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Special to A.M. Costa Rica Ever since I started working with the street kids, some people have been referring to me as an "angel." This is a little embarrassing, and I mostly just smile and shrug. The kids also have told people how important I am for them and how I have been like an angel to them. Well, what is an angel anyhow? Maybe it is someone who puts the wellbeing of someone else first or who fights to make things right or someone who gives out a hand of light and does it without strings attached to the other end. Maybe it is a being of light and a being that surrounds others with hope and confidence and joy for the future. Maybe an angel is an emissary of God and, without really trying or knowing, is God in action on earth. I've wondered about all these things for a long time. Now, I have a better idea. I was driving home from the theater with the kids the other night. Nela, Jason, Daniel and Jorge were with me. We rounded the corner on the way to the house and there, in the middle of the street, was a car stopped, motor running, lights on. How odd, I thought. We pulled beside the car, and there we saw, in the driver's seat, a man slumped over. Without thinking a moment, the kids jumped out of the car. The man was unconscious, maybe dead, we thought. We turned off the motor, and rolled the car to the side of the road. The kids went into action, trying to rouse the man, looking for identification
information to see who he was. We could not get him to respond. We called
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We were working together as a team. One was looking for someone who knew him. One was on the phone with emergency service. One was directing traffic around us. One was sitting beside the man. A deaf mute came and signaled us to go with him, and Jorge went across the street and came back with the brother, mother and sister of the man. The mother was distraught and we comforted her. We knew the man wasn't dead, but we didn't know what was wrong. The ambulance came, and we cleared away, talking quietly to the man's family. It turned out that he was, indeed, an alcoholic had a history of alcoholic coma and blackouts. The miracle was that we had found him before another car had rounded the corner faster than us and caused more damage. The miracle was that these street kids, who, months previously would have been the first to shake him down and steal everything they could get their hands on were now sincerely concerned for his wellbeing and trying to rescue him and act appropriately. The miracle was the compassion they showed for him and his family. And I said to them, "You are now giving back what you have been given. You were given caring and concern. You were given understanding and support. You were given light. This is what you have done for this man and his family. Welcome to the family of angels." Mrs. Nystrom administers a home and foundation that helps youngsters on the streets. |
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The Organization of American States and the Canadian government have launched a project to incorporate "gender perspective" into all OAS programs and policies, seeking to achieve gender equity and equality throughout the hemisphere, according to a news release. The OAS and Cartini International signed a contract for Cartini, a Canadian consulting firm, to provide the relevant training for this gender mainstreaming initiative over the next few years. The two-year program will cost $327,328, according to a Web page note. Addressing the inaugural conference on the Project on Gender Mainstreaming in the OAS, Secretary General César Gaviria declared the project to be "imperative for building stronger, more prosperous democracies in the Americas." "If the women of the Americas don't have the same access to opportunities as men, then we are failing in the responsibilities of democracy," Gaviria said. He cited research linking inequity and persistent poverty, and spoke about the progress by his hemispheric organization to redress the situation. The project will help train the organization's personnel in practices to incorporate "gender perspective," according to the announcement. |
Canada's ambassador, Paul Durand,
noted how far the Hemisphere's women have come in the last decade and restated
his government's strong commitment to advancing gender equality and women's
human rights in the hemisphere as it supports and applauds the work of
the Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM), the specialized OAS agency.
"We are committed to the implementation of the Inter-American Program on the Promotion of Women's Human Rights and Gender Equity and Equality," said Durand. "We are happy to support the OAS in its commitment to gender equality through this project." According to Carmen Lomellin, the woman’s commission executive secretary
who chaired the proceedings, the Inter-American Program on the Promotion
of Women's Human Rights could not be implemented without proper training.
The Inter-American Commission on Women also is urging equal pay for equal work through out the Americas. |
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WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Senate majority leader, Democrat Tom Daschle, says the establishment of an independent commission to investigate the apparent intelligence failures before Sept. 11 is inevitable. In a speech Wednesday at the National Press Club in Washington, Daschle again called for an independent commission to look into what the FBI knew in the months before terrorists struck New York and Washington. "Whether it is this year or next year, at some point, there will be a review of what it is that happened," he said. "I just think that the sooner it is done, the more likely it is we will get the best information." The South Dakota Democrat said there is growing support for such an investigation from both conservatives and liberals. He said the independent panel's aim would be to find out what communication breakdowns apparently occurred between the FBI, CIA and White House and make sure they never happen again. |
"No one has said that the president
could have prevented the tragedy of September 11. But, by the same token,
no one can take much comfort from the picture that has emerged of government
agencies that seem totally out of synch with each other," he said.
Some leading Republicans along with White House officials oppose an independent investigation, believing it to be politically motivated. They also fear it could expose the country's weaknesses to terrorists. Senator Daschle disagrees. "We will speak out because our first responsibility is the security of this country," he said. "Despite what some in the administration have suggested, silence in the face of security lapses is not patriotism. If anything, it is the opposite. And the consequences of such silence can be devastating." The senator says independent panels investigated the bombing of Pearl Harbor and President Kennedy's assassination and that Sept. 11 is another crisis needing careful scrutiny. |
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