Yorkin High School

Having a local high school in Yorkin was a high-priority need for the community, as the students were having to walk 3 hours to the nearest high school.  Because of the great inconvenience and time commitment involved in just getting to school, the large majority of students didn't end up finishing the school year.  

However, in 2006 Yorkin High School was opened - the last of a government-sponsored program for "satellite" high schools in remote locations.   That program has since been terminated, with the Yorkin school being the final project funded.   The government paid for one professor to teach all materials, using the help of video and DVD to complement the instruction.   Funds and volunteer labor efforts from Colorado Community Church helped to construct the first classroom.  There were ___ students in the first class.  Now in its 3rd year of existence there are currently 3 grade levels, each with one professor.  As students progress through the grade levels a new one will be added each year and new students enter into the first year studies until all five high school grade levels are occupied.    There are now a total of ___ students, 3 classrooms and a dining hall with kitchen. 

classroom

the "bus stop" in front of the school

volunteers from Colorado in front of the first classroom

volunteers try out the desks of the new classroom

A Visitor's Experience

Visitors who come to Yorkin are offered a truly unique look into a side of Costa Rica that the average beach hotel or volcano lodge tourist will never see.   Some of the highlights include:

• A guided trip up the river in a hand-carved dugout canoe with a view of the spectacular natural beauty of the surrounding jungle.
• Arrival in "downtown" Yorkin and the site of the elementary school, Catholic church, health clinic, and traditional thatch roof houses.
• Traditional BriBri Indian food - made with all natural, local produce - cooked over a wood fire stove.
• Demonstration of how the cacao fruit becomes chocolate.  (And a sampling at the end!) 
  
• A nature walk through cacao plantations, new and old growth rain forest, introduction to medicinal plants, and local farms.
• A swim in the river and crossing over to the other side to step foot in Panama.
• Hearing first-hand the story of Stibrawpa from the women who are responsible for it's conception.
• Experiencing the BriBri culture through traditional dance, instruction in the native language, and telling of ancestral legends.
• Observing the process of weaving palm leaves into thatch roof.
• Overnight guests are housed in beautiful wood cabins with private bathrooms and thatch roofed porch complete with hammock.

Turning cacao into chocolate

Cooking over the wood fire

High school students presenting traditional dance

Stibrawpa Women's Organization

In the early 1990s, many of the women in the Yorkin Village became concerned about the future welfare of their families and their community.   A lack of opportunities for work meant that villagers had to travel far from home to be able to provide for themselves and their families.  Many of the women were making handcrafts, but had to travel to the Caribbean coastal cities of Cahuita and Puerto Viejo to try to sell their goods to tourists.   IN order for their kids to go to school they had to make the long hike into Bambu or BriBri on a daily basis and as a result, many of the kids dropped out.  It seemed that the community was going nowhere fast...

It was at that time that a few women came together and created Stibrawpa, which means "Women who make Handcrafts" in their native BriBri language.  The purpose of this group was three-fold:  1) to preserve and protect the nature and resources around them, 2) to preserve and protect their native culture, and 3) to help improve the economy of their village.  It was a group of women who wanted to create a better and brighter future for themselves and for their children.  

Through much hard work and organization, and along with encouragement and assistance from Benson Venegas, of the Costa Rican NGO - Asociacion ANAI, the woman have developed an economy based on eco-tourism, where they bring visitors into the village and provide a truly unique and authentic Costa Rica experience.  In 2008, the Women's Organization hosted a total of 600 day and overnight visitors in their village. 

It was a long, hard battle for the women to get to the place where they are now.  Initially they faced a lot of opposition and hostility from the men, who felt that their position as leaders of the community and family were being jeapordized.  It has taken many years of diligent efforts by these determined women to help the men understand their purpose and point of view.  Their goal is not to gain power and authority, but to work together to improve the lives within their community.

Currently, there are about 40 members within the organization of Stibrawpa - both men and women.  The positions within the Board of Directors are and will continually be held by women, and the men are quite happy with that.  They hold great respect for the women, for their vision, and for their accomplishments, and are happy to be a part of the team.

The organization of Stibrawpa now serves as an example for other groups and communities, about how women can take leadership roles, about how men and women can work together and respect each others contributions, and about how a driven, united group of people can do great things within a community. 

The main entrance to the Women's House of Stibrawpa

"Uncle" Benson with some of the Yorkin children

 

A Yorkin mom and daughter

Brief facts about Yorkin

The village of Yorkin, Costa Rica is home to about 25o people and approximately 45 families.  The people of Yorkin are part of the indigenous BriBri tribe that have been living in the area since before the time of Colombus.  The village is located along the Yorkin River, which makes up part of the Costa Rican-Panamanian border in the central mountainous region.  

Yorkin is a village in the middle of a jungle.  It is completely surround by hills and mountains covered with thick, lush vegetation - a dense, green landscape in all directions.   The easiest accessiblity to the village is by dug-out canoe - about a 90 minute ride upstream from a little town called Bambu, which is about 10km further inland from the larger border city of BriBri.  Without a boat, it is about a 3 hour hike through the mountains to get from Bambu to Yorkin. 

The village of Yorkin covers a territory of about 8,000 hectares (almost 20,000 acres) and includes many cacao and banana farms.   In the past, these agricultural resources were the main source of income for the people in this area, until the more recent development of eco-tourism in the village.

Mountains surrounding the village

Dugout canoes along the river

Some of the children in Yorkin

Visitors making their way to the village

Approximate location of Yorkin on the map of Costa Rica