Soup Kitchen Serves
Indigenous Community
By Katherine Stanley
Tico Times Staff
kstanley@ticotimes.net

Alejandro Rodríguez, 9, rushed from table to table serving plates of fruit.

Faustina Vargas, 96, gazed calmly upon the families around her, confident in the knowledge that the walking stick she'd hidden under the bushes upon arrival would be waiting to guide her steps back up into the jungle at meal's end.

And Eugenio Morales, whose age his mother said she isn't sure of but who might be 2 – well, Eugenio just wanted as many crackers as he could eat.

They are among the more than 50 members of the Bribri community, one of the Caribbean's indigenous groups, who benefit weekly from The Bridge, a non-profit program founded and administered by Nanci and Barry Stevens at the couple's home in the coastal town of Puerto Viejo .

The Stevens, who moved to Puerto Viejo from San Diego , California , in January, began meeting Bribri people shortly after their arrival and providing soup to those who came by the house. In subsequent months, the services they provided – paid for entirely out of their own pockets – grew to include job training, transport for people who needed medical care, micro-loans, providing groceries and other necessities to families and helping one woman file a complaint against an abusive relative.

The program's goal is to provide Bribri families with the resources and skills they need to become self-sufficient, according to the Stevens.

The soup kitchen operates on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. At Saturday's meal, the Stevens also hand out bags of food and show a movie on their laptop computer.

The Stevens also made it possible for Alejandro to go to school, and plan to send 13 more students when school begins again in February.

Though public school is free in Costa Rica , students must pay for books and copies of exams. According to the Stevens, inability to cover these fees, which can total $200 per year, often deters Bribri families from enrolling their children in school.

Cultural differences are another deterrent. While most of the adults who attend the Stevens' lunches speak fluent Spanish, the young children often do not. Alejandro spoke little Spanish when he first met the Stevens and enrolled in school, according to the couple, but he now speaks basic Spanish and some English as well, and is a whiz on the Stevens' computer. He walks an hour to and from school each day.

He is also one of The Bridge's most avid volunteers.

“I'll say, ‘Do you want to help with something?' and he says, ‘Yeah!'” said Mrs. Stevens, 58, a wildlife artist, as Alejandro rushed by on his way to serve more fresh fruit juice. “He doesn't even wait to hear what it is.”

According to the Stevens, the needs of the community they serve are overwhelming. Some families travel 2.5 hours each way by bus for the free meal and $12 bag of groceries.

“I feel sometimes like we're on a runaway train,” Mrs. Stevens said. “I know the destination's a good one, but it's moving fast.”

The Stevens hope to expand the program and purchase the adjoining property with the eventual goal of constructing a Bribri community center. The center would ideally include a larger soup kitchen, 4-5 classrooms and a computer room, Mrs. Stevens said. Her other ideas include a shop class and a forum for “Bribri scholars,” the elders of the community, to teach their customs to young people so they are not lost.

The couple might eventually seek to build cabinas where volunteers with the program could stay, and Mrs. Stevens has already started to collect books for a children's library.

Mr. Stevens, 63, a consultant, said he spends 8-10 hours a day working to find donations to sustain the growing program, which has received 501c3 status as an official project of the U.S. non-profit Serendipity Foundation.

“We know someone's going to join in,” he said. “We don't know who, don't know where, but someone's going to step up to the plate.”

Those interested in helping the Stevens' effort can visit The Bridge Web site www.thumbprintsart.com/bridge , which includes information on the program's activities, budget and how to donate, including an online donation option.

People can also sign up for a weekly e-zine through the Web site, a publication Mr. Stevens began to keep those interested in The Bridge up to date on the program's activities.

Other options for contributing to The Bridge include becoming a pen pal for one of the Bribri schoolkids or providing children's books in English or Spanish for the budding library.

According to Mr. Stevens, there is no limit to what The Bridge's members have been able to accomplish with a little help.

“Just give them a chance, give them the tools and stay out of the way,” he said.