Last Days in Costa Rica

Hi everyone! An update about our last few days in Costa Rica... 

After an amazing week in Quepos with our wonderful host family, who are dear friends of mine, we said some tearful goodbyes and made our way to San Jose. As we watched out the window during the three hour bus ride, we saw the climate and landscape slowly morph from lush and tropical to airy and mountainous, and turned our thoughts to our next venture: Face of Justice Ministries in San Jose, the capital city.

The Central Valley region of Costa Rica is surprisingly cool, airy, and mountainous.

Face of Justice Ministries

We spent our last few days in Costa Rica in San Jose, the capital city, working with a really impressive organization called Face of Justice or Rostro de la Justicia. FOJ has only been around for about a year and a half, but you would think that it's been established for many, many years based on the amazing progress they have made and the work they do in CR. FOJ was founded in 2013 by executive director Elizabeth Gilroy, who lives in CR with her husband and three children. During our visit, Elizabeth was not in CR so we were unable to meet with her in person. But we were greeted by a team of friendly volunteers, namely Ashley and Paty, who were very kind and welcoming to us.

Here is a great overview of the work that FOJ does, taken from their website (linked above):

 Vision

Our vision is to see the commercialization of men, women and children stopped in Costa Rica through prevention, intervention and restoration. 

Prevention
We have several different ways that we are working to prevent sexual exploitation and trafficking in Costa Rica. One of our most effective ways is our Community Leadership Training seminars...

We believe an effective strategy is to educate local community leaders, missionaries, and local service providers who work with the people in their communities on a daily basis. For this project we partner with Chief Prosecuting Attorney Christian Darcia Carballo who trains in all the Costa Rica laws related to these crimes.

Sinaí Community Development & Mentoring
Costa Rica is filled large migrant communities due to the large population of Nicaraguan immigrants who flood the boarders every year. One such community has invited FOJ to come work with the women and girls who are being exploited within the neighborhood. We are partnering with a local church and another ministry in this project. It gives us the opportunity to hold prevention seminars, mentor teenage girls and build relationships with women who seek to leave the life of prostitution. 

Intervention

Street Ministry 

...FOJ is committed to going to the streets of downtown San Jose where we build relationships with the prostituted men, women and children there. We serve coffee and cookies twice a week into the late hours of the night when our friends are on the streets the most. 

Lip Gloss Project
We have discovered a creative way to get phone numbers and a connection to women and girls who are working in the brothels of San Jose. We are collecting lip gloss sticks. We adhere a label with our phone numbers and the country’s helpline on it. We give these away as gifts. The women take the numbers and then have a special gift. This puts valuable information into the hands of those who are most vulnerable to these crimes. It offers them a way out. 

Restoration
FOJ is currently in the process of opening an immediate care center for teenage victims of commercial sexual exploitation. Our goal is to meet the emotional, physical and spiritual needs of girls who have fallen prey to pimps and traffickers.

We got to work right away when we arrived in San Jose, where we learned to mix concrete and build a ramp that FOJ needed for their driveway with the help of (the incredibly patient) Don David, a construction worker who contracts to work for FOJ. We also were able to help with a gardening project at the FOJ center. We had a lot of fun with those activities, but my absolute favorite part about FOJ was that we got to help, even if only for a day, with the safe house that they are building for teenage victims of commercial sexual exploitation. The safe house is still largely under construction, but we were able to help with sanding some of the walls that are ready to be painted. But these were no ordinary walls - the staff and volunteers at FOJ had written messages of hope and healing all over the walls for the individuals who will one day live there. The messages will be there, beneath the finished walls, when their first clients move in. It was really cool to be a part of building the safe house, even in a small way.

During our time at FOJ, we also got to meet with the Chief Prosecuting Attorney in San Jose, Christian Darcia, who was able to explain the legal process for dealing with trafficking in Costa Rica. Christian handles prosecuting all the sex crimes in Costa Rica, including not only trafficking but prostitution (which is legal in Costa Rica - unless there is a third party, aka, a pimp involved - then it is illegal), domestic violence, sexual assault, rape, and more. As law students, that was probably the most fascinating and informative hour of the trip for us.

Overall, we had a really wonderful, informative time with Face of Justice. We are really grateful to them, especially Elizabeth, Ashley, Paty, and Christian, for welcoming us and helping us to have such a great experience in San Jose!

Real, Live Sex Tourists
During our very last hours in San Jose, we had the most surreal and disturbing experience at the airport. True story: in the final hours of our trip to Costa Rica to work with victims of sexual exploitation, we overheard a trio of American men openly discussing their exploits with prostitution here in San José. The way they spoke about these women was completely degrading, objectifying, and inhumane. Yet, there they were, right in front of us in the baggage check line, casually bragging about their exploitation of these vulnerable, very possibly underage girls. Lauren bravely told them off, and we proceeded to take turns telling them how disgusting they were and making them aware that many of the women at Hotel del Rey (the infamous San Jose brothel they were bragging about) are underage. They did not react visibly to us (obviously, their respect for women is low, so perhaps they truly didn't care what we had to say), but they did shut up. And hopefully at least one of them will think about our comments before returning to Costa Rica for another sex vacation in the future. We can only hope. This trip really came full circle with that experience.

Thank you so much for reading about our adventures! We had a great time sharing them with you!

Pura vida,
Rachel

Seeds of Hope

Hola everyone!

We're back safe and sound from our trip now (although we're all walking zombies today due to our overnight flight!). But we still have more updates to share about the work we did on our trip!

We had a wonderful time working with Seeds of Hope!

Meeting with PCV Jessica 
On Thursday, we met with Jessica Skeesick, a Peace Corps Volunteer in Parrita, CR, who took time out of her busy schedule to meet with us and explain the story of how SOH got started and her work with them. We learned from Jessica about the work that she personally does with Seeds of Hope. For example, she is currently teaching a gender and sexuality course that touches on many topics like puberty, sexual abuse, and healthy relationships.

Sadly, we weren't able to meet up with Penny Williams, the SOH founder. However, Jessica did a great job sharing the SOH story with us in her absence. Here is a short version of the SOH story, taken from their website:

In November 2011, Penny Williams was in Costa Rica on a bridge over the Tarcoles River with two students from San Diego. Previously, she brought mission teams to Costa Rica with the sole intent of restoration such as revamping an elementary school playground in a low income area and the pediatric ward of the Quepos Hospital. She and the students (both girls) were scouting for their next project later that year. They had heard a little about Human Trafficking, so it was on their radar. They stopped to pray and asked God to "open and close doors" and to show them quickly what to do for their next project. Two American men in their late sixties were on the bridge looking down at the crocodiles and began a casual conversation. They openly shared that they were from Denver, Colorado, and that they were on a sex vacation. Penny quickly realized that this was a Divine Encounter and asked many questions. The men revealed that they had been with girls from Costa Rica, The Dominican Republic and Netherlands that week while in Costa Rica. They shared details on where to find girls, the prices, and even the fact that many of the girls were under age. The conversation was random and surreal.

Later that week in a meeting with the Dr. Aldo, the head of the Quepos Hospital Pediatric ward, The Chief of the OIJ (The Costa Rican FBI), the Director of PANI (Child Protective Services) and the Minister of Health, Penny presented them with the idea of opening a shelter for girls who have been sexually exploited. The officials concurred that, if children were rescued, no housing, programs or shelters were available in Costa Rica.  The best they could do was to take them to the hospital for one or two days, and then they had to return them to the streets. The officials encouraged Penny to move forward with this project. They promised to support her in this endeavor and have followed through with their commitment.

Seeds of Hope has now obtained licenses from these agencies. We will duplicate The Clubhouse Program and will work to equip others to do the same.
Costa Rica has become the hub of child prostitution for the Western Hemisphere. A destination where poverty meets tourism; Costa Rica is a perfect breeding ground for sexual exploitation of minors.

Penny has now managed to open clubhouses across the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica, in Dominicalita, Parrita, Jacó, Tarcoles, and Palomo. The SOH program has also expanded to include programs for both boys (Roots of Hope) and girls (Seeds of Hope). The Clubhouses offer classes on weeknights and weekends on topics ranging from job skills (like woodworking, hair cutting, etc., to give the students alternative ways to make money other than sex work); art therapy; English; jewelry making; Bible classes; Yoga; etc. These classes give these kids a safe space with adults they can trust and form relationships with and they serve as a strong preventative measure by giving the students a safe way to make money.

Finally, SOH also does advocacy work with the government to improve the legal situations of victims and to advocate for better protection of victims of sex trafficking and sexual exploitation.

Observing SOH Clubhouses in Parrita

On Saturday, we had the chance to visit both SOH Clubhouses in Parrita, a short half-hour bus ride away from our host town of Quepos. After the bus ride, we took a cab to the edge of Parrita, to a neighborhood called Reformadoras, a low-income, government housing barrio. There, we were welcomed to the girls' clubhouse by about 15 friendly, welcoming girls and their leaders Laura (the clubhouse director), Rachel, and Jessica (our PCV guide!). We had a great time painting driftwood from the beach with the girls. The driftwood will be taken back to the states and sold as decorative artwork, with the proceeds funding SOH and the girls.

Some of our creations

Lauren, Victoria, and our host mom Isa painting with the girls

The road to the girls' clubhouse outside Parrita 

 Next, we got to go visit the boys' clubhouse, Roots of Hope, just around the corner. The boys were holding a spay and neuter campaign for local families to have their pets fixed for free. This is an amazing effort for them to make in CR, as stray dogs are a huge, heartbreaking problem (see Kim's last post!).


Girls' Clubhouse Party on Sunday

On Sunday, we had the chance to sponsor a party for the girls in Parrita. The girls earn points for attending class each day, and they are able to save up their points to go on a field trip or to a party. This week, we were in charge of the party! We came prepared with lots of snacks, games, music, and prizes, and had an overall great experience with the girls! We were definitely sad to say goodbye to them at the end of the day!

Translation: "Welcome to Seeds of Hope"

Beautiful mural in the girls' clubhouse

We had an awesome time hanging out with the SOH girls and are so grateful to them for letting us visit and be a part of their circle this week! Thank you so much, SOH!

Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for one final post about our work in San José with Face of Justice and our own very surreal experience with some real, live sex tourists on our last night in CR!

Pura vida,
Rachel

Culture Shock!

Hola!  Sorry we haven’t been writing as much but we’ve been super busy and wifi can be hard to come by in Costa Rica!

This post will be about some of the culture shock we’ve experienced being in Costa Rica. Disclaimer, this does not mean that we haven’t enjoyed the experience or that we’re dissing the country.  It just means that traveling requires adjustment and flexibility.   

A simple google search defines culture shock as: the feeling of disorientation experienced by someone who is suddenly subjected to an unfamiliar culture, way of life, or set of attitudes.  I think disorientation is a good word, especially after traveling on the winding Costa Rican roads.  It takes a little while to get used to but soon you’re not so dizzy anymore and you can enjoy the ride.

Los Perros

One common theme of our trip is that we seem to always come across dogs.   At home we think of dogs as man’s best friend; a part of our families.  When we saw some of the conditions of the dogs here it was a tough adjustment.  Any street you walk down you can find a dog roaming around, usually ownerless.  Even the dogs that have owners are not in good shape.  Most of the dogs here have eurlichia, a deadly tick-born parasite that the dogs get usually from running around in the thick brush.  It was weird to see dogs just running around, not on a leash or fenced in because in America that’s something you can be fined for.  Also it’s very dangerous for the dogs since they can get hit by a car, attacked by other animals, be stolen, or get lost.  Since all four of us are fierce animal lovers, we were taken aback by how dogs are seen more as property rather than companions.  Most of the people use their dogs to protect their property since the houses are very open since it’s impossibly hot.  It also seems like smaller dogs are seen as more of a status symbol rather than a part of the family.  

There were two dogs in particular that we bonded with while we were in Costa Rica: Kandy and Diogo.  They belonged to our neighbors next door, however they were never there because the wife is about to have a baby.  Immediately they were both desperate for our attention.  We took both of them to the vet to get baths and a checkup.  They were covered in fleas and ticks, as preventative measures we have in the States like Frontline are expensive and seen as unnecessary since the dogs are always outside.  Diogo was especially covered in ticks as we pulled many 15 off his poor little body.  It was really hard to see these dogs living this way. Over the week, Kandy turned from submissive and scared to affectionate and excited.  You could see the change in her demeanor.  Diogo who is such a character, didn’t seem as grateful but he has also been living out in the streets longer.  I think of him as the Don Coreleone of the neighborhood and by shaving him and keeping him locked up in our yard we took away his street cred.  I think deep down he’s happy to be clean.  Both of them have ehrlichia but hopefully with medicine they can live for many more years. 

Machismo

 I think probably the thing I disliked the most about this trip was all the street harassment.  DEF. OF MACHISMO. I understand that 4 gringas walking around Tico neighborhoods can be quite a shock or cause a stir, but that doesn’t mean we don’t deserve the right to feel safe.  Street harassment is bad in the U.S. and is pretty bad in Philadelphia but in Costa Rica it seemed like we couldn’t go anywhere without someone making a comment.  In one aspect, I’m kind of happy that my Spanish isn’t that great because I probably don’t want to know what they were saying all the time.  However sometimes we were screamed at in English like, “HEY HONEY”, or “BEAUTIFUL!”, or “HEY PRETTY LADY!”  When we passed groups of men, I was honestly scared that they were going to try to stop us or do something.  It was also scary because cars would beep and truck drivers would pass and scream things at us.  Cars would sometimes stop near us and we didn’t know if they were taxis or if they were guys who were planning on saying something.  Street harassment is something I will never get used to, nor should I have to get used to it.  It’s not a compliment to scream at a woman and purposefully try to make her feel powerless while walking down the street.  Compliments shouldn’t scare you.  Compliments aren’t a power struggle.    

Interestingly, when we were with Rachel’s good friend Leinner, who’s just a kid, we didn’t seem to get harassed as much.  It was like he deserved more respect as a man than we did walking around as females.

The scariest interaction any of us had on the street happened in San Jose while going to meet up with some of Rachel’s friends.  San Jose is a pretty crowded city with very few gringos walking around so it was in general a little overwhelming.  We were walking single file and all of a sudden I hear a guy make like a cat sound.  It turns out that he had come up from behind and grabbed Victoria around the waist while making that ridiculous sound.  When we got a look at him he clearly had some mental health problems but still, it’s a society where grabbing a woman on the street isn’t that unusual and men can get away with it.  Ugh.  I hate street harassment so much.   

Going along with machismo, the gender roles seem rather traditional.  Even if both spouses work, the woman is expected to get the food on the table exactly when her husband desires.  Of course that attitude is still prevalent in the United States but I personally haven’t been exposed to that in a while so it was kind of strange as a feminist to just say it is what it is. 

I could probably write a whole novel about how I feel about the machismo attitude but I’d rather not harp on negativity.  The patriarchy is strong in Costa Rica but it’s strong in the U.S. too. 

Tico Time

Another thing I had a hard time adjusting to is what is lovingly referred to as “Tico Time”.  It’s just a more relaxed culture where you kind of get there when you get there.  It was a lot of “hurry up and wait” as we were constantly waiting for taxis or buses or for other people to meet up with us.  Personally, I absolutely hate being late so this was hard for me.  I don’t like rushing; I like to get places even like a half an hour early.        

MISC.

There were some other small things that caused a little bit of culture shock but nothing that took that big of an adjustment to get used to.  One thing is that you have to throw your toilet paper in the trash instead of flushing it.  We might think that’s gross but it’s just that the pipes can’t really handle it.  Another adjustment that was a little hard for me was the food.  It’s a lot of rice and beans, pretty much for every meal.  Most of us were used to just grabbing a granola bar for breakfast and maybe eating a snack for lunch.  Our lovely host, Isa, made us so much delicious food it was impossible to finish it all.  Sometimes it was a little heavy in the heat but it was all very good.  There were nights that we got pizza which was a good break from fried plantains and arroz. 

That’s pretty much the main things that were different!  Overall, Costa Rica is pretty similar to the U.S. 

Pura Vida,

Kim   

English Camp

Buenos Noches!

Yesterday we finished up a great week of teaching English to classes at Escuela el Estadio.  Each day we worked with different grades and helped build on their English skills. It was really interesting to observe the difference in the Costa Rican education system compared to the Estados Unidos (USA).

When we arrived to the school on Monday, the circus-like scene in the recess yard immediately took me aback. Children zoomed by with hulu hoops and skateboards, screaming and giggling; it felt like a scene out of a movie. During our first day we worked with 10-14 year olds. It felt a little experimental finally putting our lesson plans into place, but we had awesome results. Once we broke the ice and each taught a different lesson, it made me feel more confident in my ability to interact with the kids and motivate them to feel engaged in the classroom. Our lessons typically consisted of basic conversational prompts, (“Hi..How are you// My name is…//Nice to meet you”), but we also emphasized nouns + adjectives (animals, professions, emotions) and the alphabet and numbers. Most kids participated and seemed to really enjoy repeating the prompts and working on activities that involved putting conversations in order. We also had a lot of success with charades, professions, drawing, and identifying colors on the board. Some activities we’re a bit of a bust, such as “duck-duck-goose” and “the knot game”. It was difficult to explain the rules of a game that isn’t really part of their culture. 

            During the classes, Victoria, Kim, and I so badly wanted to be able to communicate better with the children. They were adorable and so interested in talking to us, but it was hard to think around the words we didn’t know. Often times, we would recognize what the child was asking or telling us, but we didn’t know the words in Spanish so we had to try to think of another way to say our intended responses. We’d often need to ask Rachel to translate for us. I feel much more inspired to build on my own Spanish skills so I can communicate more freely and not feel like I’m stifled in my understanding.

The children at Escuela El Estadio had much more free time and way less discipline than what I am typically used to seeing in grade schools in the U.S. Having worked in schools for three years prior to starting law school, I often observed that whenever kids acted out, disobeyed a teacher, refused to participate, or play-fought/got physical, they were immediately disciplined or lost a privilege. At Escuela El Estadio, this was not the case. Many of the children would get up during the middle of lessons, interrupt teachers and peers, play roughhouse in the recess yard, and refuse to participate in the lessons we prepared. We had many great students that were enthusiastic to learn (and show off) their English skills, but we also had many “class-clowns”. It was hard to keep their attention for very long, and like most kids, they were easily entertained, and also easily bored.

Despite the added craziness and lack of discipline, the kids were incredible to work with. Their eagerness to learn and participate in class as well as communicate with their teachers and peers was such a breath of fresh air. When I worked in the U.S., I often felt like some of the children were stunted in their personal expression by being forced to follow very “cookie-cutter” classroom expectations and lessons. It was refreshing to see all of them just be themselves and act silly with one another. I’m so happy I was able to have this experience and work with so many bright, hilarious, and promising kids. 

Pura Vida!

Lauren

First Impressions!

Buenos Dias!

After a long 24 hours of straight traveling, we finally made it to Quepos around 12:00 CR time (2:00pm EST). After arriving at the airport in San Jose, CR, we caught a cab and stayed in a small hotel room where we had our first encounter with a Costa Rican dog - we were smitten! We then took a bus to Quepos and finally we were at our home for our time here.

Shortly after we arrived, we met the mother in our host family, Isa. We ate rice, beans, and chicken, and had our first cup of Costa Rican coffee (it's now become the running joke that I am clearly addicted to coffee). After filling up on food other than terrible airport food (McDonald's) we set off for the beach. Our first excursion brought us to the beach where we took a dip in the ocean and soaked up the Vitamin D we all became deficient in back at home. As if sensing our low energy levels, the monkeys and toucans came out to greet us at the beach to give some brightness to the day. We even got to see a mother monkey carrying a baby on her back!

After the beach, Isa brought us to the Marina where her husband and son work and we watched the sunset on the boats.

Needless to say, when we got back we were absolutely wiped. While I enjoyed getting ahead on reading Game of Thrones, it was nice to finally shower and rinse of the sweat that had compiled - the heat here is intense! We pumped up the air mattress and settled into a snooze where we dreamt about bringing home all of the dogs wandering around.

So far, the food has been amazing, our host family most pleasant, and the sights gorgeous. However, I find myself wishing over and over that I knew more Spanish so that I could delve even deeper into the culture. Who knows - perhaps the children from our English camp in the coming days will teach me a thing or two!

Pura Vida!

Victoria

Drexel students versus The Volcano

Hey everyone!

I hope you all enjoyed that Joe Versus the Volcano reference.  We're not ritually sacrificing ourselves for the Waponi people, although it seemed to work out okay for Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, but we are keeping our eye out for a potential delay in our travel.

The Turrialba Volcano, which is in central Costa Rica, has had a series of eruptions over the past few days.  It hasn't exploded magma, but the ash has been causing problems with visibility, particularly at the airport we're flying into in San Jose.  San Jose is about 40 miles away from the volcano but the ash has reached that far.  The airport has had some serious delays and was even closed for awhile, but it's open again now.  There have been 4 explosions, causing evacuations within a mile of the volcano.

Originally we were going to leave on Thursday or Friday but tickets were cheaper to leave on Sunday.  If we can still fly out on Sunday, then destiny has certainly intervened.  That was a good last minute decision.   

 Scientists are saying that it might erupt again soon even stronger and possibly with some magma activity but who knows.  We're at the mercy of Mother Nature at this point.  I'd rather avoid magma on this trip if I can.  I generally try my best to avoid magma.   

Here's a time lapse video of the erupciòn:    

Who are we? What are we doing?

Hola amigos y and bienvenidos to our blog! Here we will be filling you in about all the adventures we are going to have in Costa Rica.

The easiest way to get you up to speed on our trip is handle this the classic "Five W's" style.  What's good for exposès on the local news is good for a quick and dirty overhaul of a service trip to Costa Rica.

Okay, here we go... 

Who are we?

We are a group of 4 Drexel Law students: Lauren Burnetta, Victoria Pietruszka, Kim Hollenback, and Rachel Rutter.  Rachel and I are board members of a student group, the Domestic Violence Law Society.  This trip is a philanthropy project on behalf of that group, as each group has to do some sort of community service. 

 Issues that particularly affect women and children are close to all of our hearts.  We're all devoted to public interest and some of us plan to do some sort of public interest law when we graduate.  The goal is serving populations who can't afford to serve themselves. 

We're all focusing in on different kinds of law; we all have different strengths.  Rachel plans on doing public interest law, while I want to do criminal law.  Victoria is a JD/PHD student who is interested in how the law intersects with psychology.  Lauren thinks she want to do health law, but isn't completely sure.  Rachel and I are second year students while Lauren and Victoria are in their first year.  

Interestingly, human trafficking actually intersects all of the areas we're interested in: public interest, criminal justice, psychology, and health law.  Public interest groups lobby for stronger laws and help provide resources for victims.  Criminal law prosecutes the offenders and vindicates the victims.  Psychology can help explain how people become victims and why perpetrators offend.  Lastly, human trafficking costs us millions of dollars in healthcare every year.  It's important that healthcare providers know the signs of human trafficking so they can intervene when necessary.  So we're all perfect matches for each other and this project because we all have an interest in what the others don't.      

Essentially we are just 4 girls that like to help people, which may sound cliche but it's true. 
            

What are we doing?

The focus of our trip is human sex trafficking which is basically a modern-day form of slavery.  This is a huge international problem, but it is especially bad in Costa Rica. Most people think of Costa Rica as a tropical paradise, full of sun soaked beaches, white sand, rain forests, and beautiful wildlife.  All of that is true but there is a darker side too, as in any destination.

A federal statute has defined sex trafficking as: "the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purposes of a commercial sex act, in which the commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such an act has not attained 18 years of age. 22 U.S.C. §7102. 

It's estimated that at least 20 million adults and children are bought and sold worldwide into commercial sexual servitude, forced labor, and bonded labor.  About 2 million children are exploited every year in the global sex trade. Source 

Sex tourists are individuals who travel to another country to buy commercial sex or exploit weak legal systems that ignore sexual abuse, especially of girls from poor and marginalized communities.

In Costa Rica we will be working with some groups that are dedicated to helping the victims of sex trafficking, particularly victims who are children.  Some of the groups are: Seeds of Hope and Face of Justice.  Our planned activities include helping with renovations to a youth center, teaching English at some camps for children, sponsoring a field trip, and meeting with a prosecutor specializing in human trafficking.  We will also be observing the work they do at Seeds of Hope and Face of Justice to get a sense of how we can help combat trafficking.   

Where are we going?

In Costa Rica we will be staying in a town called Quepos, which is in the Puntarenas province on the center of the West Coast.  Quepos is a popular tourist destination as it is the gateway to Manuel Antonio State Park.  It's also a popular spot for big game fishing since it's near a big marina on the water.  

      
 
When are we going? 

We will be in Costa Rica from March 15th-25th, during our Spring Break.   

Why are we doing this? 

We're going on this trip because we want to learn all that we can about human sex trafficking since it's such a huge global problem.  We want to be responsible citizens of the world.  Like I said before, it's estimated that 2 million children are trafficked worldwide each year.  That is 2 million too many.  


¡Pura Vida!  ¡Gracias por leer!

Be sure to check for new posts coming soon! 

-Kim