A Green Mountain with a Valley Just Right - The World Food Prize

A Green Mountain with a Valley Just RightIt was dusk, that time when the atmosphere is greyish in colour in the year 2004 on the Saturdaybefore the United States´ 4 th of July holiday, and I was walking down a winding lane in Monteverde,Costa Rica. Having been a Borlaug-Ruan intern studying at the Monteverde Institute (MVI) for amonth, I was still having trouble believing that I,an eighteen-year-old home-educated Iowan farmgirl, was living in Costa Rica for eight weeks!And to think that I would not have had this greatexperience if my dad had not read the paper. Twoyears ago, Iowa Farmer Today published anartic le about a Borlaug-Ruan intern. My dadthought the internship, along with the YouthInstitute, sounded like a great educationalopportunity. He gave the article to me and askedme to search out more information. That move setin motion my relationship with the World FoodPrize Foundation that is now in its third year.I immensely enjoyed the researching of world issues for the required paper, interacting withexperts and my fellow students, and attending the Symposium sessions at the 2002 Youth Institute, somuch so that I again participated in 2003. Both years I applied for the internship program because ofmy interest in agricultural and humanityissues abroad. Though I did not qualifyin 2002, after reapplying the followingyear I was chosen for the interviewphase. I was thrilled to be selected andeven more ecstatic when I learned I hadqualified as one of the 2004 Borlaug-Ruan interns. I then anxiously awaitedthe letter from Ambassador Quinn that,upon arrival, informed me that I wouldbe working at MVI.MVI was established in 1986 as aCosta Rican non-profit educationalorganization with the goal of providing“Education for a Sustainable Future”. Tothis extent they provide a variety ofprograms in partnership with U.S. universities, some subjects being biolo gy, agriculture, publichealth, architecture and landscape architecture, and they also organize educational opportunities forlocal residents. Besides hosting foreignstudents and educational workshops, MVIsponsors local cultural events, including arenowned music festival and it operates theCommunity Arts Center (Koningen 47). TheExecutive Director of MVI is Nat Scrimshawand his father, Dr. Nevin Scrimshaw, is the1991 World Food Prize laureate who waschosen for his development of the “principlefor low-cost, protein-rich food products tocombat malnutrition in developing countries(“World Food Prize” 1).”The amazing Central American country that Ifound myself in is positioned between thePacific and Atlantic Oceans and is part of a