September 2021: Interns Complete Internship at our Central American Training Center in Costa Rica
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Written by Sarah Corson, SIFAT Co-founder
For the past three months, eight interns from Honduras have been working and studying with SIFAT at our Central American Training Center in Costa Rica. They had finished their classes at the National Agricultural University in Honduras, but they had to do a senior project before they received their degrees. They came to Costa Rica to build their projects on our campus, so that we could use them in future training sessions. After working during the day, they received SIFAT training at night and on rainy days. It was a win-win situation. Both the interns and SIFAT benefited greatly from this three-month session.
Our interns from Honduras participate in team building exercises at our training center in Costa Rica.
There were obstacles, such as a bad flood that almost washed some of the projects away, but our staff and interns worked late into the night in the rain, digging a terrace that would run the water the other way. It saved their projects. Our new campus also benefited, because we are prepared in case of a future flood. Don Jose, our farm manager who also taught classes, and Emilia, his wife who was the volunteer cook for the group, caught COVID at different times, so the campus had to quarantine for two weeks each time. But we had enough room for them to socially distance, and the interns kept working and studying. No one else got sick! Despite these struggles, all the required classes to graduate from SIFAT were completed. Our interns graduated on September 15. At midnight that night, they left to return to their homes.
Eight interns from the National Agricultural University in Honduras (UNA) set up demonstrations in Costa Rica as they completed their senior projects while receiving SIFAT training.
Professional volunteers Andrea and Nahim are graduates from UNA and SIFAT. They helped guide our interns through their senior projects in Costa Rica.
During the last days before the graduation, the interns taught four different daylong workshops to local groups of adults. Each intern gave a class on his or her specific appropriate technology. All of them were relevant to the visitors’ situations. Kathy Bryson, our training director, wrote, “I was so proud of every one of the interns. They all did a great job of building their project, and they all explained them so well that every person who came to each of the workshops, understood the new concepts completely.” One of the goals of this internship was to empower these interns to be able to take the new knowledge they have learned and teach others. They left Costa Rica excited about how they were going home to help their own communities in Honduras to develop their farms to produce more food and other basic needs.
Although a new group of students were scheduled to arrive for another training session in late September, we had to postpone because of a recent increase in COVID cases in Costa Rica.
Please pray for these young adults as they go back into hard situations to share God’s Love in practical ways. Thank you for supporting SIFAT this month. Your generous donations and continued prayers are making a difference throughout the world.
The interns’ overcame obstacles during their time in Costa Rica.
We appreciate their hard work to prepare our Central American Training Center for future training events.
