Who wouldn't like to make -- and eat -- chocolate all day? Hardly sounds like work! From learning and working with this process from beginning to end, you'll become a chocolatier and -- more importantly -- make a difference in the lives of an entire community.

ACOMUITA (Asociacion Comision de Mujeres Talamanqueñas) was founded in 1999 and is made up of women from the Bribri and Cabeca tribes. The principal focus of the group is on educational tourism through means of the cacao plant, which is what chocolate is made from. They produce this crop through historic and traditional means.

ACOMUITA maintains these projects to help the families in the community to earn a living. They are located on an indigenous reservation in a community called Shiroles. This is in the Talamanca region of Costa Rica, which is on the Caribbean side of the country.

This community, though lacking in resources, is very well organized. They have put together work groups, support organizations, and community-interest education programs. One of the many difficulties this community faces is the fact they are geographically far away from a large metropolitan area, making them nearly invisible to their own government and to other volunteer organizations.

The people of Shiroles will welcome you with open arms and open hearts. They truly love learning about other cultures and go way out of their way to make our guests comfortable and happy.

The income for these women comes specifically from two areas: tours and the sale of their chocolate-based products, such as chocolate bars, liquid chocolate (thought culturally here to be medicinal), cookies and more. These women know nothing about merchandising, publicizing or developing relationships with other organizations, stores, etc.

Volunteers interested in helping with the marketing end of this project would begin by meeting with the women to develop some sort of marketing plan. From there, the volunteer might accompany some of the women to show them how to develop relationships with stores, restaurants, and hotels. Some other possibilities would be helping the women establish relationships with travel agents and others who could refer more clients for their tours, putting together a website and / or brochures, as well as developing some press releases.

This project not only supports the community and families through the production of chocolate, but it also supports the farmers. Seventy-five percent of all crops on the indigenous reservation go to waste. This is primarily because of lack of transportation and relationships with buyers. ACOMUITA not only provides another outlet for the purchase of the cacao fruit, but they pay 3 times more than any of the other buyers. They in turn take an investment of 600 colones ($1.15 USD) for a kilogram of cacao and turn it into 6,000 colones ($11.50 USD) for each kilogram of chocolate they sell.

Volunteers will work side-by-side with the indigenous women, learning about their lives and culture and they assist with the whole chocolate-making process. Some tasks you might expect to participate in are:

• Extracting the bean, drying it, crushing it and processing it
• Preparing and working with the chocolate through the final process of producing cookies, candies and pure chocolate balls
• Assisting in preparing lunch for visiting tourists
• Acting as a translator between the women and visiting tourists
• Giving advice to the women about public relations and marketing
• Accompanying them to local hotels and stores to discuss having their products sold there

Complete Project Information
Type	Conservation & Wildlife
Length	Minimum: 1 week Maximum: Unlimited
Start	Any day of the year
Availability	Currently Available
Cost	1 week: $995 2 weeks: $1,895 Extra week: $399
Also available	10 hours Spanish Lessons $150 16 hours Spanish Lessons $224 24 hours Spanish Lessons $312 32 hours Spanish Lessons $384
Cost Includes	Airport Pick-Up* Accommodations with host family* Up to 3 Meals Per Day Country Information and Orientation Volunteer Project Placement Project Training In-Country Support Medical Insurance Assistance with Planning Excursions and Activities Reference letter or evidence of volunteer service hours 24 hour in-country emergency service
Schedule	Volunteering: A minimum of 16 Hours per week. Spanish Lessons: Available in the afternoon or evening.
Accommodations	Your choice of hostel, host family with a private room or an upgrade to a hotel for an additional cost.
Materials or Preparation Needed	All materials will be provided. Student materials will be provided for Spanish lessons, if applicable.