Costa Rica and its wonderful characteristics, in addition to its hardworking people, does not lose its charm, rather it is getting stronger and stronger.
And from each area, from each of its inhabitants of course, project ideas arise, which come to change the world an example has been the EcoFeria in Dominical, which already has 5 years making everyone in the community and tourists who visit them very happy.
It is always essential to know who is behind each project that today is a solid reality, and here we will detail Keyna, the CEO of EcoFeria.
It is worth mentioning that her mother, an admirable person from Costa Rica, was the one who started it all.
Keyna clarified that the idea did not come about because that is how she and her siblings were raised, “we were born with the strength to create good for the community and our nature”.
What are her roots and her parents’ teachings?
Keyna is a native of Dominicalito Beach, Bahia Ballena, Osa, Puntarenas.
For this great woman, the teachings of her grandfather who raised her together with her mother, and that she keeps today are the value of work, love for nature, agriculture as a sacred profession, the importance of healthy food, “our body is our temple, we must take care of it as such, education as the basis to face life and achieve our dreams, and above all love and respect for God’.
Her grandfather always accompanied her mother on every adventure. From a very young age, Keyna and her siblings were taken out of the city of San Jose to grow up in nature where there was no electricity or drinking water.
“It was always my mother’s wish to go and be surrounded by nature so that we would understand how important it was to connect with the earth, with God, despite all that we never lacked education, we lived in a house full of books where we had within reach all the information we needed from world events, religions, economics, arts, it was impressive the education that our mother gave us, a very hardworking woman in the social, communities and also, our grandfather with impeccable values, very punctual,” said Keyna.
Entrepreneurship and Learning Every Day
Keyna was only 2 years in college and since she decided not to continue, she traveled to the United States where she met the father of her children, and already being self-taught thanks to her mother, she took the path of entrepreneurship.
She focused on the area of health, the need to have natural products since the skin is the biggest thing we have and according to Keyna, everything affects us for better or worse, “when I got pregnant a world opened up for me, I was born to be a mother, I am dedicated one hundred percent to understand what my children need, in their spiritual, emotional and physical formation. I have spent years studying the growth of children from the womb, even before conceiving, adolescence, and everything about the local economy, from the way we grow, how we are educated, the protection of farmers, surrounded by local leaders, the issue of agrochemicals for the struggle of the pineapple plantations, always infinite learning,” she said.
The CEO of the EcoFeria has always been a lover of learning, for example on the subject of seed oils, soybean, and corn, -which can be so harmful to the body-, then on transgenics and so on, “we are working on the formation of a new land, and we must continue to educate ourselves, with the issue of water as well, because every day something new comes up and so on”.
The EcoFeria is a world of possibilities for Costa Rican agriculture.
The EcoFeria was founded by Keyna’s mother, she wanted to create a place where producers would come to offer their products directly to the community; it was born with five vendors and five clients, “Thursday she told me that the EcoFeria was going to be on Friday (the following day) and I asked my mom, but are you going to have a fair without clients? and she answered: if the vendors arrive, the clients arrive”.
For the second fair, Keyna decided to take charge, with the unconditional support of her sister Krishna, they were lucky enough to be offered immediately the space where they are now, which is an impressive amphitheater, it became a project that today is a fact, “I dreamed of it, I have always gone to fairs or markets anywhere I go, my mom had that impulse and I had to follow it up. Now I am the CEO, but the EcoFeria is made up of a whole community because we maintain: that whenever we need help or advice from someone, we look for a member of the community who is an expert on the subject, older people who know about the agricultural area of Dominical,” she added.
They are a group of Costa Rican women who work for a multicultural population, we say that because there are too many people from other countries in the area, which for Keyna, is very nice to honor, and thanks to the fact that they love the EcoFeria and support it, every week, they can get ahead, therefore, they are all part of it.
What is the purpose? Faithfully believing that they are forming the new humanity, “We need a change and that change, I think, should be from the community markets, from the farmers’ fairs, where the community gathers”.
The concept of a fair for Keyna, her mom, and sister Krishna, is not just a place to go shopping, it is to know the hands that create the products you eat, who is behind each thing you put in your mouth, how you nourish your body, skin, your thoughts, “how you feel all that has to do with each farmer”.
At the EcoFeria there is a new slogan “What land do you eat”, because from that land you are creating the being you are, you are raising your children and everything around you.
The Agriculture Fair, is open to the public every Friday from 8 am to 1 pm with live music, not every Friday, but at least once a month, with artistic activities such as workshops, activities of patriotic day celebrations where they tell the history of Costa Rica and why those dates are celebrated, they have a lifeguard stand, “if there is any person in the community that maintains a project and needs support, our doors are always open, we have made different collections for other ventures for example: Community Carbon Tree and others; now we are working with Costas Verdes to see if we do a reforestation of trees in Dominicalito beach, we are working with the project Asociación de Buenas Acciones Dominical, to support them in the different events they do and sponsor them” Keyna detailed.
Community events
Keyna and her team have held 2 community events: one was the Christmas Fair last year, which in her opinion was beautiful, and a night event in which they joined with members of the community and most of the projects in the area, the funds were one hundred percent to restore the Dominical children’s park, “we did not earn anything for us, the proceeds went to the park; with us participated members of Domi Plaza, the University of Costa Rica, the Ministry of Culture and the National University”. The other event was with the local dance company, totally free for the community, and at night, 300 people attended, the funds collected went to support the co-school of Dominical.
Keyna reported, that they are currently working on the Freedon Festival which is Bitcoin Jungle, which to the knowledge of many Bitcoin is a currency, “in the project, there are more than 100 businesses that accept the currency in the area. It is worth noting that with Bitcoin, a new type of tourism is being created in the locality since people can pay and have coffee, and food, everywhere, it is fabulous because we have even had characters who have visited us thanks to this project. In January is the Freedon Festival where the EcoFeria will be in charge of the community market within the event, that excites us a lot, we go hand in hand with Bitcoin Jungle, together we have made several significant contributions,” he said.
What still needs to be done?
Regarding our question about what Keyna considers she still has to do, she assured us that she is where she should be “and what we still have to do is what we are building with the actions we are doing today. I feel very complete, I feel that many opportunities and beautiful experiences will come in my personal and work life, but I also feel that I am well, that is what makes us EcoFeria, and we continue to move forward”.
Finally, the woman behind the EcoFeria, mother of two children, considers that she leads a busy but beautiful life, “being with them, with my family is super nice, with them we can meditate, go to the river, connect with nature, to the sea… I spend my time with nature to listen to it and to listen to myself so I can give the best of myself”.
If you want to follow their accounts, to learn more about their activities you can follow them @keyna.ac, @ecoferiadominical, @thebitcoinjungle on Instagram and Twitter, or now “X”.
