Recently, the Palmares, Costa Rica team has come together to make the final installments for the project’s staff house.
Joining us were members from Casa de la Juventud (CASA), our in-country partner agency, and dozens of local youth from surrounding communities. Given that this summer marks the launch of this brand-new project, there was a lot to get done in order to turn an abandoned and dusty house into a home.
What started off as a somewhat daunting tasks soon turned into a great opportunity for community and team building. With reggaetón music blasting and shirt sleeves rolled up, the group soon got to work.
In the office, a group of young girls from a local high school dusted down the windows and swept trash that was on the floor. Downstairs in the kitchen, volunteers from CASA were busy painting walls and installing net fixtures to keep out bugs. Running around in between, AMIGOS staff could be found giving an extra set of hands and helping to delegate tasks as more and more local youth arrived.
Upon the passing of the first couple of hours working in the temperate morning sun, everyone was overjoyed to see that stacks of large pizza boxes had finally arrived. One by one, approximately 30 volunteers lined up to take a quick break and socialize. It was a peaceful moment of relaxing that led to lots of exchange and relationship building.
Once there was a lull in conversation, CASA directors of the Pérez Zeledón and Palmares projects came up to give brief presentations on the programmatic aspects of each of the two projects to all of the volunteers present. Accompanying those presentations, AMIGOS staff came up to thank all the young volunteers and staff from Casa de la Juventud for their continuous dedication to AMIGOS projects.
After people finished eating, the remainder of volunteers continued to paint the boys’ and girls’ rooms alongside AMIGOS project staff. With the arrival of project supervisors to Costa Rica this week, the Senior Leadership team could not be more excited to have a beautiful home to welcome staff and participants to.
