By Elena Coe McNamara
Features Editor
Mira Costa senior Ceca Radl spent the giving season giving back to animals across the world in Costa Rica.
Radl spent her winter break giving back to Costa Rica, one of her favorite vacation spots by helping out the local animals. Radl was in Costa Rica for two weeks and participated in two separate programs, Sibu Wildlife Sanctuary and Costas Verdes Reforestation Organization.
“The most rewarding part of what I do is releasing the animals back to the wild once they are healthy again,” Radl said. “Seeing the animals able to live a life in the wild like they are supposed to, is such an amazing and beautiful experience.”
Photos: Senior Ceca Radl spent her winter break giving back to animals in Costa Rica
While at the Sibu Wildlife Sanctuary, Radl worked as an aid prepping food for the animals that live at the sanctuary. Her work included cutting fruits and vegetables for the monkeys as well as picking leaves for the monkeys in the sanctuary to eat. Radl worked in the office to help update the organization’s website and create promotional videos, as well as working on creating toys for the animals, Radl said.
“Each day I spent working alongside such dedicated people I became more deeply inspired by their overall goodness,” Radl said. “If I never had the chance to work with SIBU and never had opportunity to experience what it is really like to truly make a difference in the life of another, I would not be the person I am today, or have the aspirations that I do.”
When at the Costas Verdes Reforestation Organization, also located in Costa Rica, Radl worked in the organization’s nursery. Radl would help out by watering plants, planting seeds, and teaching lessons to other volunteers on how to plant trees and help out the organization.
Link: Check out where Radl volunteered: Verdes Reforestation Organization
“Knowing that I helped to preserve the wildlife and having helped to reforest the coast of the Guanacaste Peninsula through the tree plantings makes me feel like I can aid in saving the world even though others are simultaneously destroying it,” Radl said.
Radl has been visiting Costa Rica for the last 17 years and has been volunteering there for the past 5 years. Radl visits the country approximately three times a year, usually for two to five weeks at a time, doing whatever she can to help the organizations out, she says.
Link: Click here to read about another Mira Costa junior that provides aid to Costa Rica
“Costa Rica feels like my second home because we have had a house there for 17 years,” Radl said. “I wanted to do something to benefit the place that has given me so much.”
Radl says that her family’s property is located right next to the rehabilitation center, and that SIBU has approached them to do underground electrical work on their property, in order to keep the monkeys from being harmed. Radl then took it upon herself to find out what SIBU does and find ways that she could help the organization.
“What stands out about SIBU is the sheer goodness of the people doing the work,” Radl said. “They ask for absolutely nothing in return and they are all so dedicated to what they do.”
Radl has future plans to major in either Molecular Environmental Biology or Environmental, as well as minor in Business, so that she can fulfill her eventual goal of running her own nonprofit organization.
“Being part of such amazing organizations has shaped me into the person I am today,” Radl said. “It has given me direction and influenced my goals for the future immensly.”
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