for a return trip.

Hitting the ground running, the team has been involved at a feeding center, computer tutoring, craft work, and observation of the many and varied programs that the organization has. The team has reported back that the neighborhoods are rough beyond rough; drug deals happening on every street corner; tennis shoes hanging over telephone wires everywhere indicating which homes were drug dealers or not.

This is not the Costa Rica you read about in travel magazines. Draped over every window are iron bars. Each door has numerous locks and iron grates that indicate the fear these people live with every day and every night.

Our group was involved in feeding hundreds of kids and humbled as they discovered this was the only meal these children would have today. Diane told her team, “You will eat every morsel of food on your plate when you eat with these kids!” Of course the team didn’t really need to be told, as they “got” it immediately, she said.

Over the course of a week of engaging and working with Fundavita staff , our group finds it sad to leave. They have come to deeply appreciate the dedicated people who are actually risking their lives to offer hope and opportunity to this community.

A huge indicator of their success is that half the kids end up being able to leave the neighborhood if they go thru the entire program. One of the boys ran in late for lunch one day along with his mom who was there to do her shift of cleaning up after lunch. He was so excited. He had just won the science fair competition at school and was delayed for lunch due to an awards ceremony. Our team said he was so very proud of his achievement. Everyone made quite a fuss over him that day. Isn’t that great!

Our team has been exposed to some amazing stories this week. We’ll be anxious to hear more. They return on Wed the 1st of July!

After much deliberation and consternation about the state of affairs along the border of Mexico, we finally saw the necessity to be prudent and postpone our work in Acuna until things stabilize. We had a team ready to go but the issue surrounding the violence there made us far too apprehensive to go. So what to do? Scrap the trip?

Apparently that was not in the cards. There appeared to be other plans for us. No sooner had we decided not to go to Mexico than we began to get reports back of some wonderful work being done in Costa Rica with the street children in San Jose. Friends had recently returned with glowing reports, chance meetings, and good possibilities. This began to pique our interest. Perhaps the door to Costa Rica was opening to where we are suppose to go? We began to take notice.

After many phone calls and researching several groups working in that area, it was decided that we would go and see how we could be of service. Fundavida has 8 different programs working with the at risk children. These programs range from providing food and medicine, to computers and job training with no end of potential volunteer opportunities.

Sunday night, our team embarks on the red eye to San Jose Costa Rica for a 10 day trip that will include an in-depth look at their programs, our future partnership potential, as well as to help put some finishing touches on a multi year community center project that is near completion. We are all very excited for the adventure of a new place and the possibilities that this has for Go the Second Mile as well as Fundavida. I will post more from the field.

Asi es la Vida

Diane

With our trip to Acuna coming up quickly the Alpha y Omega school we are partnering with has decided to have us help them landscape and fix up the outside of their school. Once again we will be working alongside both the students and the staff providing a rich and rewarding experience for all. They want their students to feel like the school is an oasis, a place to escape the stark reality of life, both symbolically and literally. Education is the hope for their future, a future different than the reality. It is the administrations’ belief that as the school gets transformed so will the students and with any luck it will have a spill over effect onto the community.

The surrounding community is a bleak reminder of what having nothing left over creates in a neighborhood. It is dusty, a place where tumbleweeds and garbage vi for space along barb wire fences. Nothing really grows well. There is an occasional shade tree and a plant here and there that acts more like a garbage receptacle than a thing of beauty. Needless to say the school will stand out in the midst of all that dust saying “we care”.

We are pleased to once again partner with The Alpha y Omega school and their goal of creating educational opportunities for the children of this colonia in Acuna.

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN JOINING OUR TEAM THERE ARE A FEW SPOTS STILL AVAILABLE .

Please contact Diane Ellis at diane@globalsupportmission.org.

Saturday, April 25th, 2009 • 6:00pm-11:00 pm
At the Vineyard • 17712 15th Ave NE Shoreline, WA 98155

This has proven to be one of the best events of the year with outstanding entertainment, fabulous food and libations, and silent and live auction items for everyone’s budget. Arrive within the first 20 minutes and you will automatically be entered into a drawing to win a prize. Last year’s prize was a digital camera! You can purchase individual tickets or reserve a whole table for your friends. Please reserve your space today!

For more information, including how to reserve a space, purchase tickets, and even donate auction items, please visit the auction page.