Today marked Costa Rica’s highest COVID-19 case increase of the pandemic, with 649 new cases. It may not sound like much from the perspective of much larger countries, but it’s a number that would have been unthinkable just weeks ago, with huge consequences for our strained health care system.
Feeling overwhelmed, wherever you are? Do you know an overwhelmed kid? Here’s a free, downloadable book, available in English and Spanish, from an outstanding group of educators: “There’s No Monster Outside – It’s a Virus.”
My dear friends Dr. Rafael Lara-Alecio and Dr. Beverly Irby – a phenomenally talented and kind husband-and-wife team of educational researchers with whom I got to work when I was developing language programs with the Costa Rican government – joined forces with colleagues at Texas A&M to create the book as a way to help families who need help explaining this insane situation to their children. Work is underway to translate the book into Arabic and Mandarin as well.
“We wanted to ensure that this work was as accessible as possible, particularly knowing that many family members were out of work and could not access bookstores, or perhaps children were from very rural areas in their countries and could only have access to it via cellphone service,” said Dr. Lara-Alecio in an A&M article about the project.
Please share this resource with anyone you think would find it useful; it’ll be on tap tonight at bedtime in our house. Thank you, Beverly and “don Rafa,” for looking out for the world’s kids, as you always do.
I’m a writer in San José, Costa Rica, on a year-long quest to share daily posts on inspiring people, places and ideas from my adopted home as a kind of tonic during a rough time in the world. Sign up (top right of this page) to receive a little dose of inspiration every weekday in your mailbox; tell a friend; check out past posts; and please connect with me on Instagram or Facebook! If you want to learn more about how to support Costa Rica during the crisis, visit my COVID-19 section – or for ways to enjoy Costa Rica from afar, visit Virtual Costa Rica.