A partly overcast, mild morning promised good running weather for the 600 participants in Costa Rica's first road race to raise awareness about child abuse.
Organized by the Trauma Unit of the National Children's Hospital, last Sunday's event was planned to coincide with this week's celebration of Children's Day, held each Sept. 9 in Costa Rica.
The leader of the organization emphatically declared, "Do you know that during the first three months of this year the Children's Hospital Social Work Department detected 469 cases of child abuse? Too many children never know a hug, or loving words; they only know a hand that punishes and words that injure or indifference that kills. This is a call to... raise our voices against mistreatment against the weakest... because we won't allow another child's life to be lost!"
Chacón hopes the 10K road race through downtown San José will become an annual event to raise awareness about a problem that remains largely invisible. "People have no idea of the dimensions of the aggression we are seeing in these children... independently of whose children they are, we all have a responsibility for the children of this country.”
In the front lobby of the Children's Hospital stands a large message board filled with messages handwritten by last Sunday's runners. "Their laughter is our hope for the future" stood out among them as a reason to keep alive a vision of a world without violence toward the young.
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