This month, RBG President Holly Robertson had the pleasure of visiting volunteers Ryan and Sarah Helcoski at the Costa Rican Bird Route site Chilamate Rainforest Eco-Retreat (CRE) where they had been placed through RBG’s Volunter Program.
Ryan and Sarah began their term in January and committed to staying for a period of six months. Hailing originally from Pennsylvania, Ryan and Sarah had spent all of 2010 volunteering in a small indigenous community in Ecuador. In Ecuador they gained experience in living rustically and working to serve the needs of the community, skills they carried with them to Chilamate Rainforest Eco-Retreat.
CRE is a site owned and operated by Meghan Casey and Davis Azofeifa, a couple dedicated to sustainability and community outreach. Meghan and Davis are active members of the Chilamate School Board, the Sarapiqui Chamber of Commerce, their community policing program and founding and active members of a local community development association Asociación Para el Desarrollo y Gestión Productiva de Linda Vista, Chilamate.
Meghan is also the regional coordinator for the World Leadership School program and arranges itineraries for the students while in Costa Rica, which all include a service project of some sort to the communities of Chilamate and Linda Vista.
The volunteers were charged with helping Meghan and Davis with the site’s various projects and community programs. Rainforest Biodiversity Group also asked the volunteers to do the following:
These were the pair’s primary assignments, but they took on various other projects and odd tasks, such as rescuing iguanas from a well shaft! (Photos below of Ryan rescuing iguana and Sarah conducting an English class)
When not saving wildlife, Ryan also is developing an ambitious environmental education curriculum to facilitate consistent exposure to ecological and conservation topics to children of all grades. He also has helped create interpretive signs for the tree species found throughout grounds, as well as a site map to help orient guests.
Ryan and Sarah are preparing for their return to the United States at the end of this month and we thank them and wish them the best of luck in their future endeavors!
