LaGamba and NGOs

We arrived at the small airport of Porta Jimenez exhilarated after our flight. It was more of an air strip. In fact, there was a dog lying on the runway that was utterly unconcerned and unafraid of our plane so the plane had to move around him. The airport staff consisted of one person. And the other air travelers in the airport building were a family of 4 from Marietta, Georgia (of all places) and a family of Swiss tourists who were waiting to return to San Jose on our plane. The trip from the small airport village to the research center at the gateway of the national park on Osa peninsula was 2 hours.

It rained most of the way and we crossed over many bridges that that were very “extreme.” Our luggage was a bit much for the bus and we broke the back window. Luckily no bags were lost.

After checking into the Centro Tropico Research center—summer camp for grown-ups—we went to visit the site of a successful NGO (Non-government organization), what we call a nonprofit organization in the US.

This NGO, called LaGamba is a village that is now located in the national park of Cordova. Prior to the declaration of this area as a national park these villagers were farmers. With the declaration of a park, with their village in the middle of the park, they became isolated from other communities, prohibited from development and barred from many practices like farming because it was hazards to conservation efforts—the free range animals ate indigenous plants and the crops were non-indigenous and invasive species.  This community which was relatively poor was in a real tight spot. They approached a local Austrian Lodge that was built to house tourists visiting the park and together they formed a plan to make micro loans to community members to develop new industries. Today, these products of these micro loans are a bustling community center, cottage industries that grow and develop soaps and shampoos from aloe and cactus, artisan shops that make jewelry and other gifts from local woods (trees that have fallen naturally and nuts), bio-gas generators for local power, and many other small sustainable businesses. These warm hearted and welcoming people still have very little by our standards. Yet they invited us into their homes and community center and treated us to a wonderful lunch.