The Uatsi Foundation: helping indigenous people to escape the poverty trap. - English Grammar

What would you do if you could take a month ⁽¹⁾Off or of?
‘Off’ is used when the meaning is to change a setting (“Please turn off your PC at night.”), to change direction (“At the next crossroads, turn off the main street.”) or to take something away from something else (“Please take that knife off that child.” “I would like to take a year off work.”).off⁽¹⁾ work? For Richard Tinkler volunteering somewhere in Latin America was 'the obvious thing to do' and this is exactly what he did in 2007. He ended up living with the Uatsi community in Costa Rica. At the end of the four weeks, Richard decided the community could do with more help. One thing led to another and the Uatsi Foundation was born. In this article Richard Tinkler explains what the Uatsi Foundation does exactly.

How does ⁽²⁾One vs. you
'One' is a more formal way of saying 'you'. It often makes sentences, questions or accusations less direct and therefore less offensive. Compare: “You don’t know what to do when...” and “One doesn’t know what to do when...”one⁽²⁾ end up doing voluntary work in Latin America? 'Many years ago I studied Psychology and English Literature in Oxford,' Richard explains. 'I had wanted to go back and do a master's degree for a while and knew it would be something that would fit into the NGO work I had been doing. Then 9/11 happened and Peace Studies & Conflict Resolution seemed the way to go.' Richard is certainly no newbie to voluntary work. He has worked in the NGO sector for years, on different projects around the globe. One of these was a conflict resolution project for children and teenagers in Mexico. The opportunity to go to Costa Rica arose in a time when Richard was in Austria, doing a 'desk-job'. Already familiar with Latin America, Richard didn't hesitate to sign up. 'I had never had the opportunity to work with indigenous groups before and this eco-tourism project was just right for getting stuck in and getting my hands dirty.'

The Uatsi community consists of approximately eighty families, scattered around the entrance to the Southern Talamancan rainforest. They belong to the Bri Bri tribe, one of the few indigenous tribes still left in the Central American region. Due to their close proximity to the popular tourist destination Puerto Viejo, the Uatsi community find themselves caught between the modern world and their own cultures and traditions. On top of that, they're stuck in a poverty trap, caused by ⁽³⁾Poorly: adjective or adverb?
'Poorly' exists as an adjective and as an adverb. Make sure you do not confuse their meanings: “He feels poorly” means he feels ill, whereas “caused by poorly paid work” means the work does not pay very well.poorly⁽³⁾ paid work, discrimination, urban migration and poor access to education.

The Uatsi Foundation is helping the Uatsi community to become self-sustainable and financially independent. Current projects include installing solar power in schools, improving teaching materials, offering teacher support and setting up a community farm. 'Much of the community's land has been “requisitioned” by the government and given to the large international fruit companies,' Richard says. 'The fruit companies then offer irregular and poorly paid work to the men in the community, to harvest what used to be their own land, working with chemicals and pesticides under conditions that are often dangerous. As a result of discrimination other work is hard to come by and many heads of families are forced to seek work in major cities, located several hundreds of kilometres away.' Left to survive on their own by husbands forced to migrate to urban areas in search of work and often never returning, an unusually high number of single mothers in the community are struggling to feed their families with literally no income and only basic primary school education to back their endless search for part-time work. This is why the Uatsi Foundation's next big project is a ⁽⁴⁾This is the possessive form of women. Note how the plural form has been used. It would have been wrong to say "a woman’s centre" as this would have meant it was a centre for only one woman.women's⁽⁴⁾ centre.

Richard sees a bright future for his foundation: 'There is still much to do, but in the long run we see our role in the Uatsi community as a temporary one. We hope to leave a no longer poverty-stricken Uatsi within ⁽⁵⁾Five vs. 5
Always use the word (‘five’) and not the number (‘5’) for numbers below ten.five⁽⁵⁾ years. However, we are beginning to receive requests from other communities who are also keen to receive our help, and we will continue to support these and other indigenous communities in Costa Rica for as long as they need our help.'

A longer version of this article appeared in Ether Magazine on 03/11/08