It is 8 am. The sun is shining, there is a warm breeze passing through the palm trees, and you are on your way to build a septic tank. What, not your typical vacation? Well, it was a common event this past intersession for thirteen Hopkins students.
On January 10, these Hopkins students, all psychology or public health majors, took over the small Costa Rican town of Rio Claro for two weeks. There the students conducted surveys and built homes as part of an intersession project born of collaboration between Hopkins' Center for Social Concern and Habitat for Humanity.
The trip's purpose was to learn more about child social development. Each student had a specific research project, on topics ranging from child education to fetal alcohol syndrome, to complete with in Rio Claro.
Student Katie LeFevre was the trip's primary coordinator, and Dr. Barbara Smith of the department of Psychological and Brain Sciences led the group. Once in Costa Rica, Smith was able to help with language translation, as well as find out where students could interview local residents at clinics and homes.
Originally, the trip's focus was to gather data for a collective research paper and presentation to follow the trip's conclusion. The building of houses was a separate daytime activity. As it turned out, however, this construction became an integral part of the trip.
"I do not see how we could have done the research without also having the Habitat for Humanity as part of the trip," said junior Ayla Turnquist. "We were able to learn so much about the Costa Rican people and their culture by building alongside them."
Rio Claro is a town of about fifteen thousand people. Though students commented that to Americans the region might be appear to be "lower-middle" class, for Costa Rica it was in fact a middle-class community.
"It was interesting to first see the toilets," Turnquist said. "They have a toilet and then next to it a bucket of water. You take a scoop full of water from the bucket and put it into the toilet, and gravity takes care of the rest."
"It was interesting to see that although they did not have outdoor plumbing, they did have televisions throughout the house," added junior Dan Stilwell.
Students described the homes in this Costa Rica as simple. They were mostly one-story buildings with wooden floors and cardboard walls.
"There wasn't much privacy in the homes, but it seemed to promote family unity," Stilwell said.
The sense of community in Rio Claro became evident on several occasions.
"I remember finding it interesting to see the differences between an American introduction and a Costa Rican introduction," Stilwell said. "An American would say something like, "Hi, I'm Dan, I'm a psychology major and I want to go to law school.' A typical Costa Rican introduction would be, "Hi, I'm Jesus and this is my wife and my son.' The Costa Ricans seemed to be much less self-involved."
"It was really nice having lunch within the community," Turnquist noted. "Everyone made sure to sit and eat together. It would be considered in poor taste to start building while others were still eating.
In America people tend to grab a quick bite to eat without really enjoying lunch or each other's company."
Students also found that the Costa Ricans were eager to help the Americans. They commented on a small Costa Rican boy known as Feliz, who would give massages to the women on the trip.
Turnquist's research project focused on the drinking norms for pregnant women and fetal alcohol syndrome.
"I remember walking in the rain for three hours with this one woman who volunteered to help me find pregnant women throughout the community," she said. "I remember she would just knock on the door and ask where I could find the nearest pregnant woman. Surprisingly the person who answered the door knew exactly where to go."
Rio Claro does not have a large tourist population. Therefore, the Hopkins students seemed to be the center of fascination for the Costa Rican community.
"They were shocked at the people with blonde hair and also with the diversity of students on the trip," Turnquist commented. "They thought all Americans were rich and white. It was also ironic because they was a sort of parallel jealously amongst the Costa Ricans and the Americans. We admired their close-knit communities and family structure, while they stereotyped us as 'rich.'"
The daily structure of the trip consisted of building houses from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. This included carrying heavy rocks over to the site or helping to dig holes for septic tanks. There were four two and half- hour classes and a three-day vacation period. At night, students enjoyed hitting the local bars with the Costa Ricans.
"They love '80s music and karaoke," Turnquist said.
In order to participate in the trip, students did not need to have a proficiency in Spanish or building skills, although both were helpful.
"It is tiring because you are not just simply building a Baltimore row house," Stilwell said. "Even though the physical labor was intense, it was worth it. It was such an eye-opening experience. It has encouraged me to enroll in Spanish classes at Hopkins and has certainly sparked my interest in travelling to more countries."
For students interested in visiting Costa Rica, this trip will again be offered in the summer. For more information contact bsmith@jhu.edu.
