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	A.M. Costa Rica Your daily English-language news source Monday through Friday

A.M. Costa Rica third newspage
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San José, Costa Rica, Friday, Dec. 8, 2006, Vol. 6, No. 244

A guest editorial
Home for abused kids runs on a bare-bones budget

By Jeff Alami
Special to A.M. Costa Rica

Nestled in the hills near the town of San Ramón de Alajuela, is El Hogarcito, a children's shelter run by the most caring of San Ramon's residents. The kids admitted to this shelter are victims of physical and sexual abuse, abandoned babies, and orphans.

El Hogarcito is a transitional shelter — most of the children admitted stay for about six months to a year before they are sent to foster homes or adopted. These children, currently numbering 12, are from the poorest segments of society and need the help and love from generous and caring people.

These children come with stories that no child should ever witness firsthand. An 8-year-old boy was cut in the hand with sheet metal by his own father. One 5-year-old was beaten all over his body by his family. One baby was admitted at only 5 days old, beaten badly, and doctors weren't sure if he would ever walk. Thankfully, the baby boy took his first steps at the shelter, and now walks, albeit with difficulty. A girl was abandoned as a newborn.

The Patronato Nacional de la Infancia, the child welfare agency in Costa Rica, provides a little support — about 65,000 colons ($126 US) per child per month, barely enough to pay for the caretakers (the "tias," or aunts), who make less than minimum wage, and the facility's psychotherapist, who is badly needed to help these children deal with their torments. The maintenance and utilities of the shelter, along with the basic food they need, come from donations and fundraisers. A local doctor with a private clinic helps with treatment and medicines.

San Ramon's fire chief, Oscar Zamora, is the head of the child shelter, having assumed that responsibility eight years ago. He is a 23-year veteran of the fire department. He feels so much for the kids, who are from the same neighborhood, and is dedicated to making sure the shelter stays afloat when it faces dire financial hardships. Through it all, he is optimistic, and hopes that donations and

government funding can increase the size of a shelter that has a waiting list of 14 kids who badly need help.

A parcel of land adjacent to the shelter was donated, and plans have been made for a new wing of the shelter that could house up to 35 children, including some of the older ones, up to 17 years old. This facility would include a shop with training programs to ensure the kids can have a livelihood when they leave the shelter as adults.

Currently, most of the kids are very young, ranging from a few months to 11 years old. These kids can be adopted, but be prepared for a rigorous evaluation process that is regulated by the Patronato. International adoptions can also be arranged from countries that have signed international adoption treaties with Costa Rica.

My partners and I own Farmacia Alvarez, a pharmacy in Heredia that appreciates all the business it gets from A.M. Costa Rica readers. We recently opened a jeanswear store in San Ramón, just minutes from the shelter itself.

As you may have seen, every year around this time we try to help the less fortunate, especially children. This year, the kids at this shelter really caught our hearts, as we found that they would need help to make it through — simple things like food, hygiene products, better living conditions, and anything to put a badly-needed smile on their faces. We are going to continue to help this shelter and the kids on an ongoing basis.

If you would like to help these kids, send me a note and I will provide money transfer information.

If a reader finds it easier, he or she can also mail U.S. dollar checks to Dundarave Pier S.A. at this address: Apdo 640-1005, San Jose, 1005, Costa Rica.

Checks take 15 to 30 days to clear at the local bank.

Please let me know at jeff@dpier.com if you've sent any funds so that I can respond with how we've been able to help.

A minority brief against asking for encores

It has been a while since I attended a concert at the Teatro Nacional, so when a friend invited me to take his extra ticket, I accepted. His tickets were for Sunday morning at 10:30. The same program is played Fridays at 8:30 p.m. as well as Sundays. Personally, I think a symphony is a lovely way to start a day, even Sunday, when I usually start my day with politics.

His tickets were for the balcony. Once you have climbed up the three long flights of stairs and then down the short but steep descent to the seats, you have the best spot in the house for viewing the entire orchestra and appreciating the acoustics.

Except for the Christmas programs, the season is about over, and season tickets for 2007 are on sale. Tickets for the 12 concerts can be had for as little as 10,200 colons, probably the best bargain in Costa Rica. For more information you can call 240-0333 Ext. 204.

The first piece, Verdi’s Vespri Siciliani, was delightful and far too short. The second piece was a long one, Max Bruck’s Scottish Fantasy for Violin and Orchestra. Aikiko Ono, an award-winning violinist from Japan, was the young soloist. She was very good and received several curtain calls. Finally, in response to the continued applause, she came back for an encore.

I heartily approve of curtain calls but am not keen on encores. Actually, I don’t like them at all if they follow a larger piece of work. It’s like wringing the last bit of effort from an artist, and it is simply not part of the whole. Can you imagine Laurence Olivier after a stirring performance of Hamlet, coming on stage to recite an excerpt from The Wasteland or even a sonnet? Or Marlon Brando, after being Stanley, comes out and recites Casey at the Bat? Or the star of a musical comedy singing a song from another musical as an encore? The mood has been broken.

I have no objection to applauding an individual performer like Celine Dion into one more song, but we wouldn’t think of asking the diva who has just performed Madame Butterfly to come out and sing a short popular song.

Living in Costa Rica

. . .Where the living is good

By Jo Stuart
jostuart@amcostarica.com

So far, I am a minority of about one who holds this view, and I seldom mention it although my friend Bill White and I used to discuss it as we were clapping away at a concert. He disagreed with me. He loved encores.

Sunday, during intermission, after the first two works (and the encore) had been performed, an acquaintance came over to ask about my broken wrist. We talked about how one misstep can change everything. Then he told me of his own recent harrowing experience.

He was out hiking alone (not a good idea) bird watching on the edge of a forest when he lost his way. He decided he needed to cross the shallow river to find civilization, and stepped into the water. Suddenly the current, along with the mud and stone bottom caused him to lose his balance. He struggled to right himself, sure he was going to die. By the time he managed to crawl up the far bank he had lost his camera and his binoculars and was covered in mud, not to mention, being badly shaken.

We agreed, we both felt pretty stupid after our respective falls, There are some performances for which you never want to do a curtain call, let alone an encore.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional under the direction of Ramiro Ramírez gives its Christmas concerts starting tonight at 7 p.m. Sunday the orchestra performs in the Teatro Popular Melico Salazar at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday the performance is in Santo Domingo de Heredia. Dec. 15 the performance is in Curridabat at the San Antonio de Padua church facilities. The admission fee is a gift suitable for a child up to 12 years that will be donated to the Patronato Nacional de la Infancia.

You need to see Costa Rican tourism information HERE!

A.M. Costa Rica fourth news page
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San José, Costa Rica, Friday, Dec. 8, 2006, Vol. 6, No. 244

Country will get 8,000 new multi-use public pay phones

By Arnoldo Cob
of the A.M. Costa Rica staff

Some 35 percent of Costa Rican homes still do not have a telephone installed. These are mostly low-income homes where occupants have to depend on the public telephone system.

But even in the best of times, the telephone has been confusing even if one was not broken. Some take cards. Some take money, Some take one type of prepaid card but not others.

The Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad is investing $20 million to install 8,000 new, multi-use public telephones around the country. These will take brass coins of 5, 10, 25 and 50 colons. The phones also will accept cards with a computer chip, the prepaid Viajera 199 card and the Colibrí card.

But the telephones will do even more. A user will be able to send a text message and even e-mail, according to the phone company officials who displayed the new machine Thursday.

Some 400 pay phones are now installed in the metropolitan area. Slowly these will vanish in favor of the new phones.

Pedro Pablo Quirós, executive president of the communications company known as ICE, said that today calls from pay phones are more expensive than those from home phones. Officials hope to make them equal, he said.

A.M. Costa Rica/Arnoldo Cob

This is the first of the new public phones

Plus the company is aware that many tourists use the public phones.

Right now text messaging is free because ICE has not been able to establish a rate that will have to be approved by utility regulators. The phones are being provided by CELSA, a Colombian company.

Jailed rebel leaders in Colombia break off peace talks with government

By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services

Jailed paramilitary leaders in Colombia have cut off peace talks with the government after they were transferred to a maximum security prison. Officials ordered the transfer of the 59 men earlier this month because of reports that the men were planning a jail break.

President Alvaro Uribe also accused the jailed leaders of ordering the killings of two paramilitary commanders.
A negotiator from the Organization of American States,

Sergio Caramagna, said Thursday the peace process between the government and paramilitaries has reached a crisis. Under the process, paramilitary leaders, of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia have agreed to serve prison terms, and some 30,000 fighters have laid down weapons.

Paramilitary fighters are linked to serious human rights violations during decades of fighting. Other leftist rebels. mainly the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia have rejected peace talks with the government.

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