Quepos Monthly Achievement Report May 2013

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MONTHLY ACHIEVEMENT REPORT

Quepos Community Programs, May 2013

I make no apology for the fact that my area of choice for this month is once again a school event. The

majority of the time spent in any community is spent in the day to day running of the projects and can attimes be quite undramatic, but the moments when something out of the ordinary happens are those that

allow us to further and strengthen our relationships with partners, and community events afford a perfect

opportunity for this.

What makes these one-off events so important is that they highlight and put in context our day-to-day work,

spurring that on on as well as simply drawing attention to the fact that we are are always ready and

available to support the school and community in new ways. I would say that my personal involvement in

the kite day brought me greater recognition from the children at the school, and certainly helped cement

my relationship with the teachers. I am hopeful, then, that our participation in this most recent event is

equally as beneficial to our project and our ever-growing relationship with the school and community.Arts

are not an area generally a major focus for schools with limited resources. Understandably, when you have alimited time in school, and limited resources and training, it is not common to take a break from academic

subjects and focus on an area sometimes considered not to contribute much value to standard education.

That certainly is the view held in many of the underprivileged areas in which GVI works and is definitely true

in El Cocal. In fairness I think some of the teachers would be very happy to include more art in their

timetable were it not for the necessity of concentrating on other subjects in which children are really

struggling; on the few occasions on which I have seen teachers out of their normal school routine they do

seem to take an interest in extacurricular areas.

Such opportunities are unfortunately few and

far between but one arose last week, in the

form of the annual Arts Festival. It featured a

number of acts including a dance, a staged

production of Oscar Wildes The Selfish Giantin

Spanish, a drawing contest in which children

made pictures of the school, a poetry reading

competition (pictured to the left), and a spelling

bee, not normally something that would be

considered an art form but as good a way of

showing off childrens talents as any other.

Woven through the whole was the theme of

community in the wider sense of living

together and harmonising with each other,hence the topic of choice for the drama and the drawings. These, on their own, were a delight to watch and

be a part of. It was lovely to see children involved in something that they perhaps wouldnt normally do , and

enjoying opportunities not usually available to them. Many of the children in El Cocal, for reasons of

background, upbringing and general ability are not strong academic achievers. This is of course a

generalisation and there are a number of extremely adept students, but even these benefit from an

occasional departure from the norm, and those who struggle in the classroom positively need it. You

wouldnt have to talk with many full time teachers, or really people in any walk of life, to see how important

One of the children at El Cocal reading a poem about community living


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it can be to have some variety in your life and some outlet for creativity as well as, quite often, anger,

sadness, joy and any number of other emotions. Quite apart from anything else it is no great leap of insight

to say that everyone likes to be good at something and for a child not brilliant at Maths it may be hugely

beneficial to find that actually they do have a talent and an area to really concentrate on.

At this point I make mention of GVIs main contribution to the festival in the form of music. We performed asong from a film called Pitch Perfect which combines singing with rhythmic use of cups. It is generally

known on youtube as the cup song but also as When Im Gone. It is something we actually used a few

weeks before in the community centre as a part of our music week and found that many of the kids really

enjoyed the chance to try something so completely different from what they might normally do. One or two

in particular engaged with it a lot and it is something we still get requests for now, particularly after the

whole school watched us perform it on stage. After the performance we invited the kids to come up and try

out making the rhythms from the song, and often some of their own as well. At the end of the festival we,

along with all the other participants, were presented with a certificate, which is now proudly displayed on

our fridge. I can only hope the children involved are as pleased with their certificate as we are with ours and

that it spurs them on to continue their involvement with the arts.

Special thanks for this contribution should go to

a number of people but I will particular mention

Miranda Jones, a GVI Costa Rica Teaching Intern

on work placement with the Manuel Antonio

staff team , who organised the GVI participation

to great effect. Naturally she would not have

been able to do so without the support of the

whole staff team and without a lot of input from

the volunteer group, including the activity

planning sessions that promote great initiatives

like this and give everyone a chance tocontribute their own ideas.

That brings me to my final thought. As a one-off

event this was very successful and was very enjoyable to volunteers, students and teachers alike. However,

because it is a one-off, there is a limit to the impact it can have. Such initiatives have to be continued if they

are to be effective and, especially in a community such as this, it has to be readily available to those who

most need it. In a sentiment echoed by many of the GVI personnel working in this and other similar

communities, I feel this is one of our most useful roles. In a place where art is not prioritised and creativity

not encouraged much, we can offer children a forum for creativity, an opportunity to take part in new and

engaging activities that challenge them in a different way and offer different people new areas for

excellence or just experimentation, and a way to build self confidence in an environment where it is often

extremely low.

GVI runs Arts projects in a number of countries, Costa Rica amongst them, that are designed to do exactly

this to encourage children to try new things and be good at something otherwise unavailable. From the

extra attention received at the festival I hope we will have a number of children coming into the community

centre to try their hand at something new, whether it be painting, music or some other form of art. I hope

One of our community volunteers instructing a group of students in

"cup rhythms"


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that through these kinds of opportunities we can build individuals and communities with a greater sense of

ability, purpose and the confidence to succeed in many areas. For now I will appreciate the simple pleasure

that can come from hitting a cup or drawing a picture or just knowing that there is more to life than

understanding multiplication.

Nick Herrick- Quepos Community Programs

Documents

Quepos Monthly Achievement Report May 2013