UPDATE From Ambassadorial Scholar in Costa Rica

Greetings from the tropics!

I am so pleased to share with you something of the extraordinary opportunity I am now enjoying, thanks to your far-sighted generosity.

As an Ambassadorial Scholar I am spending one year at the UN-mandated University for Peace near San Jose, Costa Rica. I am one of nearly 150 students here from 40-odd countries. I can not imagine that there will ever be another time in my life when I will be in such a culturally diverse crowd. I am way outside the Colorado Bubble, let alone Boulder’s, and it is such a treat!

At age 47, I believe myself to be the eldest student on campus – a position I thoroughly enjoy. It’s made me easy to recognize, which has helped me develop relationships with all kinds of people on campus.

I expect to receive a Master’s in Peace Education from the University this May. My classes have included: Theory and Practice of Peace Education, Education for Human Rights, Education for Inner Peace, Education for Sustainability, Food Security, and Theatre & Reconciliation. My 16 Peace Education classmates are from: Japan, Kenya, Canada, the United Kingdom, the USA, the Philippines, and Cambodia.

Nearly every week I hear remarkable stories from fellow students -- drinking from puddles as families fled violence on foot; living in a community where people don’t have bank accounts; leaving family behind to seek political asylum; being shot while doing peace work with children; interviewing refugees; not knowing how babies were made until finding herself pregnant at age 21, working to expose the feminism in

the original text of the Koran, etc. Fascinating! I have gained tremendous appreciation for the privileges enjoyed by many of us who live in the States.

I have enjoyed connecting with local Rotarians to do a few service projects (here we are pictured at a blood drive), attend a meeting, and celebrate at my host club’s Christmas party. I recently felt practically like a local when I was greeted by a Rotarian one evening at a concert of a popular Costa Rican band.

Ciudad Colon, the big town in which I live, is about 25 km west of the capitol, San Jose. The proprietors of the French Bakery know me by name, and my neighborhood bakers down the block know that I’m a fan of their onion bread. The organic produce vendor recognizes me and often tucks in an extra bunch of radishes when I make my purchase. The guy at the fruit shop doesn’t sweat it if I don’t have exact change, and another swimmer and I exchange comments on the water temperature every Tuesday and Thursday at the pool at dawn.

It’s truly not an exaggeration to say that nearly every day I find myself learning through a classroom moment, an interesting conversation, a community interaction, or a personal reflection. The experience of studying at UPeace is certainly having a profound impact on me, and the school community is small enough that we students all engage with each other. So please know that the scholarship you have given me is actually touching many lives in ways that literally will ripple across the globe. You are, we all are, part of something wonderful. I am deeply moved by your generosity in making it all possible.

With gratitude,

Alice Swett