A string of lively bars, rooms to let by the hour, drug dealers and a distinct whiff of marijuana mark the entrance to the University of Costa Rica in San Jose. Known to locals as 'the street of desperation', it is also home to various strange philosophical groups and lesbian and gay societies. As we drive through the entrance to the university, our host explains that this street represents one of the big issues among students in this lush green country of Central America.
Fernando Montera, General Secretary of the Costa Rican CU movement, the Estudiantes Cristianos Uniodos (ECU), has brought us to his alma mater, where he also lectured for four years, to share some of the needs and encouragements from his involvement in the ECU. He explained about the desperation and hopelessness which characterise so many university students in Costa Rica: 'They feel hopeless, when they see a world that doesn't satisfy. They feel disorientated, because they are guided by a generation who themselves are disorientated. They are superficial, because they are not going deep into anything. They are individualistic, because they have no causes to follow. They are indifferent to everything, whether it be politics, religion, society or ecology, and put their energy into amusing themselves.' The result of this is seen in 'the street of desperation'.
Secret agents
These issues are not exclusive to Costa Rica, and are familiar to those involved in the student scene in the UK. So are the issues facing 'tico' Christian students similar to those of students studying in our universities and colleges? 'The main problem for the ECU', Fernando explained, 'is the pressure on Christian students to not identify themselves as followers of Christ, but to fit in with the crowd. There are many Christian students at our universities, but many of them never make their faith public. They might be very involved in their church, and not give in to the obvious temptations, but at the same time are not faithful witnesses to Jesus Christ in their student community. We have many "secret agents", who have succumbed to the great temptation to be anonymous.'
