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20 BANCROFTIAN COMMUNITY
Working with GVI in Costa Rica
Charlotte Rogers, U6E
In the summer, 23 lucky Fifth and
Sixth Form students were granted
the opportunity to visit Quepos on
the west coast of Costa Rica. This
trip was unlike any of the school
trips that I had been on before. We
went with a company called GVI,
which believes it is their mission to
build a global network of people
united by a passion to make a
difference. The GVI staff were all
friendly and quickly became part
of our group, whether that be
from playing poker with us in our
free time or laughing alongside
us at Revered Moore. Not only
did the Rev come with us, but
Miss Grimwood and Miss Korcz
completed the team.
The project itself was hard work and
demanding, but our impact on El Cocal, the
community we were helping, will be vital.
Catching a mini-ferry across the river, we
saw from the offset the difference between
Quepos and El Cocal, despite there only
being a small river between them. El
Cocal is definitely a shanty town, yet the
residents’ attitude was no less positive
than anybody else’s. In fact, many of the
locals helped us with our project, whether
that be from feeding us at lunchtime or
using their strength to lift the sandbags;
even the children tried to help out. Our
job was to help create a pavement so
that the children could easily reach their
school; they previously have struggled with
this as the winter rains flood the roads.
I thought this task would be easy, yet I
was so wrong. Shovelling sand into bags
and then dragging these into position was
unlike anything I had ever done before,
nothing in England could have prepared
me for this. During our time we made 1.5
km of pavement; this was just a start. Our
mark on this community was not just the
pavement, in addition we planted trees
around the community centre, as well
as painting signs that ran along the road
which promoted sustainable goals, such as
recycling and keeping the roads clean.
Due to the winter rains, we often left El Cocal
just after lunchtime, but we could not leave
without having some incredible local food,
which we all got to help make at one point,
followed by a swim in the ocean. Most of
our meals included rice and beans; this dish
was a staple during our time over there and
I thought I would have got bored of it, but
I never did. Once back at the hostel, we
worked on our Sustainable Development
Goals, this allowed us to assess the situation
in El Cocal and decide what we would do
if we were in power. We also helped plan
a fun day for the local kids at the end of the
week; this ended up being a day of sports,
face painting and songs, all of which the
young children loved. In addition, we got to
swim in the hostel pool, even in storms. This
was hilarious; watching the Rev trying to catch
a ball whilst bombing into the pool was an
image I will never be able to get out of my
head. Preparation of the evening meal was
up to us students and, therefore, incredibly
stressful. The meal varied from tuna to pasta;
a group of us even made banana ice cream
by hand. Surprisingly none of us got food
poisoning and the meals were a success.
It would not be a trip to Costa Rica, without
a trip to the beach. On our rest day, we went
to the beach in Manuel Antonio and there
we were taught how to surf and many of us
also got a chance to go on a banana boat.
We also saw a huge amount of local wildlife,
whether that be the crocodiles which we
saw on our first day, or the monkeys which
pooped on some members of the group or
the sloths which we saw late at night.
After our project ended, we headed to
the mountains where we had two days of
activities, involving white water rafting,
zip lining and abseiling down waterfalls.
Unfortunately, our time in Costa Rica had
to come to an end, but on our way from
the mountains to San José our bus broke
down. Instead of complaining about it, we
all went and played football in the pouring
rain on a conveniently placed pitch. This is
one of my highlights of our time: we had
become a bonded group trying to find fun
in a bad situation.
This trip was the best school trip I have ever
been on. It was so unique and worthwhile;
the impact that we, a small group of
students, can have on a community is
astounding and one day I hope I can go
back and carry on working with GVI and the
residents of El Cocal.