El Fin de Nuestros Aventuras

It is the last night of our time here in the beautiful city of Costa Rica and I think that for many of us it is bittersweet. A few of us were discussing our feelings earlier and the consesus is that we are all ready to be home, but we are not quite ready to leave this place. We have seen and done so much in these few weeks and it will not be easy to physically leave it all behind.

This week we have been spending our days at a place called Funda Vida.
This is a foundation that is spawned from Pura Vida coffee.The mission of Funda Vida is to have centers in the worst neighborhoods of San Jose where nearly
everyone is addicted to crack and other drugs. The drug lords are the
source of extreme and frequent violence and they often dictate the
goings on in these barrios. Unfortunately this type of community and
lifestyle turns many children into addicts and prostitutes, as well as
aggressive and depressed individuals. The children are often mal and
undernourished and many cannot afford to attend even public schools.
Funda Vida gives these children a place to go and eat, use computers
and learn skills, learn English, and they also have six soccer teams
that the children play on. These activities give purpose to these
childrens lives, and they also work to change the paths these youth
are on. Our project is a brand new building that will be used as a
teen and young adult center. They are noticing that as the children
from the program mature it is harder to retain them. Many go back to
the streets and they feel that this new center will help to change
that. It used to be a building that housed crack addicts and was empty
for many years, but we are giving it new life. We did more scraping,
drywalling, and painting as the crack dealers and others circled, but
we also got to meet some of the children of the barrio. It was a
wonderful week of hard work for an incredible purpose.

Tonight we were also blessed with the opportunity to visit one of the youth centers that Funda Vida has very recently opened. We were able to share stories with the neighborhood teenagers and meet the young leaders who are bravely standing at the front of this movement. The center is a humble building in the middle of a rough barrio that was full of activity tonight. These youth gathered together and we sang songs of worship and played ping pong and checkers before having some serious time. It was during the worship that many of us were moved by the emotions of one of the teenage boys who put his head down and cried, and we soon learned that it was because he has just recently found faith and is just now becoming a part of Funda Vida. He looks to be about 17 and apparently his old "friends" from the neighborhood are extremely hard on him for these new changes. It is hard for any 17 year old boy to fight off peer pressure, but I can only imagine what sort of inner strength a young man must have to fight the pressures of the streets of this neighborhood where drugs, violence, and organized crime reign.

In all, I am glad that we were able to end our three weeks at this youth center where we could meet the people who are the reason for our mission. Our stay in Costa Rica is commemorated with the faces of the many people who we have helped and who have taught us so much about ourselves and the world that we live in. Dr. Domin and Dr. Hargrove have been incredible guidance over this time and I think that many of us have learned much and are inspired to continue to do our part to make a positive different in this big world. Thanks again to all the family and friends who have supported us in these endeavors - you have helped us to truly make a difference on our mission to Costa Rica.