Costa Rican Children Exchange Toy Guns for School Supplies
Students in Limon are Learning the Negative Side of Violent Toys in a Positive Way.
Most of us can remember playing some incarnation of the war game when we were little: we might have been the Cowboys versus the “Indians,” Cops against Robbers, or any enemy duo that ended with one hollering “boom boom, you’re dead!” Unfortunately, in the wake of worldwide school shootings and an escalation of youth violence, these games are not always innocent, and can encourage behavior that is better left dormant.
Though Costa Rica is known as a peaceful nation — no army, the Switzerland of Central America — that doesn’t mean that the nation is violence-free. A brief watch of the Seven O’Clock News usually details a new gunshot victim, and the stories are always tragic. So, in an effort to combat youth violence, local school Escuela Líder de Pacuare began a program in which children can exchange their toy guns and other violent playthings for free school supplies, uniforms, and other necessary things.
Max Loría is the mastermind behind the plan, and says that it all started five years ago when a study determined that there was a relatively high rate of crime in the Costa Rican cantones (counties) of Limón, San Carlos, Garabito, and downtown San José. In addition, studies also revealed that 5% of Costa Ricans say that they own firearms for protection purposes, but that, almost in opposition to this statement, most of the country’s homicides were committed with firearms, meaning that they weren’t wonderful protection after all.
Costa Ricans have about 91,000 registered firearms, and the number is going up every year. With that in mind, Loría formed the idea for this program, hoping to combat violence starting with the country’s youth: if they weren’t desensitized to guns, perhaps they would be more wary of them.
The plan was financed by el Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo (PNUD, or the Program of United Nations for Development), as well as collaboration between the ministries of Justicia (Justice), Educación (Education), and Seguridad Pública (Public Security).
Part of the project begins by showing the schoolchildren a video that details the horrible consequences that using a gun can have. The video also gives recommendations for what a child should do in the case of finding a gun, or being in the presence of one. In addition to the video, the gun education plan also involves talking with the children, teaching them that guns aren’t toys, and counseling them on how to resolve issues without resorting to violence.
In addition to the Escuela Líder de Pacuare, the Escuela Limón 2000 has also participated in the program, and effects are already visible. Yesterday, 110 Limón schoolchildren exchanged their toys for supplies, and 10-year old Daniela Romero Méndez commented that she brought her gun in because “guns aren’t toys, they hurt people. I’m not going to use those toys anymore. I had the pistol for a long time, and now I realize that it’s dangerous.”
Though toys can seem harmless, this program has allowed children to learn about the real affects of their fake gun. Though it can’t change neighborhood, the new program certainly hopes to change the attitudes of neighbors.
| Written by Erin Raub |  |
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Filed under: Costa Rica News on May 9th, 2008
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[...] to increase security. In recent news, in the same area of Limón, children were encouraged to trade toy guns for school supplies, and were taught the damage that guns can [...]