Elisa Molina

Volunteer: Elisa Molina

Bio:

I am a current Peace Corps volunteer serving in rural Costa Rica in a beautiful small community known as Guaitil de Santa Cruz in Guanacaste.  I am part of the Integrated Community Economic Development program and love the work I do.  

I graduated from Buffalo State College in 2008 with a B.S. in International Business and a minor in Italian.  Before becoming a PCV, I worked for 1.5 years at the Pan American Health Organization in Washington, DC.  

I've traveled to 5 different countries, am a proud Latina, and love to serve.  I am a blogger and social media enthusiast.  I've been told I'm a good salsa dancer but think people are just too nice!

2010 - 2012

Contributions from Elisa Molina

  1. Costa Rica I Believe Now

    I arrived on May 23, 2010 to a small rural community in Costa Rica and found out that the best integration strategy was to join the women's soccer team.   Although I was a disaster - play better now - I decided to learn and practice soccer with the team more than twice a week until I couldn’t do that anymore. It was a Sunday evening on mid-June of last year and by that time I already had soccer cleats.  I was still new to this sport so I didn't know I was supposed to wear certain gear th...

  1. Costa Rica tired!

    This is me at my training community coming home from work completely exhausted. I was cought by my lil host sister who learned how to use my camara.

  2. Costa Rica Trash Cleanup

    Community members doing a garbage cleanup as part of their campaign against Dengue.

  3. Costa Rica Trash pickup

    A group of community members came together to organize a campaign agaisnt Dengue.  This is a community member picking up the tons of garbage that were collected that day to deposit them where the municipality would pick up.

  4. Costa Rica Baile Tipico

    This drawing was chosen as one of the winners for the Drawing Competition I put together at my elementary school. It was created by Dayana, a little girl who is very shy yet talented currently in 4th grade.

  5. Costa Rica YaY!

    Kinder and first-graders in their school's lunch room being silly! I took a picture of them when I was taking photos of the students that participated in an International Art Exchange.

  6. Costa Rica Longevity

    This is Don Climaco.  A 79-year old hardworking man I call abuelo who is resting one hot afternoon in his favorite chair where no one interrupts him.  He does this every day after he comes from work.

  7. Costa Rica Empanadas, anyone?

    Mom supporting a local fundraiser by helping out making some delicious empanadas! Custom is fry them on a wooden stove.

  8. Costa Rica Making Empanadas

    A group of moms planned a big fundraiser where they sold the most popular foods, one of them was empanadas filled with chicken rice or cheese or beans.  Super delicious! I joined them to learn how to make them and failed a few times but can say I learned pretty good lol

  9. Costa Rica On fire!

    This is the oven artisans in Guaitil de Santa Cruz use to burn the finalized pieces prior to selling them. It heats up to 1200 degrees using wood!

  10. Costa Rica Young Moms

    I co-faciliated a gender workshops to a group of adolescent mothers. This is a picture I took while they were doing their group work.  Their children were with them...

  11. Costa Rica Future Artists!

    I worked with the elementary school in the community so they can participate in OneWorld Classroom's International Art Exchange Prog. 37 students particpated and I took a pic of some of them at the end. We had a lot of fun! 

  12. Costa Rica Fun

    Kinder and first graders in the lunch room!

  13. Costa Rica Breathtaking

    Punta Islita Hotel in Costa Rica

  14. Costa Rica Wall Art

    Islita is a beautiful place in Costa Rica near the beach.  Community members are very talented and a group of artists decorate the walls and businesses w/ ceramic.

  15. Costa Rica Guava

    This fruit is called 'guayaba' in Spanish and my youth group uses it for their business. They created a small business called GUAITFRUIT which produces and sells jelly in the community.  I took this pic during their production process.

  16. Costa Rica Holy Week!

    During holy week, it's a tradition in rural Costa Rica to make corn-based products (pastries) that would accompany a usual coffee break during the day.  This one is one of my favorite pictures and they are called rosquillas; perfectly shaped minidonut-looking things made with lots of cheese.

  17. Costa Rica Pateando Barro

    Local artesan of Guaitil de Santa Cruz is kicking a mix of clay, iguana's sand and water as the third step of the preparation process to produce handmade Chorotega pottery.

  18. Costa Rica Pies de B

    Kicking clay is one of the steps artesans take as part of the pottery-making process. In a big mantel, you mix 100% with 50% of iguana's sand and water.  Step, kick, step until consistency is adequacte to make pottery. I had the opportunity to do it and it felt amazing! Hardwork indeed.

  19. Costa Rica Yard Clean up

    Young man cleaning his backyard under the heat near a corn field that was full of garbage, dirty clothes, old shoes, corn, plastic bags and many more things.  Love the brightness of this photo!

  20. Costa Rica Arroz con Leche

    Helping a community member make rice pudding for a fundraiser my town's womens soccer team organized that day. Traditionally, women cook on wood stoves.

  21. Costa Rica Modern Volunteer

    Years ago, volunteers were assigned communities with no water or electricity, including no internet access. Today, I don't think I could be as productive and resourceful as I am with these things.

  22. Costa Rica Snow

    Her name is Martha and is as white as the snow.  I took a picture of her when I was first integrating into my community by learning how to milk a cow - I failed lol

  23. Costa Rica Handmade Pottery

    Young man continuing the traditions of his Chorotega ancestors' craftmanship in the community of Guaitil de Santa Cruz.

  24. Costa Rica Arroz de Maiz Fundraiser

    Men's Soccer Team cooking a typical Guanacaste dish (Arroz de Maiz) as part of a fundraiser to purchase a new uniform. Solo good!

  25. Costa Rica Women Power!

    October 9th: Day Guaitil's Women's Soccer Team - Las Tinajitas - debuted for the first time their first new uniform, designed and purchased by them.

  26. Costa Rica Economia para el Exito

    5th and 6th graders from my Economia para el Exito class I thought in conjunction with Junior Achievement Costa Rica.

  1. Costa Rica So much fun!

    In rural Costa Rica, the only sport kids have access to is soccer. Two PCVs came together to organize a three-day camp in Guaitil de Santa Cruz to teach 4 different sports and importance of savings. In this video, PCV Tiffany Purnell teaches basketball to some pretty excited kids at our INED Sports & Savings Camp sponsored by a Kids to Kids grant (WorldConnect). The reactions to a competitive activity are priceless. 

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“Sunset at the Railroad” by PCV Nicholas Baylor Hall. Namibia, 2011.