Costa Rica Rural Community Empowerment Project

project accomplishments...

Since 2004, we have placed had over 35 students on 3 to 5 month research internships (for university credit) on the project and over 20 student and community volunteers from Canada on 2 week to 2 month placements. All internship students and volunteers live in home-stay accommodation with the farm families involved in the Heart of Gold Project. As a result of the Heart of Gold's successes in Los Santos, Vancouver Island University in partnership with the BC Government, has allocated three full scholarships (2007-2010) for Costa Rican family students involved in the project to study free at VIU.

Since 2004,the Heart of Gold Project has imported and sold on behalf of our farming families' in Costa Rica [Sol Colibri/Alianza Coffee] the world's most ethical coffee into BC, Canada. During this period, we have returned over $35,000 to the farming families. In 2007, two former project students created their own coffee import business, Bean Positive, and deal exclusively with Sol Colibri/Alianza importing the organic Direct Trade coffee from the Heart of Gold Project.

Currently we are inventorying farms and families who are members of the Los Santos Eco-Trail Project, and creating GIS maps of the 50km trail options. This has been a 3 year undertaking. In 2008, TurboVideo Productions graciously created a a documentary on the Heart of Gold Project [see homepage link] which will be aired in the future on PBS in the USA and CBC n Canada.

The Heart of Gold Project has three distinct phases:

• phase 1 (2004-2005)
• phase 2 (2006-2007)
• phase 3 (2007-present)

"I want to live, I want to give... I crossed the ocean for a Heart of Gold." (Neil Young)