Project under development
To those of you who have been away for awhile, and to those who are here for the first time, welcome to The Refuge Project. This collaboration has been many years in the making with one driving mission: to be the place the helpers go for refuge. As the frequency and intensity of natural disaster and humanitarian crises increases, so too does the burnout rate among those who answer the call for aid. We’re here to lend a hand to those who have already lent theirs out.
We have been slowly incubating this idea for five years. From a tiny seed, with the support of our amazing donors, we have been emerging from the soil one shoot at a time. The legal, ethical, and logistical challenges of what we’re striving for are vast and much of the last five years has been spent searching for a good first location.
This is where the emerging good news comes in.
We are now able to announce our partnership with the Foundacion Madre Tierra Verde! This is a dream come true for us and we couldn’t be more thrilled to be working with a group whose values align so closely with our own. From circular economics, to eco-friendly construction, through how we create opportunities for the refugees of the world, this partnership is working towards realigning the global attitude towards these vulnerable populations. The possibilities and potential of this collaboration are inspiring and have motivated so much innovation already, that we can’t wait to see what comes next.
This partnership with FMTV allows us to establish a campus of international humanitarian aid and education groups. We have planned a Refuge Site there and we will manage site operations of the larger collaboration campus. Located on a 200 hectare (494 acre) parcel of land in the north eastern part of Costa Rica, the site sits around 5 miles from the Carribean coast in the Barra del Colorado Wildlife Refuge. The location has a wide variety of environments, complete with rivers, lush jungle, and open fields. One of the fastest ways to the ocean is going to be by boat!
Our Site Operations Manager will be (fingers crossed) on site in mid August to meet with the leadership of FMTV and begin the next phase of planning. This means we could be breaking ground on construction inside the next six months.
What all this means for you is more posts hitting your inboxes about what we’re up to and how we’re getting it done. Our first wave of construction will include the dining hall/kitchen, dormitories, sanitation infrastructure, and the groundwork for expanding this infrastructure. This is our first Refuge Site and the skills, support, and passion that FMTV have for the model of community we’re building will allow our shared vision to thrive. What all this means for us is lots and lots of meetings, planning, logistics, and construction. Thankfully, we love this kind of plate-spinning and feel quite that we’ve chosen the right profession.
None of this tireless work from our board could have been possible without the generous support of our donors. You have kept us going throughout our search for this site. Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts. We couldn’t have done this without you and are thrilled you are with us for the next leg of our journey. A more peaceful, loving world is possible, and we’re going to keep building it one day at a time.
More to come as we continue to accelerate. Check back for more updates from the field. We might even have some video content for everyone come August!
To More Great Days,
The Refuge Project Team
https://www.therefugeproject.org/collaboration