This will sadly be my final FCO blog. After nine very satisfying years of working at the British Embassy in San Jose I have decided to move on to new employment challenges.

Preparing for my departure has allowed me to reflect on some of the great moments I have had the privilege of experiencing over the years.

Campaigning for better conditions for child prisoners in Nicaragua, the climate change work we undertook (including at COP 16 in Cancun and COP 17 in Durban) and developing the English as a second language programme for the Costa Rican Tourist Police were some of my personal highlights.

The opening of the new cells for juvenile prisoners in Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua

I was a 16 year old high school student in Calgary, Alberta when Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands and I never imagined then I would ever get the opportunity to visit this exotic faraway place. But there I went in October of last year accompanying a group of Central American journalists on behalf of the FCO in a project to promote the point of view of the people of the Islands.

Jamming with Falkland’s musical legends the Fighting Pigs Band at the Trough Club is a memory I will cherish forever. It’s been personally rewarding to help introduce the Falkland Islands to Central Americans who previously had very little knowledge of what life is actually like there.

A common thread in my work over the years has been having many opportunities to interact with such a variety of interesting people (some of whom have also written guest blogs for us) and helping find ‘outside of the box’ ways of delivering the FCO’s objectives.

A great part about working for the FCO is that innovation is second nature to them so new ideas are encouraged. I never expected that a series of bedtime stories I developed with my sons would morph into a climate change film campaign called Odyssey 2050 that would then go on to inspire young people in over 60 countries and be declared an item of Public Interest by the Costa Rican Government.

During the filming of Odyssey 2050 with Dr. Franklin Chang

I want to thank current Ambassadors Sharon and Chris Campbell and former Ambassadors Tom Kennedy and Georgina Butler for all their support during our time together. I wish my colleagues here in San Jose all the best and want to thank them for being such an important part of my life these past nine years. We are a Small Post (or what is now called a VESP) but there can be no doubt that we punch above our weight and make a difference in the world.

I am signing off but this blog will soon be re-launched as the San Jose Costa Rica blog featuring many interesting entries from our Embassy and hopefully more guest bloggers.

Sports unify people of different ethnic, religious, social, and cultural backgrounds and can be a powerful force to make the world a better place.

In the run up to last year’s London Olympic and Paralympic Games I was fortunate to have been able to have participated in a number of activities to promote the Games and it was exciting to see how well everything went in London.

Here in Costa Rica our Embassy has supported the work of several non-governmental organisations that utilise sports to help underprivileged children get a shot at a better life. These projects make a difference in the lives of these children and fill you with a sense that our work is really making a difference in the community.

Dream Program 2013 Participants

Last November I received an unexpected invitation from the Costa Rican National Olympic Committee to take a group of young Costa Rican athletes to a winter sports training camp in South Korea called the Dream Program. Luckily the timing of camp worked well with my plans for taking leave and I happily accepted the invitation.

Dream Program is an annual 10 day event that takes place in Pyeongchang South Korea, which will host the 2018 Winter Olympic Games. The program invites young participants from developing nations that have few chances to experience winter sports including disabled athletes.

This January a total of 166 young participants from 40 countries took part. 2013 was the first time that Costa Rica had been invited by the program so our team from from Costa Rica was very excited to see what awaited us when we got there.

The Costa Rican athletes I escorted to South Korea were selected by the Costa Rican National Olympic Committee and consisted of Valeria Mata (champion online speed skater, who trained in short track speed skating), Leonardo Calvo (champion surfer, who received snowboarding classes) and Anthony Callow Monge (an ice hockey player who learned short track speed skating).

Anthony is also my youngest son, so it was with great pride I was able to accompany him on this once in a lifetime experience.

Apart from the excellent training we received the real highlight of the trip was interacting with so many people from different countries and the friendships that were made over the 10 days. The Korean hospitality was amazing and the participants had so much fun at the many side events including the winter festival, the ice hockey experience and the overnight trip to Seoul.

It was hard to leave at the end of the program and more than a few tears were shed at the closing ceremony. I was honoured to have been invited to perform a song at the ceremony with Dream Program volunteer Jo HyunMyung.

During the program the athletes were treated like they already were Olympians and staying at the Olympic Village built to house athletes during the 2018 Winter Games certainly contributed to the magical atmosphere.

I found the whole experience of the Dream Program trip highly uplifting and I look forward to using this positive energy in my role as Communications Officer in the Embassy. We have some interesting sports related activities coming up this year that I plan to write about in a future blog.

I will close by expressing a heartfelt thank you to the Dream Program and the people of South Korea for providing so much hope, inspiration and unforgettable winter sports memories to children from developing countries all over the world. I hope we can meet again someday.

John McKendrick is a Barrister at the UK Barristers Chambers  Outer Temple Chambers and is a specialist in European Regulatory Law.  At the invitation of the British Embassy Mr. McKendrick  took part in a congress at the Costa Rican Legislative Assembly last month to  promote the Association Agreement between Central America and the EU. John has written the guest post below.

Standing on the lip of the crater of the volcano Irazu, I struggled to look into the icy rain and wind. There was no view. Only cloud, drizzle and dense whiteness. My trip from San Jose to Irzau was all about the view – I had heard it was fabulous. The famed green crater lake was invisible.

Lost in the whiteness of the summit of the volcano was an odd experience, it’s hard to carry on when you can’t see where you are going and you don’t know what’s on the horizon.

Back in San Jose the EU delegation was finalising its preparation for a summit at the Legislative Assembly on the topic of the EU Central America Association Agreement. This was the reason behind my trip to Costa Rica, Irzau was only a pleasant side trip.

The EU Central American Association is a landmark in relations between these important regions of the world. Much more than a free trade agreement it seeks to build on years of dialogue by formalising regional relations on the basis of three pillars: trade, political and cooperation.

The trade pillar has caught most of the headlines. Free trade is political. Costa Rica is likely to be the major beneficiary of the free trade aspect of the agreement. It has a far greater percentage of exports of any Central American country to  the EU and receives far more imports from the EU than its neighbours.

With a greater share of trade a greater series of benefits are likely to come Costa Rica’s way. Predictions demonstrate that all countries of Central America will see an increase in their GDP and reduced poverty levels as a result of the Agreement.

The political and cooperation pillars will push the two regions closer together and will also be the motor for Central American integration. One of the great winners of the Agreement will be civil society organisations across Central America. The Agreement seeks to develop the role (and funding behind) civil society organisations to improve outcomes in diverse areas such as:  the environment; minority and human rights; sustainable development; protecting labour standards; and promoting greater adherence to the rule of law and reducing corruption.

It’s not by chance that Article 1 of the enormous Agreement states:

The Parties reaffirm their attachment to good governance and the rule of law, which entails, in particular, the primacy of law, the separation of powers, the independence of the judiciary, clear decision-making procedures at the level of the public authorities, transparent and accountable institutions, the good and transparent management of public affairs at local, regional and national levels, and the implementation of measures aiming at preventing and combating corruption.  

These principles enshrine the basis for democracy and economic development. Corruption which undermines the rule of law negates the necessary foundations for a successful and growing economy. Transparency International’s corruption perception index for 2012 places Costa Rica in 48^th place. Not bad. But still a long way off OECD member Chile, which is 20^th.

The Agreement is a tool, to be used by the countries of Central America to bring the power of transparency to the public and private sectors to enshrine the rule of law and demand corruption free decision making in the public sector and the boardroom.

If Costa Ricans stand on the Irazu crater, their view must not be clouded. On the horizon is greater economic growth, reduced poverty and higher standards of living. The Agreement is a tool to the light up that path. When I next visit Costa Rica, I hope the clouds have lifted and the view is spectacular.

Alianza Por Tus Derechos (Alliance For Your Rights) is a Non-Governmental organisation based in Costa Rica and is dedicated to the defence and promotion of human rights and education for children and adolescents.  

To mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, Alianza’s Executive Director Rocio Rodriguez Garcia has written the following guest post:

Since 2004 Alianza Por Tus Derechos has been working with the British Embassy in San Jose on several projects. We began working together with a campaign to combat sexual violence by producing educational materials and carrying out training in the southern areas of Costa Rica.

In 2008/2009 with the British Embassy’s support we organised two international seminars focusing on child pornography. A direct result of these seminars was the creation of a Latin American network to tackle child pornography including representatives from Mexico, Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama, Peru and Chile.

During these discussions it came to light that tougher legislation was urgently needed to deter such crimes. Thus, and again with the support from the British Embassy, a new bill was born to promote increased penalties for offences related to child pornography including production, manufacturing, possession, distribution and transportation of such material as well as the criminalization of virtual pornography.

This initiative was immediately welcomed by the President of Costa Rica, Laura Chinchilla and soon after was adopted in the Congressional subcommittee on Children’s Issues. We are now waiting for the bill to be reviewed by the Legislative Committee’s Social Affairs Committee and hopefully be passed into law.

At the moment we are working with the British Embassy to tackle  the growing problem of people trafficking between Costa Rica and Nicaragua. This ambitious project involves training, raising awareness and networking in the border areas with the police authorities of both countries.

The support of the British Embassy has been indispensable in the fight to end violence against women in Costa Rica. Children and adolescents have benefited greatly from the training and projects that have been taken forward to safeguard their integrity. A large number of the victims are minors and women from vulnerable communities who have been sexually abused and degraded because of their sex.

At Alianza Por Tus Derechos, we strive to help the victims recover from their injuries, boost their self-esteem and then to assist them make connections between their dreams and their capabilities.

Secondly, we push for the application of basic human rights, one of which is the right to access to receive justice promptly and fully and to ensure that the state’s apparatus is mobilized in support of the victims in order to help them return to normal life.

The child pornography bill we have before Congress represents a clear advance in the protection of these victims of violence.

To learn more and get involved in the work of visit the Alianza Por Tus Derechos website.

An important element of our recent trip to the Falkland Islands was documenting our activities on film in order to share our experiences with audiences in Latin America and beyond.

We have produced  a seven minute film that features the perspectives of the Central American journalists we took to the Falklands:

Penguins at North Pond Beach

Luis Alberto Velasquez is a journalist with the Guatemalan newspaper La Prensa Libre and recently visited the Falkland Islands with a group of journalists from Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua.  In the guest post below Luis Alberto shares some thoughts about his recent trip.

My trip to the Falkland Islands is something that will remain in my mind as a very enriching and unforgettable experience.

The perceptions that people in my region have about the Falkland Islands do not go beyond thinking that it is a small place being disputed between Great Britain and Argentina.

Interviewing Governor Nigel Haywood

The seven days that I was in the Falkland Islands allowed me to appreciate that this place is much more than a historical site. On the contrary it is a paradise in every aspect with a very close  knit community and a strong economy which allows its inhabitants to enjoy an enviable standard of living.

You must be able to count on the fingers of one hand the places in the world where there is neither crime nor unemployment and where one can even leave the doors of your house open without any fear of theft and where any neighbour is ready to help another with anything they need.

One of these places is the Falkland Islands.

Filming at San Carlos Cemetery

I have great memories of our trips to the beautiful sites in the Islands where I could have contact with the extensive wildlife that inhabits these territories.

I feel privileged to have taken part in this expedition and for being able to share the experience  with fellow journalists from Central America.

I am sure that there are few Latin Americans that have had the opportunity to get to know this beautiful archipelago.

The principal motive of our trip was this: To open the Falklands to Latin America.

Yasmina Reyes is the Editor of the International Section of the La Prensa newspaper in Panama City and was one of the journalists from Central America that recently travelled to the Falkland Islands. She has written the guest post below about her experience.

Yasmina Reyes

When my director told me I was going to travel to the Falkland Islands I thought I was hearing wrong. The Falklands? Wow! That is at the end of the world. All I knew of them was purely theoretical. Claims, disputes, an invasion (or war, according to the source). Now I was going to know them personally.

Its a bit like having a pen pal and finally getting to meet him in person. How tall will he be? How is his tone of voice? Is he really like he is  in photos? This was going to be a journey of discovery.

Yasmina Reyes and other Central American journalists being briefed on science research in the Falkland Islands

And yes, this pen pal was very different from the image I had formed of him. It was a bit like Rip Van Winkle. The people I met in the Falklands were totally different than what I had had in my mind. I expected to find a little Latin flavor or at least South American (for the Argentine claim), but no. It was as if I had arrived in England with the red telephone booths and red mail boxes with monograms of Queen Elizabeth II. Besides that she greets you at every public office.

On the way to Stanley from the airport located in the Mount Pleasant military base 40 miles away, I got in touch with local realities. I thought the crazy driver approaching us was going to kill us until I realized that the British drive on the left and when our driver waved to the other driver it was not to retake the right lane but to say hello. After all, everyone in the Falkland Islands knows each other.

That was just a first clue. Reaching the capital of the Falkland Islands, as its residents proudly call them, there is no doubt that this is a British community. With some pain, an Argentine veteran who traveled to the Islands to honour his fallen comrades from the 1982 war and lay at rest in the Argentine Cemetery, felt it too. With great emotion he told our group of journalists that it hurt to see that there was nothing of his homeland.

In the conservatory at the Governor’s House with Bruce Callow and Jason Montero

Throughout our stay we were often offered tea and biscuits. And for those of us who learned our rudimentary English from American nuns, it was necessary to change a little switch to adapt to the nuances of the British accent, and “shall” instead of “will”.

These people have no doubt about their identity. They are Falkland Islanders and have strong ties with the United Kingdom. This will certainly be reflected in the referendum next March. All of the Falkland Islanders I spoke with are anxious to have the opportunity to express to the world that they have the right to decide their own future.

Don’t miss my special report in La Prensa of Panama in the 3 November edition where I will expand on my experiences in the Falkand islands. http://www.prensa.com/

We are now all back home after an exhausting 24 hour journey from the Falklands and having split up in Panama to catch our final flights.

As we sleepily said goodbye I felt a great satisfaction in the way things had gone over of the past week. Particularly the truly cooperative spirit that our diverse group of journalists brought to the trip.

On the penultimate day our journalists were interviewed by Falklands Radio and Falkland Islands Television. It was interesting to listen to their commentaries about what they had experienced.  They all shared the view that there is so much more to life on the Islands

Panamanian journalist Alexis Ricardo Charris being interviewed by Falkland Islands Television.

than the conflict with Argentina. The journalists came away from the visit appreciating that the people of the Falklands have their own identity and the right to choose which path they take.

Luis Alberto Valasquez of the Prensa Libre in Guatemala said, “The only news that we hear about the Falklands is about the conflict with Argentina. This trip opened a door for us to learn about the human side of life here and get a fuller perspective.”

The future of the Falkland Islands looks promising. The tourism industry there is about to enter a new phase of development and it was exciting to learn how the scientific research in the British South Atlantic territories is being expanded by the UK’s Environmental Research Institute.

We are now looking forward to the reporting the journalists will publish on their trip in Panamanian, Costa Rican, Nicaraguan and Guatemalan media outlets. We are busy editing the film footage

Producer Miguel Bermejo filming local wildlife.

we took during the trip for the journalists to use in their media outlets. In the coming weeks we will be releasing a documentary film about our experiences on the Falklands.

The main purpose of organising this trip was to allow the people of Central America to learn about the lives of the people who live in the Falkland Islands through the words and reports of their own countrymen and women. But a secondary, and just as important, benefit from my perspective was that the Falkland Islanders also had the opportunity to learn a little bit more about Central America and its people. I can only hope that this type of cultural exchange visit will be the start of much more contact between our respective parts of the world.

See photos from the trip here

Over the last two days our group has had a chance to learn more about the culture and the sports enjoyed here on the Islands. It is good to see that there is a wide variety of sports played here including cricket, badmington, archery, golf and floor hockey.

Meeting Governor Nigel Haywood

Governor Nigel Haywood explained that the development of sports in the Falkland Islands is very important for building community spirit, physical fitness as well as promoting the Islands internationally. Athletes from the Falkland Islands have competed in many international competitions including the Commonwealth Games and the Island Games. With the large population of sheep here, it may not be that surprising to learn that the Falklands is one of the top three countries in the World Sheep Shearing Championships.

Our group had the chance to meet Marcus Morrison, goaltender for the Stanley Penguins floor hockey team and a member of the Falkland Islands National Hockey Team.  The team recently affiliated itself with the World Ball Hockey Federation and will be competing in next year’s World Championships in Canada. Good luck guys!

Marcus Morrison of the Falkland Island National Hockey team presents Bruce Callow with a t-shirt of the Stanley Penguins

On Wednesday evening we received a special dose of Falkland Island hospitality. This was a private concert by the legendary Falkland Island rock band, The Fighting Pigs. For four decades the Pigs have been a musical institution on the Islands and they offered to reform after an almost two year hiatus and play at a special concert for our journalists at the Trough Club in Stanley.

Opening the show was the very talented singer/songwriter Dae Peck, who impressed us all with her original song Proud to be in the Falklands.One of the Panamanian journalists Yasmina Reyes asked for the song be translated into Spanish, so she could promote it in her country.

Our Nicaraguan journalist Douglas Carcache commented that the Fighting Pigs are “an important cultural institution on the Falkland Islands and have laid the foundation for the development of great talent such as Dae Peck”.

These performances will be great elements of the documentary film we are making during this visit.  I was personally very grateful that I was able to join the Fighting Pigs on stage for a couple of songs. Our deepest gratitude to Pete King and the rest of the band for putting this special event together for us.