Feature
Costa Rican Cultural Exchange
by Stephani Veff
Opinions Editor
“I want to go again. I’d go
tomorrow if I could,” said
Ellen Burbridge, an instructor
in the Tri-City Alternative Pro
gram about a trip she took
recently to Costa Rica. Bur
bridge was able to take the trip
through a program called Part
ners of America which is an
organization that links coun
tries up with states in the United
States for the purpose of
cultural exchange, educational
exchange and being a sister state
or sister country. The program
sends people back and forth to
offer technical assistance.
Oregon is matched with Costa
Rica who, a few months ago,
sent several Costa Rican profes
sionals to Clackamas Com
munity College to see how
things are operated here.
Burbridge used to be a com
munity development coor
dinator for the college and she
received a call when “CCC
needed someone to go to Costa
Rica and do some research and
educational assistance to see
what kind of projects and need
that they had and so I was
chosen and I agreed to go and I
spent three weeks (April 18-May
9) in Costa Rica traveling
around the entire country,”
said Burbridge when asked how
she was chosen to take the trip.
“The purpose of my trip was
to look at existing projects that
were already going in both
schools, private industries (and)
public industry,” explained
Burbridge. “(I was) to talk to
people about the needs that they
had as far as other projects and
then to develop some training
plans and more referrals and
recommendations of who we’d
send back in the summer to
assist (them).”
Burbridge’s trip consisted of
traveling thousands of miles in
buses, taxis, canoes, on
horseback, and walking 15
miles through a jungle. She
visited many high schools,
technical/vocational schools,
universities, factories, jungles,
indian villages, city govern-
ments and “basically I got to
see the entire country.” She also
“probably attended over 30
meetings...met 7500 people
(and) established many profes
sional relationships and per
sonal relationships.”
Burbridge and a woman from
Portland Community College
who is also a member of Partners
of America went as a team and
stayed with Costa Rican families
who spoke only Spanish, “so we
learned Spanish quickly.
We
ate traditional food, we traveled
in a traditional way (and) we lived
with traditional families,” said
Burbridge about her experience
with living in a typical Costa
Rican home. The Costa Rican
members do the same thing when
they come to Oregon. “When
they come up here they come up
for technical assistance and so if
they’re just looking at communi
ty colleges, then they’ll live with
families from community colleges
and they’ll come to work every
day and they’ll observe and
they’ll participate,” said Bur
bridge.
One of the most unusual things
that Burbridge had the chance to
participate in during her trip was
to go to three villages in the
Talamanca Mountains. "These
villages were very, very remote
and removed - beyond National
Geographic specials, and we
traveled for three days up rivers
in dug-out cedar canoes with two
indian guides who spoke no
English. They spoke an indian
language, not even a Spanish
language. We had one translator
and when I first saw the canoes, I
was excited. I thought I was go
ing on a 20 minute ride up the
river, but little did I know that I
would be in the jungle for two
and a half days,” said Burbridge
about the experience. "It was
very, very amazing,” cont’nued
Burbridge, "some of them had
never seen white women before.”
Burbridge noted that the
“most exciting part of the trip
was the whole awareness of our
commonalities and our dif
ferences - looking at their educa
tional systems, being part of the
family, learning about just how
their system works, and just be
ing right in the middle of it, not
being a tourist.”
Some of the effect the ex
perience had on Burbridge was
that it "made me very committed
to international education...J
think we have a lot to offer other
countries. I think they have a lot
to offer us.” It also made her
realize how simply people in
other countries live compared to
the United States and it gave her
a great appreciation for the Col
lege and the vocational programs
it has because Costa Rica has
none.
While the trip was very ex
citing it was also very tiring, as
Burbridge explains how she
lasted through the entire trip,
“My energy carried me for
about two weeks. We only got
one day off in three weeks. We
worked ten hours a day, seven
days a week.
I
was
exhausted....I was so excited
because I knew the experience
was very unique and I knew that
I was getting something that
couldn’t be repeated.” She was
very “touched” by the people
she met and felt very "privile g-
ed” to be there and “now that
I’m back, I’m having a little bit
of a hard time getting focused.”
She’d like to be in both Costa
Rica and Oregon at the same
time.
She continues to keep in
touch with the family she stayed
with in Costa Rica and says that
they are her “special family”
and that they have “kind of
adopted each other.” “In fact,
next Christmas, we’ll (Bur
bridge and her husband and two
children) go spend Christmas
with them.”
“One of the things that really
struck me in Costa Rica that I
don’t think we realize is that
how simply they do run their
country,” Burbridge pointed
out. “Like in some of the rural
areas, in the schools, they’re
lucky if they have a tablet of
paper and a pencil.” Most of
the lessons are taught verbally
because there are so few books
and supplies. Rural com
munities use motor boats for
emergency transportation, but
when the motors on the boats
break down no one knows how
to fix them so they go without
emergency vehicles for months
at a time when they are miles
away from help.
“I really respect Partners of
America organization,” said
Burbridge, “I like how they’re
working with educational in
stitutions. I like how they really
follow through and send
technical assistance.” From this
statement it is obvious that Bur
bridge made the right choice in
accepting the proposal for her
to go to Costa Rica. In conclu
sion Burbridge expressed that,
“I think Clackamas Communi
ty College could play a real key
role in learning from them and
sending people down there.”
Final Exam Schedule
Exain\^Day
time
—xi
8-10
Wednesday
Monday
Tuesday
8 M
7:30 T
9 M
10-12
10 M
9T
11 M
12-2
12 M
10:30 T
1 M
2-4
2 M
1 T
3 M
4-6
Conflicts
2:30 T
Conflicts
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A public service message from
Will^ogerè Institute
Clackamas Community College
Page 8
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