Santa Claus is bringing a gift that will keep on giving this Christmas holiday. With nearly 700 books inventoried and ready to be shelved, the new children's library is set to open to the community on December 14^th, 2002. The library, when complete, will be the first ever in the Osa Peninsula.

    ¨We have had overwhelming support from the community for the library,¨ says Lauren Cleaver, who spearheaded the development of the project. It has been a complete community effort. Nearly every facet of the library has been a donation, from the paint on the walls to the bolts in the roof.

    Cleaver, owner of Iguana Lodge and The Pearl of the Osa, proposed the idea of opening a children´s library late last year, following an article featured by El Sol de Osa in Belén Momeñe’s Temas del Día column (click here) which called attention to the overwhelming need for a library in the area.

    ¨Ten years ago, most Tico children in the Osa Peninsula didn’t even go to elementary school,¨ says Isabel Chavez, of Osa Tropical. “Today, more and more children are entering high school, which shows that things are in the process of changing.¨

    Together, Chavez, Momeñe, Cleaver and Hector González of the Cecropia Foundation, devised the master plan for the new library and the plan has been slowly germinating ever since.

    There has been a tremendous response to the request for help. Along with others, Paul Clift´s construction company, Osa-Agg, donated materials for and built the roof. Santilla Publishers and Scholastic Books have been the main contributors of books, and various members of the community have made monetary contributions.

    ¨The library project is a component of the mission of the local tourism association, ADETUS¨, says Gonzalez. ADETUS, Association for the Development of Sustainable Tourism on the Osa Peninsula, is a group made up of members of the community to help ensure the sustainability of the tourism industry here in the area.

    The dream became a reality when the construction crew broke ground this past October. The new building sits in downtown Puerto Jimenez, right next door to the City Hall building. Even though the library will open mid-month, the project is still a work in progress. Once its doors open, the founders will continue to accept donations of both books and money and there will also be a call for volunteers to help maintain and run the facility on a daily basis.

    ¨We want to start off by getting the young people in here to learn and then we hope it will spread and grow,¨ says Cleaver. For starters, it will mainly house children’s books in Spanish, but Cleaver hopes it will eventually have the capacity to hold English language books, along with adults texts.

    Costa Rica’s literacy rate, at 93 percent, is very high for a non-industrialized society. But Chavez estimates that only 10 percent of Ticos read for fun, which, she says, doesn’t necessarily demonstrate a lack of desire for reading, rather it speaks to a lack of both time and money.

    ¨Between working and taking care of the family, there is simply not enough time in the day for most people to take up reading as a pastime,¨ says Chavez.

    So there is hope that the new library will not only increase general readership but that it will also spark a change in the way people think about reading. ¨A book opens the mind in such a way that it can change a life magically,¨ says Momeñe passionately. ¨I hope that every person here can find that one book that changes their life forever.¨

    Chavez hopes that it will offer young people a sense that there is life outside of Puerto Jiménez. ¨I want young women to realize that they can be anything they want to be, with the proper resources. I want them to realize that they can go to the University and get an education in order to grow¨, she says.

    December 14^th will mark the grand opening and inauguration of the library. Opening day will be marked by a large Christmas festival, with an art exhibit, music, and food.

    ¨I want the library to be a cultural center with everything - books, visual arts, music. I want it to be a gathering place for all the cultures that we have here in Puerto Jimenez,¨ says Gonzalez.