Who is my neighbour? A Rocha Costa Rica asked this biblical question when they established their intentional community, Casa Adobe, just a short train ride away from the capital city, San Jose. From the community’s beginning over a decade ago, the founding members recognized that neighbours are human and non-human, and a neighbourhood isn’t just the street we live on but also our watershed and ecosystem.
One of A Rocha Costa Rica’s most neglected neighbours is the nearby Virilla River. Locals remember swimming and fishing in the Virilla, but today they ‘live with their backs to the river’. Urbanization has hidden the river from view, leading to pollution, neglect and a degraded riverine forest. A Rocha Costa Rica is restoring this connection, inviting neighbours young and old to clean up the river and advocate for the river’s recovery.
Neighbourliness goes both ways: the community at Casa Adobe cares for the river, and the river provides beauty and belonging. It is a place where nature resists being crushed by urbanization, and plants, trees and birds find refuge. But it’s also painful to see the degree to which humans have polluted the river with rubbish and sewage.
To care for the Virilla River, A Rocha Costa Rica hosts picnics along its banks, plants trees, cleans rubbish and addresses the root causes of its pollution. Simple projects like A Rocha’s community composting workshops reduce the amount of waste created in the first place. A water-wise grey water system at Casa Adobe recycles clean water into their vegetable garden. They are also encouraging the intervention of local governments to create alternative systems for water treatment instead of allowing wastewater to flow into the river.
This vision of neighbourly love extends to the entire watershed through A Rocha’s conservation activities at their other centre, Casa Nube, which is located upriver in the heart of the cloud forest. Their dream is to one day reach the wetlands where these waters meet the ocean. Stay tuned for more stories from A Rocha Costa Rica’s journey!Â
