Embassy and Shoes

Wednesday was a big day at Salvando Corazones. Along with normal running of the house we had two different groups of visitors. The first group that came was the US embassy. Three individuals for the embassy came to visit the safe house and discuss the possibility of a human trafficking conference that we wish to put on. It was a very positive meeting. The embassy was very excited about our ideas and expertise and they agreed to pay for the trainings and conference. Several other specialists from different NGOs in Costa Rica also came to join the meeting and it was fun seeing 20 some odd people around our kitchen table. We also received a visit from the Pani (Child Protective Services). They came to evaluate the house and interview the staff and the girls. They had several major changes including more defined roles for each individual, a more fixed schedule, as well as other recommendations for the house. I felt that it was a very positive experience even though we were written up for several small things around the house (one of which was there were a pair of boots by the backdoor, which for some reason all shoes must be out of sight. What?). It is exciting to be meeting with such important people and seeing everyone come together over the issues of human trafficking and caring for the girls.

The last week has also been stressful for several emotional reasons. Salvando Corazones is a very new organization, and it was opened over two years ahead of schedule. There is still so much to still do in order to create a smoothly functioning organization. Meeting after meeting talking about rules, roles, and concerns takes a lot out of you physically and mentally. It is important to continue to remind myself that we are doing this for the girls when you feel beat down trying to deal with structural and management issues all day. A cohesive and trusting group is necessary to successfully open up a group home.

I have learned a lot especially from the new girl that has arrived. I have never dealt with a child so young on such strong depression medication. The different psychological problems that she is dealing with are extremely concerning. The combination of psychological problems as well as general behavior problems keeps all of us on our toes and constantly changing things around the house.

The best story happened last night. Yesterday was a difficult day for two of the girls. They decided to go for a walk off property on their own twice as they did not want to comply with the schedules. We are fairly remote, but still there are concerns and rules about leaving the premises unattended. Last night we decided to steal all of their shoes as a punishment for their unaccompanied walks and to prevent their “escape” that they were planning for the morning. One of the other volunteers and I snuck into their rooms with a flashlight very Watergate-esk. All the shoes were hidden away and a super interesting morning was to follow. The reactions of the different girls varied. One found it funny, one found it fair, and one decided that the world was out to get her and she was not going to class. Working with these girls especially when it comes to behavior management has been fascinating and I would never have guessed that my job description would involve stealing girl’s shoes in the night (I was able to feel like Santa Claus, but more like the evil Santa’s that one might find in the mall). Sadly, not all behavior management is as fun as stealing shoes. Earlier in the day we had to take apart a girls room without her knowing in order to look for razor blades. I have never had to deal with cutting behavior before, but the psychological distress that some of these girls are experiencing always keeps me on alert and learning new things. How to deal with each girl individually is fascinating and I know that my experience here will help me deal with children in the future. Thanks to Jen, I had attended a talk on Dyscalculia and Dyslexia at Vanderbilt which unfortunately is yet another issue that arises with these girls. There is never a dull day and still so much to learn.  

Finally reaching calm waters

The past week has gone very smoothly. The girls have begun to settle in to the schedule and routine and behavior problems are becoming less and less prevalent. The school schedule has been going well. Each day they have three school classes which last for 4 hours. On Friday, we studied science, social studies, and Spanish which was followed by activities in the afternoon that included exercise, brain games, and a science experiment. For the science experiment we created agar plates and took bacteria samples from around the house. We talked about diseases and why we need to wash our hands before meals. Sadly, I do not think that I used enough gelatin in the mixture as my agar plates are still a little runny, but we will check on Monday and hope for results. Last week the science experiment was the classic make a volcano science project, which was my first major flop because I did not have baking soda (only baking powder) which made it much less impressive. The rest of the classes are going well. It is strange for me to be teaching native speakers Spanish lessons, but even though I can’t understand what they are rattling off about (as they are super fast talking middle school girls) I still feel confident in my grammar and rules thanks to my high school Spanish teachers. My vocabulary on metaphor, imagery, and symbolism also has to improve quickly as I normally use poetry analysis as filler when I run out of Spanish stuff to talk about.

The girls are very stereotypical middle school girls. Best friends one moment followed by manipulating each other behind the other’s back, is pretty much an hourly occurrence. I am fascinated to watch the dynamics change between the girls and I am slowly beginning to be able to predict the behaviors and watch them unfold in front of us like a director watching a play. The behavior management situation occurs the same as well and it is such a rush when the whole situation plays out just as you would have hoped. Luckily all of the staff is on the same page and we all play off each other very well.

I am looking forward to another two weeks with the girls and the staff as my time in Costa Rica is starting to draw to a close.

New Girls and New Approaches

Today began the first official day with our new batch of girls. The past week was focused on preparing and establishing the rules that will govern the house. After a transitioning weekend for the two new girls, we were finally able to get down to the daily routine and begin to implementing our behavior management ideas. Because many of our past failures could have been prevented with a solid behavior management plan, the creation of said plan became our major focus in preparation for more girls. After days of research, multiple reports and emails, and hours of staff discussion, we finally have a working document which should get us on the same page when dealing with the girls. At this point, if I read one more behavior management protocol or group home direct care plan, I may gouge my eyes out. 

It definitely helped having my parents come and visit for the weekend. They are still in Costa Rica, hopefully enjoying the beach, but while they were here they spent hours talking about group homes, behavior plans, and cognitive behavioral therapy. After I could not take any more, they took me up to Monteverde to get some R and R away from the stresses of the safe house. As much fun as it was to hike and zip line, I am pretty stoked to be back in the safe house ready to try out all the new tools that we have developed.  

The new girls are very different from our last set. They come from different backgrounds, with different personalities, and one of the biggest changes is the fact that they are about five years younger. I was interested to see how our new tools would work on them, especially on the 13 year old who decided very quickly that she did not want to participate in any group activity. Like a master puppeteer, it was amazing to see our new behavior management plan taking full control of the girl’s behavior. It was so fun to watch as even the most obstinate girl would move from noncompliance to full participation time and time again. A combination of giving choices and planned ignoring was enough empowerment, yet isolation allowing the staff full control of each situation at hand.  

The next big step is creating an education plan. I have taken over the role of teacher in the house and I am in charge of all lesson plans. We are starting with only focusing on Math, Spanish, and English as a remediation period is important to catch the girls back up to speed. Sadly one girl is very behind and extremely insecure which makes learning basic reading and writing skills very slow. It is an interesting change from teaching motivated boys upper level science to teaching timid girls how to read and write.

With a combination of fun girls, good friends, and a new game plan, the house has been peaceful and smooth. Each day is becoming easier and we all hope that as more girls arrive we can maintain the current dynamic within the house. This week is a very important week to set the tone for the rest of the house's future and hopefully a relaxed and productive week can help maintain the sanity of all the volunteers including myself.  

Jaco

This weekend was quite interesting. The past several days have been focused on preparing for the next batch of girls to arrive. We still are waiting to find out when, but each day we prepare as if they are arriving tomorrow. Any government organization will be slow and Pani (CPS) is no different. Between working on daily activities for the girls to house wide behavior protocols, we all have been busy trying to be more prepared than we were for the first set of girls.

The pair of teachers that joined us for the week were incredibly helpful. They brought great ideas and helped act as fresh set of eyes facilitating conversation between the director and volunteers. Along with their knowledge, they also brought several computers for the safe house which we will use a lot in the upcoming weeks working with Math, Language, and Typing programs. I was able to feel like I was on vacation at times as I accompanied them to several local waterfalls and hot springs allowing myself to feel like a tourist (although way cooler as we went to all the local spots hidden from the Lonely Planet guidebooks). Before they left, we finished the weekend with a trip to Jaco.

Jaco may be a party beach town, but we did not go there for surfing, drinking, and sex. We went on an exploratory mission to learn more about the prostitution that is occurring all over Costa Rica. Jaco is famous for its prostitutes, and we went there to learn more about the sex industry and the children that are involved.

Our first stop was to the OIJ which is the Costa Rica FBI. We wanted to introduce ourselves and establish a connection between our organization and the law enforcement community. When child prostitutes are found, they are treated as victims. Sadly, there are not many options for these girls. Our safe house is a place where they can get the help they need to survive after such as difficult childhood. Hopefully OIJ can use our facilities when they come across underage girls. The OIJ were very informative. We learned about how prostitution works, the hot spots in the city, and why it was so difficult to make arrests. It is hard for create a case against the pimps who traffic young children. When the Costa Rican investigation teams ask questions, local massage parlors turn into legitimate businesses, and everyone somehow seems to have a license and be of age. Sadly, 80% of the Johns are American, and traffickers seem to clam up when Costa Ricans are asking questions. We decided that as foreigners, I and the other male teacher would try to learn more about the prostitution business and the trafficking of young girls.     

We went to four of the six main prostitution bars. It was appalling to watch as the bars were filled with men all looking for the same thing, sex. From older pot bellied men to young bachelor parties it was strange to know that everyone in the bar had the same idea and motive. The first bar that we went to had around 25 to 30 men and no women as everyone was just waiting for the prostitutes to arrive. Talking to different groups of guys and overhearing conversations made me ashamed of being a male (remember not all guys are bad). The women were objects and were to be used without any thought. It was difficult hearing how the other guys would talk about the girls. During the night, we talked to several prostitutes, first learning about how the business worked and then trying to find more information about them and their lives. Prices ranged from 140-80 dollars an hour and girls were very direct in their solicitation. The youngest that we talked to was 22 and the oldest was 26, and we did not find any underage girls inside of the bars (outside and in massage parlors is a different story). At one of the bars, a prostitute even showed me picture of her children (the first of which she had at the age of 16). Most girls came in to Jaco for the weekend, but several had been around the world including the United States (possibly due to trafficking). It was interesting to talk to these women but by the end of the night I was quite tired of pretending to be a scum bag and had all the information that I needed. Luckily the other volunteer and I were able to finish the night at a “normal” bar, dancing and trying to forget about the strange other world that was all around us.

Prostitution is Costa Rica is everywhere and it was interesting to experience first hand. It is important to understand what is happening and why we must protect the children that get caught out in this practice.

Another long day

Tuesday was a rough day. We currently do not have any girls in the house. Our second girl left Tuesday night after a long day followed by a violent episode. Neither Monday nor Tuesday was very peaceful and tension was building. It is difficult to be trapped in a house with a bunch of Gringo, unable to leave, and struggling to adapt to rules and schedules. The straw that broke the camels back was the fact that she could not have a cookie. For snack, we were having some fruit, but she wanted a cookie. There has been a small war against sugar inside the house. Healthy diets are really critical for these girls and for girls who have struggled with drugs; sugar can often act as a substitute for their addiction. At this point, she decided she would not follow any rules. She was being a normal angry teenager, and decided to rip up several photos at the dinner table. After a she created photo confetti, she began yelling that she wanted her phone to call her mom or sister. Sadly, we are not allowed to give her the phone (Pani rule, due to the fact that her family abandoned her, she was not allowed to contact them while in a foster home). We ignored her as she repeatedly shouted for her phone. 

Because we were ignoring her, she decided the best way to get everyone's attention was by smashing a glass on the ground. She picked one of the volunteer’s nice coffee cups which we were all sad to see destroyed on the ground. At this point after another glass, she went to try to open the safe for her phone. Things escalated quickly as the director of the program stepped in. They began to tussle and there was some brief biting, hair pulling, and some super weak girl punches (which surprised me from such as tough girl). It is important that we all work on conflict resolution as this situation did not exactly go as we would have wanted.

During the event, the police were called. They did not come for over four hours and needed a reminder. They said that domestic disputes were not high on their priority list. We had actually calmed the situation and had a discussion as a group around the table, but our resident after another major mood swing said that she wanted to leave.

The police were useless. Even after an assault and battery case, they can not do anything with out a mandate from a judge. The officers explained to us that even if she was in the process of stabbing everyone in the house and the police arrive they could not arrest her until we had talked to a judge. The only thing that they could do would be to take her and Maria to make a statement and then send her back to sleep at the house for the rest of the night. The fact that she was a minor also meant that the police could not do anything. The police were there for several hours mainly because they did not know what to do with her.

My favorite moment was how they handled the conflict resolution. When they learned that it had all started over a cookie, the male cop knew exactly what to do. Out of his pocket, he pulled out a cookie and allowed here to eat it on the couch (Perfect, Thanks, Problem Solved). They told us in the future if we had a violent episode we should use (and have the right to use) handcuffs. When she is acting out we can use a tranquilizer and then handcuff her to the bed. (Interesting fact: in Spanish, Handcuffs = esposas, also Wife = esposa)

The whole system is wack. What ended up happening is that they could hold her for 6 hours and then they would have to send her back here. After two hours of phone calls they found that they could take her instead to a different albergue (foster home) tomorrow morning in a different town. They ended up taking her to the police station for 6 hours then transferred her to a different home in the morning. 

Anyway, now the house is super quiet. We have lost all of our girls. There are two that will be arriving soon, but we don’t know when. Right now we are working hard to develop a better protocol for behavior management and creating new ideas to help the house run smoothly.

Current ideas include:

Emotion Chart- girls put name over how they are feeling in the morning

Star Chart- earn stars for good behavior and meeting goals

Mailboxes- to send positive messages to girls and a mailbox to send complaints to the house

A chore chart- vary up the chores and who does what during group cleaning

Personal schedules in the front of their personal journals

We need to do a better job preparing for the next batch of girls. It is definitely a learning process. Sadly in most albergue, 70% of the girls will return to the street, so we can’t get discouraged, we can only try to better prepare and be a more cohesive group working to help these girls.

We will see how things go.

Home schooling program

Figuring out a school program of the girls is becoming more difficult. There is a home school program that is developed for Costa Rica. It is meant to be a self taught course and if you work thorough the course books you should be able to pass the exams. In order to graduate from you need to pass each of the classes that are designated for that year. For the 8^th grade, they are required to take six classes: Spanish, English, Science, Math, Civil Duties, and Social Studies. Every three months there is a new testing date and you can sign up to take as many tests on that day as you can handle (I believe that the max is 3 which means that you can complete 8^th grade in 6^th months).

We do not have a teacher on staff. Right now our paid psychologist is in charge of the education in the morning and then any therapies or other paperwork that she must do in the afternoon. I will stop by to help explain any of the trickier Math and Science topics if they need help. This system worked well for maybe one week. With only one or two girls, (Especially with one who is extremely motivated; she wants to be a police officer when she is 18 and then study to become a doctor when she is older) and two people helping (one of whom is a trained Math and Science teacher) this system can be possible, but it is very hard to be self motivated for these girls. I am worried about what will happen when there are 15-18 different girls, all at different skill levels, and being challenged with different learning disabilities. It seems like it would be difficult to improve without a teacher helping to guide and providing assessments to keep kids accountable.

Luckily, there are two teachers here for the week, who have worked with struggling Latin American children in the past. They are a Math teacher and an ESL teacher, who are here to volunteer for a week. I am looking forward to working with them to come up with ideas of how a home school program could work in the safe house. So far we have begun to create new lessons plans for each week of the home school curriculum that include, objectives, guiding questions, activities, projects which we hope will help the girls as they work through the home school program. I still believe that letting the girls that can go to school, go to a small local school would be the best for their education as well as social and mental health.

New Friends

After two long weeks, Maria, the director of the house, decided to take our one resident into town and give the volunteers a day off. After contemplating a road trip to a volcano and hot springs, we decided to instead walk down the street to a hotel/pool/bar for the afternoon. For about six hours we hung out, swam at the pool, and enjoyed a drink as we relaxed and socialized as a group.

I have been really lucky meeting such a great group of individuals here at the house. The mix of cultures is very eclectic. I am definitely the odd man out so far as the exotic upbringing. Between Italy/Netherlands, Netherlands, Virginia/Germany/Netherlands, and Hawaii/California/Venezuela/Spain, my straight up North Carolina does not seem to be super exciting, but they still allow me to be part of the group anyway. I have really enjoyed getting to know each of them and finally a day without safe house duties really allowed us to get to know each other better. If we all survive the summer, then I will have to plan some more international travel to go visit people.

New things are always occurring at the safe house. We now have a music player which is exciting. Sadly, our resident picked out Rihana, Alejandro Sanz, and Wisin &Yandel, as the first three cds of the house. We will see how long these last until we all discover what the music lyrics are actually saying. Other new things include the new security camera system, DVD player, as well as, new study room tables allowing us leave the kitchen table for study time. Also, new and exciting, is the fact that two teachers from the states will be volunteering for a week. They are ESL teachers and are bringing new laptops and assessment tools for the girls. They will be good to talk to as I am curriculum planning and will also help with some of the daily school sessions as well. 

With only one resident, things are running very smoothly, and I have had time to work on various projects. Yesterday morning, I sent off letters to the Ministry of Education and the TIP coalition. Hopefully, we can sit down with the Ministry of Education soon to talk about a universal curriculum for the school system. For the high school curriculum, I am hoping to go volunteer in a local high school to get some more insight on how their classrooms work and what type of classes would be accepted in the schools. The TIP report is also very interesting and we are hoping to work closely with the US embassy to achieve some of their recommendations. The section on Costa Rica is page 139.

http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/210738.pdf    

An easy Thursday

Yesterday was calm and relaxing, which was needed as several of the volunteers are sick and run down, needing a recovery day. After a productive morning of reading the TIP report (US government's annual report on human trafficking as well as a breakdown by country) and writing up an analysis, I finally decided to take some time for myself and go for a run. I took off up the road towards our small neighborhood town. We are up on a series of hills that overlooks a beautiful lake. The dirt roads and steep hills makes running a little tough, but the views are fantastic. Our only real neighbors are the cows, but after a few minutes I made it to the town. It contains a church, a school, a soccer field, and one small store. Calling it a very small town would only be an exaggeration of its size. After a lap around the town I continued up the road to find the windmills. There are hundreds of turbines all on top of the surrounding hills. Costa Rica is one of the most "green energy" countries around. This is easy because they do not have any preexisting infrastructure which makes it easy to convert to "green energy".

When I returned to the house our one solo resident was playing ping pong as part of her 30 mins of exercise for the day. She is a very smart girl. The past several nights, we have had game nights. Rummikub has been the game of choice and she picked it up super quick, even winning several rounds. The home school system is quiet strange, but she has decided to take all of her end of year exams for 8th grade during the same testing period. Most students will take a few exams at a time, but she is planning on completing an entire year of school in only a little over 3 months. We have mandatory study time which is three sessions that add up to 4 hours a day. She is quickly beginning to settle into the routine and the rules and now all we need to do is wait for Pani to send us more girls.

Emotions Running High

Emotions in the house can change just about as fast as the weather in Costa Rica. Monday was emotionally charged and ended in a two hour group discussion about respect. Tuesday was peaceful and calm ended in a night of playing games, laughing, and watching a movie (sadly, it was Legally Blonde). Then again on Wednesday we got to experience the biggest meltdown of all time.

Wednesday was hard on everyone emotionally. The director Maria was gone for most of the day which makes things difficult as the volunteers are still trying to gain a sense of authority. Titles and hierarchy are much more important than I would have believed and the girls have had a hard time respecting individuals that are “volunteers”. We started the day with a beautiful round circle discussion. Each person said something that they felt was a negative about themselves and the group would comment, stating “the truth of you is”. My flaw I stated was that I am indecisive, but I had a hard time deciding. This activity actually went amazing and was sadly one of the only positive emotional releases we would experience all day. There were minor catastrophes throughout the day during both study time and exercise time, but the biggest issue came when the girls were told that they could not watch a music video during their descanso “quiet time”. As a group, we came to the decision that music was not allowed, it was a privilege, and they had the option to turn it off themselves without consequence or we could turn it off with future consequences. This was after a very positive talk on Monday where rules were changed to accommodate everyone’s feelings and emotions. Sadly, the girls did not take this very well and a major tantrum ensued.

The big act of rebellion (so painfully high school thinking) was that they marched to the kitchen, grabbed the ice cream (which was a treat from the weekend when a large group of high school volunteers came to work on the house) and took it up to their room in a fit of yelling. Doors were broken, bad words were yelled, and it was not a proud moment for the two girls. After finally calming down we were somehow able to get back on schedule until the director Maria returned home. After hearing all sides of the story, the volunteers were allowed to make the decision on the course of action. Unlike other talks, this ended in strict consequences including, separating of rooms, removing of all bedroom doors, no weekend trip to Liberia, as well as no TV or music for the week.

After a halestorm of hate, one of the two girls was asked to pack her bags and was told that she was leaving for the police station tonight. Child protective services were called and bags were placed in the car. Moving from bad cop to good cop, the strict adherence to the rules and the realization that she was making a huge mistake finally caught up to the one girl. We had a very powerful talk and she decided that she wanted to stay and wanted to change. After numerous tears, both girls went to bed early and thought about their situation and what they wanted for their future. Both of these girls are out of options and will not be in the foster program again if they leave our home. The realizations about their true options, especially when finding out how serious we were, allowed everyone to sleep quietly and try to recharge after all the emotions of the day.

Finally, we came to Thursday. Everyone was expecting an easy day after the emotional release the night before. This was true for one but not the other. The one that had almost left the night before knew that she did not want to leave and understood the opportunity that she had at the safe house. After a blow up over lunch, the second girl asked to leave. It was her choice and we allowed it. She was picked up by the police and she was asked to pack her things. Emotions once again were high and myself, the other girl, and several volunteers went on a walk to get some fresh air. After getting back on track, a quiet and productive evening followed. The final stress of the night finished with eleven calls from the newly departed girl asking if she would be allowed to come back at some point in the future. How much she loved us and wanted to keep in touch. After a group meeting, we decided she had the chance to come back within 24 hours if she wanted to return (as a one time to be able to return rule is in the official rules of the house). And as I go to be tonight, I am sad thinking about her future as I am doubtful that she will return. 

Second Child Abuse Class

Monday started with teaching a second child abuse prevention class to a group of 7-9 year olds. They were super cute and did a great job talking about some difficult topics. We started teaching at 8:00 and sadly my Spanish part of my brain had not yet woken up. After stuttering though the directions to heads up seven up, I finally began to regain my minimal language skills. It is still very difficult when kids shout out answers to questions or tell stories. Being able to understand their little high pitched voices takes all my concentration and even then I will still often look for approval from my co-teacher before blindly saying “Oh yes, wonderful job”.

There were about 18 students in the class. At the end of class, we asked if anyone wanted to talk privately, they are more than welcome and that we would hang around while they colored their activity books. Nine different students came outside to talk about bullying, physical abuse, and sexual abuse. The younger kids do not have any filter and are extremely honest about what is happening in their lives. Hopefully the class was able to start some discussion that can be continued at home or in the classroom in the future. When we were talking about your “rights of being human” we talked about physical abuse. This began quite a class discussion. Physical punishments in the home are illegal, but it seemed very common. A handful of students gave stories about beatings for being bad and we tried to emphasis that that was not ok. Just giving kids the information and an outlet to talk to someone will hopefully lead to safer homes in the future.

Newsletter

Hey,
It has been a very long first week. The definition of an emotional roller coaster. I have attached the finished Newsletter that I have written for Salvando Corazones. Some of the parts have been taken from earlier blogs, but it might give people an update on what has been happening. I will plan on updating more once I finally have some free time. Opening up a safe house is a lot of work and I am glad to have a good group of people to work with so that we can try continue to stay positive and work to complete the mission.

History Has Been Made

June 10^th 2013

The Girls Have Arrived

After all the preparation, the first day has finally arrived. In a country where sex slavery and child prostitution have been so prevalent for so many years, there is finally a place for these girls to get help.

After only one day Salvando Corazones is already making an impact in the lives of the first two girls to enter the program. It was a long first day for both girls as they drove several hours to arrive at the safe house. Making things even more difficult one girl lost her belongings during the transitioning and arrived with nothing expect for the clothing she was wearing. At first, they were not excited about their new accommodations. A new room, new clothing, and most problematic, new rules were not easily accepted by the girls.

By dinner time, almost magically the tough outer shells were beginning to fade. The girls and volunteers sat down for a wonderful meal of spaghetti, soup, and salad.

Even after initially being persistent that she did not eat vegetables (“I am not a rabbit”) by the end of dinner both girls had sampled the soup and the salad and seemed to enjoy the spaghetti.

These girls who at first were unsure if they would be able to accept the rules of the safe house ended the night helping with dishes and playing Connect Four with several of the volunteers. It is exciting to see these girls opening up after having been through a life that required them to build so many emotional barriers for their own protection.

Week One

The first week has been a learning experience for everyone involved at the house. Both volunteers and the girls have had to adapt to the new stresses and rules of living together under the same roof. Maria’s (Salvando Corazone’s director) mission in the house is to create a family. A family that lives together, works together, and grows together. Families do not always see eye to eye and these issues, normally involving mutual respect and equality, (especially when dealing with locked cabinets, limited clothing, and shared cleaning duties) have lead to several house discussions. Even with tensions high, the longest and most emotional house meeting, occurring Sunday night, still ended positively with everyone at the table apologizing and going to bed less angry then they were before. Unlike other shelters, the girls at Salvando Corazones have the opportunity to express their opinions and be the owners of their own house rules. Group talks and the sense of family that Maria continues to add to the house, have forced the girls to change their view on authority and finally begin to have control over their own lives. After the first Sunday night house meeting, the girls wanted more trust. The volunteers agreed and new policies with less locks and more freedom for free time were changed and will stay that way until that trust has been broken. The give and take from both girls and volunteers has created an equality that is rare in Costa Rica. Even equality among genders is being addressed, as we have a male volunteer working as a teacher for the summer. They were very surprised to see him cleaning, cooking, and (most shocking to them) sewing.

There are so many important things that need to be taught to these girls. One major task for the volunteers is working on healthy eating. Neither girl has any real experience with healthy diets. Sadly their health problems require us to talk to them about these issues and start enforcing strict diet policy. The lack of fruits and vegetables as well as the excessive amounts of sugar contribute to both of their intense stomach pains. The volunteers had to put together a class nutrition and health. Healthy eating as well as other healthy habits dealing with cleaning, washing, and table manners are all things that we may take for granite, yet these girls have never had anyone explain to them. Along with healthy eating, excise has also been included in the daily routine. The new healthy initiative included their first morning run where all the girls and volunteers went for a run in the surrounding hills. Even after a bit of complaining about the exurbanite number of steep inclines, the girls seems to enjoy this new healthier lifestyle and are feeling better about their bodies.

Week two becomes more structured as everyone begins to settle into a routine and feel comfortable in the new house. After a week of Karaoke night, Lacrosse games, and spa night (which included facials made from a random assortment of oatmeal and garden vegetables) both volunteers and girls are ready to get into a normal routine. It has been amazing seeing how these girls truly want to be part of the Salvando Corazones family. Both girls are very excited about learning English, and have been practicing flashcards during their free time. The variety of languages mainly including Spanish, English, and Dutch makes daily conversation very interesting. Dinner conversations are in Spanish, along with various English phrases to continue to teach even outside the official “school time” hours.  

Even with all of these positive aspects, it has still been a difficult first week. It is important that individuals keep everyone at Salvando Corazones in their thoughts and prayers. It is very difficult overcoming disorders such as depression and reactive attachment disorder. Each day is a new struggle wearing on both the girls and volunteers, and together we all do our best to improve the situation for everyone around us.    

Visitors

The house has been full of visitors during the first week. Two groups of volunteers came to Salvando Corazones from Menlo Park, California. First was a group of girls who came for the week to build a chicken coop. After hours of hard work including laying cement, painting, and assembling walls and a roof, Salvando Corazones have finally eaten their first batch of fresh eggs from their own chicken coop. The girls build an amazing hen house and stocked it full of eleven gallinas. Apart from their manual labor, they also were great helping the girls settle into their new house. They made sure to incorporate the new girls at every opportunity and lasting frendships were created between everyone involved. A second group of boys contributed their physical labor as well on Sunday. This Lacrosse team, who were teaching and playing Lacrosse across the country, stopped by Salvando Corazone to help around the house. After eight hours of laying cement for stairs to the garden, painting roofs and walls, as well as planting over 150 trees to act as a wind break, the girls came down to thank them for all their hard work to make the “nest” that they now call their home. The experience was life changing for numerous boys to meet the girls and try to come to grasp the problem of human trafficking and prostituting that is occurring in Costa Rica and in the United States. The great work of both of these groups is appreciated and goes along way to help support Salvando Corazones in their mission to help the girls of Costa Rica.

Embassy Visit

Thursday, Maria and a volunteer traveled down to San Jose to visit the American Embassy. We had a meeting scheduled with the new Political Officer that is in charge of how the US embassy deals with Human Trafficking in Costa Rica. There is a lot that the US Embassy is able to do to help combat Human Trafficking and it is important that Salvando Corazones as well as other NGOs work with the US government to stop the abuse of child sex slaves. Getting to meet the new individual who is in charge will hopefully create a successful relationship for the next year while he is stationed in Costa Rica to work together against child sexual exploitation and trafficking.

It was a very successful meeting and everyone is excited about working together. The Embassy already has plans in motion to work on the problem with prosecution of sex crimes in Costa Rica, which is a great start. There are many laws in the Costa Rican legal system against child sexual abuse and child prostitution, but the laws are not enforced. American offenders can not be extradited and the law enforcement does not follow through on enforcing and prosecuting the law. Just recently in Quepos the mayor was arrested twice for trafficking children across boarders for prostitution and child pornography and all charges were dropped both times. The ease of escaping any consequences is shocking and must be changed within the law enforcement side of the government. The lack of prosecution condones the child sexual exploitation and makes it a safe place for individuals to sexually abuse these young children.

http://www.ticotimes.net/More-news/News-Briefs/Quepos-mayor-arrested-twice-on-child-pornography-embezzlement-charges-released_Monday-January-16-2012

This is an extremely important issue for the Embassy, because US citizens are the major consumer. Around 80% of the Johns are US citizens that come to Costa Rica for Sex Tourism, which sadly is not uncommon. Hotels specialize in sex tourism and even the cruise ships offer sex tour packages. The fact that prostitution is legal only acts as a gateway drug for sex with younger and younger children and draws men to Costa Rica to have sex for money without consequence. With such a high demand and poverty, it is very easy for children to enter the sex industry. American tourists sadly only fuel the problem that brings in so much money for so many criminal individuals.

http://www.cruisebruise.com/cruise_lines_keep_kiddie_prostitute_trade_alive.html

http://www.costaricantimes.com/costa-ricas-hotel-del-rey-now-in-jaco/16155

There were several main goals for the future that were discussed at the meeting. Salvando Corazones want to push for a round table discussion that includes all the NGOs, the US embassy, as well as other embassies of other countries. All these groups are doing such great things, but there is little cooperation. Only when all groups can come together and share their knowledge and materials to accomplish manageable tasks can lasting changes be made. There are also many amazing training programs in the United States for government officials, or social workers, or teachers. Salvando Corazones also wants the Embassy to bring more of these groups like the group, Tapestry, to help educate both Americans and Ticos in Costa Rica to deal with the problem of the sex trade. We are very excited to be working with the US Embassy and hope that our meetings can lead to a unified front as well as working together to bring some of the great organization in the states to help with training and education within Costa Rica.

Community Education Project

With the house finally open, Salvando Corazones has also begun to work on community education. On Friday, Maria, along with a new volunteer Matthew Villemain, taught their first class on Personal Body Safety. This class is a Child Abuse Prevention class which they have titled “Yo soy el dueño de mi cuerpo”. The class focused on defining good touching vs bad touching, good secrets vs bad secrets, and then what to do if you feel uncomfortable 1) Say no 2) Find a safe place 3) Talk to a safe adult. In a classroom of 18 children, nine individuals came to talk afterwards, discussing anything from bullying, physical abuse, and sexual abuse. The class was taught twice to two different age groups and had positive feedback from the students as well as the teacher. One child confided that he was glad that we talked to his class and he was going to talk to his entire family especially to try to help his cousin who was being abused by an uncle. Simply affecting this one child gave purpose to all the hard work that has gone into planning and teaching the new curriculum.    

What Must Happen Next?

We need your help. Now that Salvando Corazones is officially open, there is no time to rest. It is imperative that doors stay open and more girls continue to arrive. Everything from food, energy, water, and (finally after a lot of hard work) a house payment, requires funds. These girls need a safe place to rebuild their lives and the combination of structure and love provided by the amazing volunteers is the key to help these girls survive. It takes a village raise a child, and sadly even more help to repair a child after the damages of sex slavery and prostitution. Fund raising continues to be the key to allowing the work done as Salvando Corazones to continue and affect the girls who need a loving and caring home so badly.   

Also, please like us on Facebook and continue to read the vast number of updates and news articles that are being posted. The only way to stop sex trafficking and child prostitution is to increase awareness, especially in the United States.

Things to do:

Volunteer with us:

 info@salvandocorazones.com

Facebook: Salvando Corazones

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Salvando-Corazones/145920492103580

Salvando Corazones

303 Oakwood Avenue

Menlo Park, CA 94025

Donate online at www.salvandocorazones.org

First Child Abuse Prevention Class

Today was my first day teaching my Child Abuse Prevention Curriculum. Three of us including myself, the founder of Salvando Corazones, and another Tico volunteer, drove to a nearby town that was just 15 minutes away. The teacher in the classroom had personally contacted Salvando Corazones as she needed help addressing the issue of child abuse that she knew had happened to several children in her classroom. Sadly this is not uncommon as 1 in 3 children in Costa Rica experience some form of sexual or physical abuse.

We arrived a few minutes early to talk briefly with the teacher. There were 17 kids ages 9-12 who were waiting patiently at their desks. The classroom was charming. There was plenty of space and there were even two large whiteboard that we could use. The entire school was beautifully decorated and as we set up the students moved their desks to the back of the classroom to prepare for class.

I was very happy with how well the class went. We were teaching for over two hours with a 15 minute lunch break. The kids were excited; they contributed; they stayed interested for the entire time. They were super cute and very bright, coming up with great examples and ideas. I created an activity book which we worked through which covered, good touching vs bad touching, good secrets vs bad secrets, as well as what to do when you feel uncomfortable 1) Say No 2) Find a safe place 3) Tell a safe adult. We made sure to give them phone numbers including their teacher, Salvando Corazones, the police, and Pani (Child Protective Services) as additional contacts if they are unable to get help. The activity worksheets involved lots of creating of examples as well as coloring and drawing to keep kids excited.

Giving these kids the tools to keep themselves safe as well as explaining their derechos como ser humanos (their personal rights) will hopefully bring child abuse out from behind closed doors and get the children the help they need to keep themselves safe. One of the most important things that I believe we talked about is the fact their feelings of fear, guilt, and worry are normal, they have no right to be abused or touched by anyone and that there are people who want to help them.  

We started with a game of heads up seven up which was a blast from my childhood past. They had never played the game, but were definitely into it as they tried to figure out who touched their thumb. After explain who we were, we told a short story along with puppets about a little bee (la abejita).  Abejita had to talk to her teacher after an uncomfortable situation with her uncle, who touched her wings making her feel very uncomfortable. Luckily she said no, left and went to her bedroom, and then talked to her teacher. The kids were very receptive and did not make fun of my finger puppets or my story of little abejita.

At the end of class we all took a group picture and the children left with smiles, taking their activity books home to hopefully discuss what they had learned with their parents and friends. The teacher was very appreciative and we are planning on returning on Monday to do a similar presentation to the younger students as well. The three of us I believe made a great team and I am excited to continue to improve my lesson plan for future groups of kids. 

La abejita

Yo quiero contarles una historia de una abejita niña. Ella vivió en las montanas con sus padres y su tío. Un día sus padres salieron en la noche a bailar. A ellos les gusta bailar. Su tío dijo que el puede cuidar a la abejita mientras sus padres estén afuera de la casa. La abejita y su tío decidieron que ellos querían ver la televisión porque había un gran partido de futbol. La abejita estaba jugando al frente del televisor cuando su tío le dijo “Venga, Siéntense en mi regazo”. La abejita dijo esta bien. Cuando se sentó, el tío empezó a tocar sus alas. La abejita no le gusta lo que sentía. La abejita sintió nervios y preocupación. No sintió bien. La abejita dijo, “Por favor no toque mis alas. No me siento bien”. Su tío se enojo y dijo, “No le cuente nada a su mama ni a su papa. Ellos van a estar enojados. Este es nuestro secreto.” La abejita decidió irse para su cama y no terminar de ver el partido. Al siguiente día la abejita fue donde su maestro, el perro. "¿Puedo decirte algo?", dijo la abejita. “La noche pasada con mi tío fue muy extraño.” “El tocó mis alas. No me gustó. Me hizo sentir incomoda.” “¿Estás enojado conmigo? ", preguntó la abejita. "Por su puesto que no usted hizo lo correcto", dijo el maestro. "Nadie tiene el derecho a tocarte si no quiere que te toquen, porque su cuerpo le pertenece a usted. Usted ha dicho "No", se escapó a un lugar seguro, y se lo contó alguien en quien confiaba. Estoy muy orgulloso de ti. Has sido muy valiente.” “¿Qué vas a hacer con mi tío?, pregunto la abejita. “Hay personas que puede ayudar. Voy a tener una charla con su tío y decirle que el no tiene el derecho a tocar a alguien que no quiere que lo toquen. Además, el no debería haberte dicho que lo mantenga en secreto. Secretos que le hacen sentir miedo o incomodidad son malos secretos y no deben ser guardados.” Dijo el maestro. La abejita se sintió mas tranquila. "Gracias, Maestro”, dijo la abejita. “Me alegro habérselo contado. Ahora me siento mejor. Es bueno saber que tengo alguien con quien hablar acerca de las cosas que me molestan", dijo la abejita, y le dio un gran abrazo a su maestro.  La abejita no aprecia estar más preocupada. Ella dijo, "Es bueno saber que puedo cuidar de mi cuerpo! Mi cuerpo es mi cuerpo. Solo mío y existen personas buenas que me pueden ayudar."

Embassy Visit

Today, the founder of Salvando Corazones, Maria, and I traveled down to San Jose to the American Embassy. We had a meeting scheduled with the new Political Officer that is in charge of how the US embassy deals with Human Trafficking in Costa Rica. There is a lot that the US Embassy is able to do to help combat Human Trafficking and it is important that Salvando Corazones as well as other NGOs work with the US government to stop the abuse of children sex slaves. Getting to meet the new individual who is in charge will hopefully create a successful relationship for the next year while he is stationed in Costa Rica to work together against child prostitution and sex trafficking. 

It was a very successful meeting and everyone is excited about the future. The Embassy already has plans in motion to work on the problem with prosecution of sex crimes in Costa Rica, which is a great start. There are many laws in the Costa Rican legal system against child sexual abuse and child prostitution, but the laws are not enforced. American offenders can not be extradited and the law enforcement does not follow through on enforcing and prosecuting the law. Just recently in Quepos the mayor was arrested twice for trafficking children across boarders for prostitution and child pornography and all charges were dropped both times. The ease of escaping any consequences is shocking and must be changed within the law enforcement side of the government. The lack of prosecution condones the child prostitution and makes it a safe place for individuals to sexually abuse these young children. Much like when working with children teaching, if there are no consequences in the classroom, there is do way to stop bad behavior. 

http://www.ticotimes.net/More-news/News-Briefs/Quepos-mayor-arrested-twice-on-child-pornography-embezzlement-charges-released_Monday-January-16-2012

This is so important for the Embassy, because US citizens are the major consumer. Around 80% of the Johns are US citizens that come to Costa Rica for the Sex Tourism industry, which is sadly a very popular industry in Costa Rica. Hotels specialize in sex tourism and even the cruise ships offer sex tour packages. The fact that prostitution is legal only acts as a gateway drug for sex with younger and younger girls and draws men to Costa Rica to have sex for money without consequence. With such a high demand and poverty, it is very easy for children to enter the sex industry. American tourists sadly only fuel the problem that brings in so much money for so many criminal individuals. 

http://www.cruisebruise.com/cruise_lines_keep_kiddie_prostitute_trade_alive.html

http://www.costaricantimes.com/costa-ricas-hotel-del-rey-now-in-jaco/16155

Both myself and Salvando Corazones want to push for a round table discussion that includes all the NGOs, the US embassy, as well as other embassy's of other countries. All these groups are doing such great things, but there is little cooperation. Only when all groups can come together and share their knowledge and materials to accomplish manageable tasks can lasting changes be made. I am very excited to be working with the US Embassy and I hope that our meetings can lead to a unified front as well as working together to bring some of the great organization in the states to help with training and education within Costa Rica. 

Tomorrow is the big day when the Child Abuse Prevention Curriculum that I have created will get its first beta test at a local elementary school. I am very excited to see how children respond and to hopefully give some at risk kids the information to keep themselves safe. 

First Day

It has been quite a busy first two days. I arrived on a very historic day in Costa Rica. Salvando Corazones finally opened their doors and the first two girls arrived to live at the safe house. This is the first safe house in all of Costa Rica and is a huge step forward in the fight against sex trafficking. In a country where sex slavery and child prostitution have been so prevalent for so many years, there is finally a place for these girls to get help.

I did may best to stay out of the way and decided to help a group of high school volunteers who were working on building a chicken coop. They are here for about a week and definitely brought upbeat and excited attitudes. It was fun feeling useful and I was able to do something physically active which was nice after a long plane ride which included a red eye from Lima to Miami. 

After only one day Salvando Corazones is already making an impact on the lives of the first two girls to enter the program. It was a long first day for both girls as they drove several hours to arrive at the safe house. Making the transition even more difficult, one girl lost her belongings in transit and arrived with nothing expect for the clothing she was wearing. At first, they were not excited about their new accommodations. A new room, new clothing, and, most problematic, new rules were not easily accepted by the girls.

By dinner time, almost magically the tough outer shells were slowly beginning to fade. The girls and volunteers including me sat down for a wonderful meal of spaghetti, soup, and salad. The food has been great and I have no concerns about going hungry this summer. Even after initially being persistent that she did not eat vegetables (“I am not a rabbit”) by the end of dinner both girls had sampled the soup and the salad and seemed to enjoy the spaghetti. These girls, who at first were unsure if they would be able to accept the rules of the safe house, ended the night helping do dishes and playing Connect Four with several of the other volunteers. It is exciting to see these girls opening up after having been through a life that required them to build so many emotional barriers for their own protection. 

I have really enjoyed everyone that I have met so far and they have helped jump right into working. My main goal is to work with education of the community. I have been working on child abuse prevention lesson plans and learned that I would be putting them to the test after only three days in the country. After a lot of work, I created two "activity books" focused for 1-4 graders and then 5-7 graders to use as we work through the child abuse prevention lesson. The key topics being good touches vs bad touches, good secrets vs bad secrets, private parts, and what to do 1) Say No (How?) 2) Find a safe place (Where?) 3) Talk to a safe adult (Who?). I am excited for the first test run on Friday after showing off on Thursday. 

Tired yet excited, I am off to bed so that I can wake up at 5:30 tomorrow to go for a run which seems like it will be the routine for the rest of the summer. 

Internet is pretty shaky, but hopefully I will have more to update soon. 

On the way to Costa Rica

I am very excited to start my summer with Salvando Corazones. Salvando Corazones is a group that is dedicated to fight against the trafficking of children into the sex industry in Costa Rica. They have just recently opened the first safe house in Costa Rica, where they provide education and rehabilitation services for children that have been involved in the commercial sex trade.

Over the past several months, I have been working on creating lesson plans that can be used in the school system in order to help prevent sex trafficking and child prostitution. I have focused on child abuse prevention for elementary school children and I hope to help Salvando Corazones with their mission of protecting children.

I will arrive in Liberia on Monday to start my eight weeks in Costa Rica. I am excited to be a part of such a wonderful organization.

For more information on Salvando Corazones, please visit their website: http://salvandocorazones.org/