Road Scholars - Amberlight Productions

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

ROAD SCHOLARS: INUIT ADVENTURE AFRICA follows six Inuit teenagers volunteering at an orphan care centre in Botswana. This one-hour documentary from award-winning producer Jane Hawtin premiered on APTN this past February. Check your local listings for repeat broadcasts!

English In the Air!
Check out this amazing program in Hong Kong where Road Scholars, Lizzie McGuire, Smallville and Sail Away are used to teach English and earn students big bucks!

Episode 5 : Costa Rica

Costa Rica is paradise on Earth. It has everything. Sandy, palm tree-lined beaches on blue waters - untamed jungles teaming with exotic birds and deadly predators, peppered with swift rivers - and unbridled poverty.

An awful lot to see in such a short visit, joined by more than a dozen students from all over, with just enough time to help the kids that live in a local village.

Monkey Territory
(Preview)

Highlights:
Cutting through the jungle in canoes, passing through monkey territory - helping the children of a small village - playing volleyball on a beach lined with palm trees. Definitely not the heat.

The Handle On Poverty

In the last 2 decades the poverty that plagued Costa Rica has been significantly reduced. From 1982 to 1994 alone the poverty rate in Costa Rica declined from 48 percent to 15.8 percent. But that doesn't mean that the work is over. Many people in Costa Rica are still very poor, with even the most basic of of needs not being met.

But these statistics are overall throughout the country. In the rural areas, in the small villages and towns, almost half the people are poor.

Almost one third of school-aged children do not go to school simply because there isn't one anywhere near their home. Nearly two thirds of those kids are between 7 and 10 years old.

Other facts:

The smartest and most curious of Costa Rican simians is the Capuchin, or Cebus Monkey as they are sometimes known.

These are the little monkeys that organ-grinders use to carry a small cup into the crowd to gather coins.

They have black bodies with a white cowl that makes them look like a monk. Fussy eaters, they will pick loose bits of dirt and grubs from their meal before eating. If they get a bit lazy and don't feel like searching for food they have no problem heading into a farmer's crop for a little corn raid, or filch eggs from a bird's nest. They also tend to hoard their food, finding a hiding spot away from other monkeys and predators and stashing snacks for days when food isn't so abundant.

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