Costa Rica Coffee Plantation

The main goal of this fund raiser is to cover the program fees for my time in Costa Rica. Any excess funds I raise will go towards flights, and any items the locals might need or appreciate from a Canadian coming to participate in their work with them. I'm open to suggestions on that one. :-)

The Global Volunteer Network website has a much better description of what I'll be involved with, so I've pasted their description below.

In our Coffee Cooperative program, volunteers assist with the sustainable production of coffee in a rural farming community, in the mountainous region of Costa Rica. Volunteers assist with coffee-picking in the fields, roasting the beans and packaging the final product, alongside wider agricultural activities. As well as various agricultural activities, volunteers are also involved in marketing the coffee product to the wider market. The Coffee Cooperative Project runs throughout the year. However, the activities that volunteers have the opportunity to be involved in vary according to the season.

Harvest season runs from November through to March every year. During this period, volunteers spend at least some of their days picking coffee in the field. From November through to May, volunteer activities are centred on processing the coffee: this involves passing the coffee beans through machinery to get the pulp of the coffee cherry off, washing the beans, and drying the beans on drying patios that need to be raked and moved around on a regular basis. Other non-seasonal activities include roasting and packaging the beans, working on improving marketing and distribution of the coffee product. There will also be opportunities such as teaching English in local schools throughout the year. Volunteers will work alongside the local community in strengthening the entire coffee product operation, in both coffee production and marketing, as well as in reforestation and caring for the local ecosystem.

The rewards on offer are the only things I can think of. I've been a photographer for 10 years, and have quite a few scenic cards and prints in production and will be creating images on this volunteer trip as well. My hope is to encourage others to use their travel time to delve more deeply into the places they go, and to make meaningful contributions when they can. 

Suggestions about how to make the rewards more relevant or interesting to you are welcome. 

Thank you for reading!

Adrienne