Alum-Student Service Trip Aids Costa Ricans
Costa Rica’s lush tropical life, balmy weather, and miles of gorgeous coastline attract spring-breaker students and tourists from around the world. But their visits typically do little to boost the quality of life for the nearly 35 percent of Costa Ricans who live in extreme poverty and substandard shanty towns.
However, three alumnae, seven MHC students, and two staffers chose to spend spring break week challenging their minds and bodies on the first Janet Tuttle Alumnae and Student Service Trip. Anita Magovern, director of the campus community-service organization CAUSE, worked with Maya D’Costa, associate director of campus programs at the Alumnae Association, making arrangements with Habitat for Humanity’s Global Village Program.
There were a few pre-trip meetings, but the real bonding began in the middle of a snow storm at 3 a.m. on departure morning. Once in Costa Rica, the group grew closer after suffering from a mysterious illness. Soon, all were able to help work on a house-building project in the small town of 27 de Abril in northwest Costa Rica. D’Costa recalls “moving many heavy concrete slabs and hundreds of wheelbarrow-loads of gravel” as the small group “chopped, dug, and pick-axed through many large and stubborn roots,” clearing the area for the houses’ foundation holes. “Mount Holyoke is known for its hardworking students,” noted Kaete Billipp ’05. “As an alum, I was delighted to see the group’s work ethic transcend the walls of the classroom to include the physical and emotional challenges we faced while in Costa Rica.”
The trip was not all backbreaking toil, though. Chiemi A. Favinger ’07 enjoyed eating lots of mango, got a horse-riding lesson from a neighbor whose house was near the building site, and said that the Costa Ricans’ “hospitality was incredible.” For Sara A. Martin ’10, “eating homemade food, dancing with the children who will one day live in the houses we helped to build, and chatting with the locals” helped form an unforgettable experience. Jamie Borkosky ’06 said, “The ticos [Costa Ricans] but what they do have they’re incredibly thankful for and very eager to share.”
Alumnae and students also shared information about MHC past and present, something Favinger called “an integral part of the After five days of intensive work, the “Mount Holyoke College Brigade” left with all the walls for one house completed and the main pillars up for a second home. The group clearly made deep connections trip.” Katie G. Wright ’07 called the joint venture “a wonderful opportunity to engage alums in conversation about their Mount Holyoke experience. … Since they were recent alums, they could accurately answer my questions about what the world is like after Mount Holyoke.” And Dani Ryan ’06 and Borkosky discovered that they will soon be office neighbors at the Berkshires’ Clark Art Institute. Favinger noted that “having the shared experience of Mount Holyoke and a and came away with a multifaceted perspective of Costa Rica that many tourists never have a chance to see. As D’Costa noted, although working with few tools under a blazing-hot Costa Rican sun was hard, “it was fun, exhilarating, and ultimately very rewarding. Pura vida (“pure life”) aptly describes both the place and the pleasure we took in our work.”
—Stefanie Sykes-Allen ’08
