Living Poor

No, I´m not talking about myself. Amazingly, my meager Peace Corps living allowance covers the majority of my expenses and I haven´t had to plunder the savings (yet).

By this title, I´m talking about the people in my site. Sometimes living here in the Costa Rican countryside everyone is so pura vida, so friendly, and so laid back that you forget about an important fact: They don´t really have much money.

Sure, everyone has a house and food on the table, and if they hit a rough patch they have family members nearby that can come to the rescue...but that too can be stressful. Most people anywhere want independence and some success that allows them to do what they want to do in life - enlarge the house, buy a little car or work truck for the farm, or take a trip shopping in the closest big town.

But life in a small farming town can be tough. A few recent events made me take note of it.

One of my host brothers, Ananias, is 50 years old and has been working as a farmer in some capacity for all of his life. He is a hardworking and respectful person.

Ananias earns most of his money working on a coffee farm that his sister-in-law owns (her husband is deceased). Also, for quite a while he has been supplementing his income by making cheese. He owns a few cows that produce the milk for the cheese business.

Starting a couple of years ago, Ananias began to take out loans with the micro-finance bank (my counterpart) in town. He took out the loans and starting buying cows. In the time I have been here he went from two cows to five in a period of about 1 year. Things were going very well. The cows he bought produced large volumes of milk, and he was able to up his production from roughly 20 kilos a day to about 40 kilos. He went scouting for people to buy up his new production capacity, and with some minor setbacks, he was able to sell all the cheese he produced.

Ananias´s plan is going good. He tells me his plan is to continue buying cows, up the cheese production even more, stop working on his sister-in-law´s farm, and take up milk production full-time. Later on will come the purchase of milking equipment (he does it by hand now...you should see this guy´s forearms!) which will make his job even easier.

This is the Tico equivalent of a retirement plan. Ananias is old enough to start thinking about the future, and he wants something that can give him some financial security as he gets older. Makes sense to me...more power to him.

About 3 weeks ago one of Ananias´s recently bought cows got sick and died within about a three day period. No big explanation. It just got sick, and then keeled over and died. This happens plenty on farms, from what they tell me. Unfortunately, he is still paying off the loan with the bank, and so he will have to pay off this dead cow for the next year or so...taking away important income.

Then two nights ago, one of his cows was about to give birth, but wouldn´t drop the calf. It turns out the calf had already died and was stuck in the birth canal. Ananias called a veterinarian out the next morning. They operated on the cow to remove the calf, but something didn´t go right, and now he´s had a second cow die on him.

Ananias´s response: ¡Que va! ¡Hay que seguir! Oh well! Gotta keep going!

Despite the positive face Ananias has put on the whole situation, I know it has been a setback for him and has a hurt. This morning I watched him making cheese, and he just wasn´t moving with the same gusto that he normally has when he is making it. He had invested a lot of time in those cows, searching for grasses, giving them shots, steering them to pastures, and they just died on him.

I´m not trying to tell you a sad story or depress you, but it seems like out of respect for this Peace Corps experience, which overall has been extremely positive, you have to include the sad situations you see that bring you down to earth.

Now bringing this back to Peace Corps work. When I arrived in Costa Rica and was told I would be basically a small business development volunteer, I have to admit I was a little skeptical. What are we going to be able to teach a farmer or small business owner about running their farm or business more efficiently? Since then my skepticism has subsided and has been replaced with a lot of enthusiasm.

I began working with two families on a farming project about 10 months ago. They came to me after hearing that I had been working with some other local farmers, and asked if I could join them to talk about their project.

We sat down together and I explained to them a little bit about what I could offer them and what my role would be. I would be a facilitator. My job was not to make the decisions, but to help them with activities that would allow them to get all the facts out, and hopefully allow them to analyze and make their business decisions in a more orderly way. What do you think?, I asked. Sounds good to them.

We began meeting weekly for awhile after that. The husbands and wives both participated in the meetings, so there were five us.

We began with a basic SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis. In my experience, this is a great activity to get to know a project and start the conversation. For their project they wanted to grow lettuce hidroponically, which is not organic, but very clean (few chemicals) and in high demand here in Costa Rica.

The SWOT analysis left them with a very positive feeling about the project overall. We decided to move forward with some other steps to investigate the project.

I helped them put together a viable budget for the greenhouse and other materials they would need to start-up the project. They didn´t have the money, so they would have to take out money with the local bank (again, my counterpart). The budget was an important point, in my opinion, so I pressed them to be sure to include all start-up costs were present, including the costs for the first 4 months of the operation until the could get producing. We did not want to have to go back to the well twice.

They got the budget ironed out, analyzed some other risks, and then they decided to move forward. They took the plunge and went to the bank to take out the loan. With only a minor change to add another co-signer to the loan agreement, it was approved and they got the money. They were committed.

Next step was to help them bring more order to their meetings. They had funds - they needed a treasurer! One of the wives was elected treasurer. We dedicated two meetings on how to keep a basic ledger to keep track of the coming and going of money. No high finance...but very basic accounting. The one woman was treasurer, but all learned how to keep the books.

There was no record of the weekly meetings - it was time to appoint a secretary! The other wife was appointed secretary. I gave them some basic tips on what should be present in most meeting minutes, and we got started with the next meeting.

We did a session on how to develop goals effectively, or that is, SMART goals. Specific. Measurable. Attainable. Realistic. Time-Constrained. We practiced. They understand and the outcomes of the meetings began to show up in the meeting minutes with greater accuracy.

Together we created a meeting agenda they could follow every week that would encompass all the business they needed to do. They began to read the agenda aloud each week at the start of each meeting.

They elected to put a point at the beginning of the meeting for ´motivation´ where they basically bring in a short story or anecdote that imparts a positive lesson each week. What a great idea!, I thought. They haven´t missed a week yet with the motivational point, and I have no idea where they get their material.

They meet on their own more frequently, and sometimes when I am with them, I scarcely say a word. They have the hang of things.

I get to know the families better. They tell me about how they can´t keep living in the same way, as they describe it, ´working today to pay for what we ate yesterday´. I see the dedication in their eyes. It becomes apparent that except for their homes and some other odds and ends they don´t have much in the way of money. This project is a big deal for them. They are giving it their all. To myself, I commit to giving them all the help I can in the next months.

Time goes by. Advancement of the project is slow. Slowly the base of the greenhouse is build, then they walls, and finally the roof. Xinia, the wife, continues to be a great treasurer, meticulously holding keep track of receipts and noting every amount down the fraction of a colon.

They begin the feel the pressure of the project. They were only about to gain a six-month grace period from the bank before they have to start paying the principal along with the interest, which amounts to a big bump up in the monthly payment.

The wives put on the pressure. They men get moving. We do a 3 month work plan in one of the meetings, or basically a Gantt Chart, detailing what they need to accomplish in the next critical few months.

They begin working two-days a week on the project instead of the 1 day they had been putting in (in addition to their regular job). They plant things on the side, broccoli and chives, which will get them some extra funds.

A month goes by. They greenhouse is almost ready. They have begun planting sample crops with the help of a Ministry of Agriculture engineer. The samples are coming along well.

The begin to harvest the extra crops they planted, giving them a good buffer to make the monthly payments even when they start paying the capital.

This week, in the regular meeting, they review finances. More funds have come in from the extra crops. They elect to take another look at the 3 month work plan to review their progress. What do you think, Blake?!, they ask me. I can see the pride in their eyes. You are doing it!, I say. I can tell they believe that as well.

Even if they have problems growing in the greenhouse (which is doubtful), they believe they will be able to pay off the loan through the monthly payments to the bank.

So in short, I believe myself, and other Peace Corps volunteers, can make a difference here with small business and farmers. At least...that is my experience. Unfortunately, I still don´t have the end to this story to tell you yet. But I will keep you informed. Until then - pura vida.

Gotta go catch a bus.