Birthdays, Maps and Gardens
San José, Costa Rica
Dear friends and
family,
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| Keila "at school" in June, right before their 3-week vacation. June 2020 |
This
past Friday, July 10th, Keila and Annika finished their second week
of the mid-year, three-week school vacation. Not summer vacation; first because
the school year here in Costa Rica goes from February through November and
second because we are in the middle of a very wet and cold rainy season. But Friday
was a special day anyway because it was Annika's 9th birthday. She got to
choose breakfast (pancakes) and dinner (pizza) and her cake (lemon). Jenny and
I worked together to arrange two Zoom meetings, one with family and another
with classmates from the school Annika and Keila attend virtually, because of COVID.
It was hard to get Annika’s 2nd-grade classmates’ attention.
Finally, Jenny said, in English, “On the count of three we’re going to sing
Happy Birthday.” She counted, we sang and, unexpectedly, the kids joined in. Later,
when we talked about it with Annika, she said, in her mature voice, “It wasn’t
you. They’re always like that.” The family Zoom was fun because it involved
both Nicaraguan and USA family members. At the end of the day, Annika said,
"I like birthdays during COVID!"
Keila's birthday is this Thursday (July 16th). Besides both of them getting chapter books (Keila will be getting “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”), we also went to a toy store on July 3rd to celebrate “birthday month.” We got two kites, squirt guns, two types of bubble blowing apparatuses, and the Sonic version of Monopoly. Besides having several squirt gun battles, they’ve also invented a form of tag, where you tag a person by squirting them three times in a row. They've blown the bubbles and Keila and I have tried flying the kite a few times. Our best success was from the balcony off a loft that is part of Keila and Annika’s room. I have successfully lost two games of Monopoly so far.
In
terms of our work, in addition to Zoom meetings and seminars and reading
reports, I have been physically going to the UBL (Latin American Biblical University)
to work twice a week, following all the precautions: wearing a mask, using hand
sanitizer liberally, frequent hand washing and, of course, social distancing. The
UBL is where Jenny and I have been assigned to serve, helping them advance in
their initiative to become both a spiritual and practical model for Earth Care
and all that that entails. We are part of a small team of students and faculty
called the “Green Team.”
To create the maps, we are using a technique called participatory community mapping. It is a means for students, professors, administrators, and support staff to engage with each other and with their campus in new ways. In the Dominican Republic Jenny and I experienced a transformational process when we worked with participants creating maps of their respective communities. We found that when people had to think deeply about what physically surrounded them, process the information and present it in the form of a map, it created a special bond among the participants, as well as a palpably deeper pride in the space they were mapping. We hope we can be part of that same process in the UBL. Three members of the Green Team and I have divided the 2 ½ acre campus into six segments, with buildings and property lines penciled onto the six respective pieces of poster board. Right now the map segments aren’t much to look at, but when we are finished they will be explosions of color showing trees, garden beds, flowering plants, and bushes. We do not yet know how we will bring community members together to make this happen, in the middle of a COVID surge here in Costa Rica, but walking together we will create a path.
Mark, Keila, Annika and Jenny
P.S. Many but not all of you know that Jenny lost her father to COVD 19. Rev. Norman Timothy Bent passed away Sunday, May 17th in Managua, Nicaragua. Rev. Bent graduated from the UBL in 1974. Photo of Rev. Norman from the archives of the UBL
Jenny’s mother, Modestina, has recovered from COVID 19, along with the rest of Jenny’s family living in Managua. Jenny and her two oldest brothers, who live in Michigan and New Jersey, respectively, support their mother, sister, younger brother, and two cousins via regular internet encounters.
 |
Annika
doing a Sunday School activity after spending time with Grandma
Catherine talking about Pentecost. June 2020 |
Keila's birthday is this Thursday (July 16th). Besides both of them getting chapter books (Keila will be getting “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”), we also went to a toy store on July 3rd to celebrate “birthday month.” We got two kites, squirt guns, two types of bubble blowing apparatuses, and the Sonic version of Monopoly. Besides having several squirt gun battles, they’ve also invented a form of tag, where you tag a person by squirting them three times in a row. They've blown the bubbles and Keila and I have tried flying the kite a few times. Our best success was from the balcony off a loft that is part of Keila and Annika’s room. I have successfully lost two games of Monopoly so far.
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| The UBL campus includes an area about 1/4 acre where nothing has been done with the original coffee and bananas for over twenty years. As part of the mapping process, the Green Team will establish what is and then envision what might be on this land. |
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| One of the many species of spiders to be found on the UBL campus |
Our biggest current challenge is to
create at least two maps of the campus—the first with all that is there now and
the second with the changes that the University community envisions. We know
that we want to have more areas where we produce food and medicinal plants. We
also want to augment the soil’s capacity to absorb the heavy rains during the
rainy season; one technique for doing this is the beautifully named “rain
garden.” The team and the administration also have initiated plans for
harvesting and storing rainwater that will be used for gardening and possibly
for washing clothes.
 |
|
An intermediate map of the UBL
campus that I created from Google Earth using six sheets of 8 ½ by 11 paper.
This was the example that the mapping team used to create our map segments on
six pieces of 30” X 39” poster board. June 2020
|
To create the maps, we are using a technique called participatory community mapping. It is a means for students, professors, administrators, and support staff to engage with each other and with their campus in new ways. In the Dominican Republic Jenny and I experienced a transformational process when we worked with participants creating maps of their respective communities. We found that when people had to think deeply about what physically surrounded them, process the information and present it in the form of a map, it created a special bond among the participants, as well as a palpably deeper pride in the space they were mapping. We hope we can be part of that same process in the UBL. Three members of the Green Team and I have divided the 2 ½ acre campus into six segments, with buildings and property lines penciled onto the six respective pieces of poster board. Right now the map segments aren’t much to look at, but when we are finished they will be explosions of color showing trees, garden beds, flowering plants, and bushes. We do not yet know how we will bring community members together to make this happen, in the middle of a COVID surge here in Costa Rica, but walking together we will create a path.
 |
|
Zucchini, Peruvian peppers, and a
root crop climbing the wall behind the UBL community garden beds.
July 2020
|
I am also working in the UBL garden—six
beds of leafy greens, a variety of herbs and other vegetables. I help with weeding
and turning the compost; I also feed the California red worms (Eisenia fetida).
It is extremely satisfying to feed the red wigglers bits of banana and avocado
peels, onion skins, and watermelon rings and then have it all disappear in a week
or less. Keila and Annika’s school work has required that we learn to create
simple videos, so, as I was turning the compost piles two weeks ago, I decided
to put together a short video detailing the different steps in the UBL
composting system. I edited the two segments that I filmed and added detailed titles
in appropriate places. Then I shared it with the Green Team. One of the members
thought it was not bad, and she posted it to the UBL Facebook page! UBL Community Garden-Composting (Spanish)
Four miles up the mountain from the UBL, our home garden is much more modest. We grow everything in ceramic or plastic pots and aluminum baking pans. We are fortunate to have a landlady with a rotating composter which she made available to us as soon as we moved in in February. It is working at a steady pace, providing compost approximately every two weeks which I add to our vegetables in containers and to the flowerbeds along the edges of the yard. We are eating spinach, lettuce, and radishes and we have had a steady supply of cilantro and parsley for flavoring.
Mom (via the internet) and Jenny are alternating doing Sunday school with Keila and Annika, which is pretty wonderful. Yesterday Mom used the story of the ten lepers, from the gospel of Luke. Her theme was thankfulness and she talked with Keila and Annika about things for which they are grateful.
All four of us are grateful for this house and for the home we have been able to create here. The girls are grateful for the chance to play squirt tag and Monopoly and to read books. They are grateful for our wonderful mutt, Fiona who we were able to bring here from DR. Jenny, and I both appreciate the vision of social and ecological justice that is integral to the work of the Latin American Biblical University. I am grateful every time we find a way to move a bit forward into our part of that vision: mapping, gardening, and, of course, participating in Zoom meetings.
 |
| A small but bright centipede in the red worm bin of the UBL garden.Pulling off the plastic to feed the worms, I have encountered one snake and several mice—life in abundance! July 2020 |
Four miles up the mountain from the UBL, our home garden is much more modest. We grow everything in ceramic or plastic pots and aluminum baking pans. We are fortunate to have a landlady with a rotating composter which she made available to us as soon as we moved in in February. It is working at a steady pace, providing compost approximately every two weeks which I add to our vegetables in containers and to the flowerbeds along the edges of the yard. We are eating spinach, lettuce, and radishes and we have had a steady supply of cilantro and parsley for flavoring.
 |
Our home garden. Aluminum baking
pan, filled with soil and producing a good crop of cilantro, a common herb used
in Costa Rican dishes. July 2020
|
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| Spinach and lettuce, harvested from our aluminum baking pans |
Mom (via the internet) and Jenny are alternating doing Sunday school with Keila and Annika, which is pretty wonderful. Yesterday Mom used the story of the ten lepers, from the gospel of Luke. Her theme was thankfulness and she talked with Keila and Annika about things for which they are grateful.
All four of us are grateful for this house and for the home we have been able to create here. The girls are grateful for the chance to play squirt tag and Monopoly and to read books. They are grateful for our wonderful mutt, Fiona who we were able to bring here from DR. Jenny, and I both appreciate the vision of social and ecological justice that is integral to the work of the Latin American Biblical University. I am grateful every time we find a way to move a bit forward into our part of that vision: mapping, gardening, and, of course, participating in Zoom meetings.
 |
Our wonderful mutt, Fiona. She
keeps us sane with her cuteness, her energy,
and her affection. May 2020
|
COVID and all the struggles going on
in the States make it hard for me sometimes to feel sure that we are truly serving
where God has called us. We are grateful for your support in the past and your
ongoing support now. The trust you demonstrate reassures and strengthens us.
Blessings to each of you,
P.S. Many but not all of you know that Jenny lost her father to COVD 19. Rev. Norman Timothy Bent passed away Sunday, May 17th in Managua, Nicaragua. Rev. Bent graduated from the UBL in 1974. Photo of Rev. Norman from the archives of the UBL
Jenny’s mother, Modestina, has recovered from COVID 19, along with the rest of Jenny’s family living in Managua. Jenny and her two oldest brothers, who live in Michigan and New Jersey, respectively, support their mother, sister, younger brother, and two cousins via regular internet encounters.
 |
| Rev. Norman Bent (center) with Jenny's mother, Modestina (right) and her two older brothers, Norman Jr. (left) and Douglas. From the archives of the UBL, around 1974. |
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