—Uncaster Famine, Saturday, Jan. 17. 1976 60 Lancaster Peace Corp volunteer aids small farmers In Costa Rica, where Peace Corps volunteers have served for 13 years, the problem is not winning the confidence of local residents, says volunteer Bradley A. Igou of Lancaster. Instead, it's being sought out for solutions to many more problems than one can solve. “One must honestly admit that a Peace Corps volunteer is sometimes viewed as a ‘special’ person, perhaps due to more experiences and chances for development and education in the United States,” says Igou. “More or less current knowledge or thinking there may be very new and in teresting here. Thus one feels innovative, that he can change things - change in the sense of presenting other sides or opportunities and letting people decide for themselves. “In other words, one feds more valuable and needed here.” Igou, 24, is a volunteer agricultural extension agent whose job is to teach im proved farming methods to poor, small-scale fanners. Demonstration {dots, which the farmers plant under his direction, using seeds, fertilizers and insecticides provided by the agricultural extension office, are his favored teaching tools. So satisfying is life in Costa Rica that Igou hopes to stay on after his two-year term of Peace Corps service ends in April. He’d like to teach English at an agricultural school and continue his farm work on his own. “I like the spirit of a country which is developing. FARM s improving and advancing,” he explains. “In the UJS., it seems we have ‘arrived,’ and I believe a certain spirit has been 105 t... One reason I want to stay is that I feel I have more to give here, knowledge I can share that in the States might mean Utile.” Igou is sharing bis knowledge of fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides and crops in order to improve the production and income of subsistence-level farmers near the town of Nicoya in northwest Costa Rica. The main crops in the area are rice, corn and beans. He assists small farmers, whose land may range from only the plots around their houses to nine acre. “Places only a few miles apart can be at different levels,” be noted. In seme cases, he helps farmers already using insecticides and fertilizer to determine proper amounts, while only a few miles away he may have to explain what fertilizer is and does. “The main problem is not this, but the fact that once the farmers are convinced of the advantages of these techniques, which they generally are, the high prices prohibit them from buying and making use of the product,” he says. “The fertilizer price has doubled since I arrived.” Farmers generally work for someone else five hours each morning, earning less than $1.50 for a morning’s work, according to Igou. One hundred pounds of fertilizer costs about 10 days’ wages; to rent a tractor, 20 days’ pay. “For this reason, some in Costa Rica farmers find it safer and cheaper to Just put the com seed in the ground and let it grow, come what may, doing weeding with a machete,” says Igou. To plant com utilizing proper fertilization and insecticide protection, a farmer would need a bank loan, something un sophisticated farmers are often hesitant to seek, he adds. During the five - to six month dry season, when there is no farm work, the men of the household may leave to find jobs in another region. Igou also turns his at tention from farming to other areas during that November to April stretch. “I fill my time by showing educational movies in small villages, preparing and beginning a survey of the farmers and their problems, doing some community work and continuing to teach English classes,” he says. Igou teaches English casually to Mends in the evenings and teaches classes of university students two days a week. He also teaches a class composed of three priests and two school teachers. The volunteer uses part of his Peace Corps living allowance to pay for materials used in the demonstration plots. The farmers keep the harvests from the plots, paying only land preparation and labor expenses. “I am doing this because I feel the plots are im portant,” be says. “First, they give the farmer more food than he would or- IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE JUST THE TWO OF YOU FACING THE FUTURE. FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT YOUR LOCAL COUNTY OFFICE. dlnarily have. It gives him the chance to plant without risk and leam the methods. Other farmers sec the production, which is hopefully better than theirs, and have an interest in learning how they can do likewise." Because he wanted to live in a "family situation," Igou boards in a comfortable home with a widow, her daughter, a niece and a high school student. His room faces the street and, since he usually has the door open, students and friends frequently drop by. Igou has developed close friendships with many Costa Ricans in the neighborhood. “One of my friends invited me to cook the meals at his house for Mother’s Day, so I cooked typical American foods for his parents and 14 brothers and sisters,” recalls Igou. “I am friends of the family, and my friend writes to my parents in Spanish and they to him (in English). “On weekends, I do some reading or studying, and always spend a great deal of time with my Costa Rican friends. We’ve visited volcanos, gone to the beaches nearby, to the movies and soccer games. I’ve learned that very simple things can be a lot of fun. We especially enjoy the local festivals and holidays and bullfights.” Nicoya is a fairly large town in the province of Guana caste, known, because of the cattle raised there, as Costa Rica’s “Wild West.” The town has may stores, a park, an old colonial church VI The needs of your family are never-ending. Equipment. Home appliances. Feed and seed and fertilizer. Doctor bills. College educations. Trucks and tractors. Remodeling the bouse. The people at Farm Credit understand farm families and their special needs. After all, they've been working with families like yours for years. They work with you to help you reach your goals. And it's good to know that they believe in constructive credit. . . the kind that helps you get further ahead instead of deeper in debt. So the two of you don't have to go it alone. Not when there's a Farm Credit man who's a real professional when it comes to helping farm families like yours. FCS The Go Ahead People «nd a movie theater, Igou reports. Costa Rica, which is located between Nicaragua and Panama, U usually hot all year. "During the dry season, everything drys up, and it is hot and dusty, with tem peratures In the 905,” says Lgou. "In the wet season, things turn miraculously green and beautiful, with rain nearly every af ternoon.” The language of the country is Spanish, a heritage of 299 years as a Spanish colony. With both high school and Peace Corps language training, Igou finds he speaks Spanish so well that a visiting American, who asked Igou directions to the beach, commented, "You speak English very well.” Costa Rica is the tiniest country in Central America. Its nearly two million people live in an area half the size of Virginia. Igou graduated from Ithaca College in Ithaca, N.Y. in 1973 with a bachelor’s degree in sociology and anthropology. CLICK'S Distributor for ROOFING & SPOUTING BAKED ENAMEL TIN ROOFS Colors: Turquoise, Red, White (only) FULL SERVICE DEALER SALES & INSTALLATION SAMUEL B. CLICK R.D.I, Kinzer, PA Ph. (717) 442-4921 Please call before 7 A.M. or after 6 P.M. No Sunday Calls CREDIT The son of Arthur C. nnd Betty Jane Igou, 752 Hershey Avc., Uncastcr. i KO u graduated from J.P. Mc- Caakey High School ui I juicsslcr in 1969. He la one of about 12^ Peace Corps volunteers working in Coata Rica in agriculture, rural development, education and health programs. World wide, about 6,500 Americans arc serving as Peace Corps volunteers and trainees in 69 developing countries. The Peace Corps is part of ACITON, the federal agenev for volunteer service established in July, 1971 to administer volunteer programs at home and overseas. Divide Time Since three-fourth’s of the earth’s surface is water, and only one-quarter is land, it is obviously very clear that man’s time should be equally divided—three fourth’s for fishing one-fourth for work TRY A CLASSIFIED
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