Job Ebenezer and "Technology for the Poor"

“The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'” -Matthew 25:40 

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Dr. Job Ebenezer came to Vara Blanca for two days with a suitcase, a grin, and a plan to share his area of expertise with the ADE high school students. Originally from India, this gentle elderly man received his masters in engineering and has used his knowledge to “develop, innovate, and disseminate appropriate technologies for the poor.” As a boy, Dr. Ebenezer was fascinated by the inventions of American agriculturist George Washington Carver, who made 350 products solely from the peanut. Like Carver, Dr. Ebenezer is a huge proponent of simplicity. He used a quote from the man that inspired him which describes the reason behind “technology for the poor” and Carver’s own philosophy: “Let all the methods of nature study be brought down to the everyday life and language of the masses.”

Along with simplicity, Dr. Ebenezer also believes in going to talk with the people he wants to help, and he has done this in many corners of the earth. He has traveled to India, Tanzania, Zambia, Belize, and now to Costa Rica (for the second time,) teaching sustainability and technology. Why does he take his ideas and inventions and teach them around the world? He has a simple explanation, a verse from Matthew 25: “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink.” Dr. Ebenezer serves others, particularly those who are in need, in order to serve Jesus.

**Click here to read more about Job's awesome visit**

Hope to Hope

In the short time (1 ½ years) that ADE has opened the high school in response to the 2009 earthquake, there has been a string of not only temblors that periodically occur in the region but also natural disasters around the world that increased the feelings of overwhelment and powerlessness. Students who do not have much contact outside of the jungle rainforest have gone from examining not only their own earthquake disaster (human made and natural) to examining that of Haiti, China, and now Japan.

**Click here to read more about ADE students' response to the earthquake in Japan**

Eastern IDEV Students here again...

ADE and Eastern University in Pennsylvania have established an excellent partnership that links students in Eastern’s master’s program in international development (IDEV for short) with the communities of San Rafael and Vara Blanca in Costa Rica. Much of the reason for this partnership is that Tomás, Frances and Ben (our two newest staff members who came in January) were all students in the program. A group of students from Eastern’s program has come to visit each year for the past three years since the Cinchona earthquake in 2009.

From March 4-12 a group of twenty students and one professor from Eastern’s IDEV program joined ADE in Costa Rica. The group stayed in the ADE Center in San Rafael and each of the visitors also took turns staying for three nights in the homes of families in our community.

**Click here to read more and see pictures**

Rebuilding the Broken Down Places

Many people’s homes were either damaged or destroyed during the Cinchona earthquake in 2009. Some of these people lived in temporary shelters built by the government for months afterward. Some received assistance from the government in the form of materials to repair their houses. Others whose homes were completely destroyed received nothing from the government.

Over the recent weeks, members of ADE, along with members of two local churches, were able to participate in the restoration of two of these homes.

Teresa

Teresa’s home was not destroyed by the earthquake, however, the road nearby was completely obliterated. A wealthy dairy farmer up the road from Teresa’s home began to lose thousands of dollars a day after the earthquake because he could not get his milk out to market due to the destruction of the road. Teresa’s house stood in the way of where the government wanted to rebuild the road. Rather than wait for the lengthy process of the government negotiating the relocation of Teresa’s home and family, the dairy farmer came with trucks and pulled Teresa’s house down. Teresa and her family were then forced to move into a temporary emergency "house."



Andrés

Andrés is the grandfather of one of our high school students. The side wall of Andrés’s house was damaged by the earthquake and he had to move out and rent the house next door. The government agreed to provide supplies for Andrés to repair his home, but the problem is that he is elderly and blind and was not able to do the work by himself. The government then threatened to take the materials back since he was not able to use them. The news about this spread through the community and a decision was made to take action. 

**Click here to read more hear the rest of their stories and how we got to be involved**