Download the Volunteer Brochure
WHAT IS PROYECTO SAN GERARDO?
The focus of Proyecto San Gerardo is to support the San Gerardo de Rivas community in its efforts to be self sustaining so that community members find additional opportunities to generate income in San Gerardo.
Specific goals include:
• To help develop the skills needed for the community to engage in ecotourism and small business ventures in an environmentally friendly way
• To support San Gerardo´s own development initiatives, building on local skills
• To promote San Gerardo as a tourist destination
• To support the needs of women and youth in the community
View Current Volunteer Opportunities
PROJECTS:
Completed projects:
• Launching a Keep Fit program for women – this is now completely community run
• Developing this website and a local tourist brochure in Spanish and English to highlight tourist attractions
• First Aid courses
Current projects:
• English conversation classes for adults and youth
• Computer classes: keyboarding, basic computer programs and internet
• Drop in access to internet and computer practice.
• Continual updating of this website with news for the community and visitors.
• Linking up with other community projects in the region
• Recruiting and managing an active international volunteer program
Future plans:
• Promoting San Gerardo´s delicious coffee by organising more tours of the coffee fincas and facilitating coffee sales and export
• Developing tours to the trapiches or sugar mills where visitors can learn about traditional sugar processing and try and buy the products
• Developing more small scale businesses such as making and selling artesania, or accommodation like campsites and cabinas on local coffee fincas
• Encouraging and supporting local artists
• Developing more opportunities for women
• Continuing and expanding our training options for san Gerardo and neighbouring communities
• Expanding volunteer opportunities, cultural and language experiences, and training
More About Our Activities:
Computer Skills – Nowadays it’s almost essential to know how to use computers – accessing information, keeping connected and organized are all important assets the computer age provides – and San Gerardo wants! The project is committed to finding ways to make this world a reality for the community – via Spanish medium classes and free access.
In late 2007 the project was lucky to receive donations of computers from individuals and Vancity, a community-minded credit union in British Columbia, Canada. This has enabled us to fulfill another goal and arrange for computer skills classes in Spanish for the community. We offer:
- Computer basics and keyboarding
- Intermediate classes – WORD, Excel, graphics
- Internet and email
The demand for classes is enormous and with the recent donation of 7 more laptops we will be able to provide more opportunities to people of all ages and abilities to learn computer skills. Our bilingual teacher, Oren, from New York, created our curriculum and managed 3 classes of beginner and intermediate students. Our second teacher, Jed from Canada, continued to expand the curriculum with projects and opened a drop in practice and internet session 3 times weekly.
We are always on the look out for volunteer teachers for both ESL and computer classes, so please contact us here to find out more.
From March 2007 our project volunteer, Liz, taught English to three classes: adult beginner, adult intermediate and junior class. English classes, English conversation groups for adults, youth and children have continued to be very popular. For information on how to get involved as a teacher, click here.
First Aid classes were provided to the community. This was considered necessary since the village is 45 minutes drive from a hospital or doctor. Being able to respond to medical emergencies, especially injuries, is very important in such a remote environment. Click here to read a story on teaching First Aid in Costa Rica.
Keep Fit Women’s Group – out of the blue and a wonderful success! Three times a week women meet to work out and enjoy each other’s company. Latin America is unfortunately demonstrating an alarming rise in chronic diseases such as congestive heart failure, diabetes and other diet-related illnesses. Keeping fit and being aware of nutrition is a must for a long and healthy life. Local women have taken over leading these classes, making sure they are accessible to everyone.
This website! Was developed as a community collaborative! In order to promote San Gerardo to visitors, its wonderful activities and places to stay, members of the local Chamber of Commerce for Tourism provided the content for this website. Developed in Vancouver, Canada, it is now maintained from Costa Rica and invites everyone to contribute to the blog – share your San Gerardo experiences with the world!
