Promise of a Brighter Future

The La Promesa community had its roots in a squatter community once called El Esfuerzo. Here, a group of about 100 families, with women heads of household, had squatted on a piece of land in the town of Santa Ana.  They then negotiated with the local authorities to gain ownership of the land so that they could build their homes there and live permanently. Unfortunately, a group of local homeowners objected to having low income housing in their neighborhood and subsequently, the families were evicted. 

Some of the women stayed together, however, and were able to apply for and receive housing grants.   Five years ago, the women were given their community housing and there are now 83 families living in this community.

The typical woman of La Promesa is a survivor of extreme physical, mental or sexual abuse. Several women have nearly been killed by their partners. They have all been declared cases of extreme poverty by the Costa Rican social service agency and this is why they are all living together. Many of them have serious health issues and they have all lived through many past traumas, including the eviction from their original site. 

Our Foundation work started with the families when they were living in El Esfuerzo. At that time, we upgraded houses, built the first community center with bamboo and tin, provided food, counseling, sports activities, recreational activities, support groups for women and clothing for everyone.  When the families moved into their new houses, we painted the front of every house and encouraged the creation of family gardens so that they could have beauty in their homes. We have continued to give food, education, support and care for these families throughout the years.  Three years ago we built the first community center for the community and have just completed an upgrade for the building. It now has a bathroom, completely equipped kitchen and upstairs education and art center.

We now have twice weekly yoga classes for the women, once weekly garden care, education for the children, weekly crafts classes for everyone in the community and a weekly cooking class.  We continue to work with the group to deal with old hurts and angers which keep cropping up and debilitating their ability to live more peaceful, fruitful lives.  Violence is, unfortunately, still a part of many of their lives. 

Three years ago we began a tourism initiative which allows the women to present visitors with a socio drama, a testimony of their stories, a well prepared healthy snack, a tour of their community and a demonstration of the crafts they now make.  It has been a long process to prepare the women to receive visitors but they are now nearly able to do this by themselves with little intervention by the foundation.  In March, they catered the lunches and dinners for a group of volunteers and were given lots of positive feedback for their efforts. 

Our next phase of work here is to create an education center based on our model of self direction and community based care.  We will provide the educational materials and train local women to run the center.  In addition, we will pay a modest weekly sum to the women who work so that they can earn money for their own families. 

Other future plans for this community include the construction of a playground, the creation of a community park, garden and butterfly sanctuary and the creation of  good, organic community and individual gardens.  Our volunteers this year will work with this program and will provide the physical labor, financing and encouragement for these projects.