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Flamenco Workshop
Led by Francisco Contreras, Alicia Acuña, Llorenc Barber and Santiago Barber, May 31, 9 a.m.-noon and 2-4:30 p.m., Taller Nacional de Danza, Barrio Escalante, register at convocatorias@ccecr.org.

Illustration Workshop
With Jorge Alderete of Argentina, May 31-June 3, TEOR/éTica, Ca. 7, Av. 9/11, 2233-8775.

Madera Nueva in Concert
Salsa, May 31, 9:30 p.m., El Observatorio, Barrio La California, across from Cine Magaly.

The Costa Rican embassy in Guatemala is reporting that no Costa Ricans have been injured or killed as a result of a powerful eruption of the Pacaya volcano Thursday night.

Guatemala´s main airport, La Aurora International in Guatemala City, has been shut down while at least two people are reported dead as a result of the eruption. Nearly 69,000 have been evacuated from the area around the volcano, which lies 20 miles to the south of the capital.

The situation has been complicated by an intense tropical storm that has caused flooding in the country. As of Sunday, 13 were reported dead and 24 missing as a result of the storm.

“The two emergencies are a test (of our emergency system) and as of today, the system is functioning well,” said Alvaro Colom, Guatemalan President, via a video posted on the government's Website.

The Costa Rican embassy in Guatemala has received calls from relatives looking for their family members, some who were visiting the country as tourists.

“The capital awoke in clouds as a result of sand and ash from the eruption,” said Costa Rican Ambassador Lidiette Brenes on Friday. “We have been in contact with the group of Costa Ricans that reside in Guatemala via phone calls, e-mail and a site opened on Facebook.com, which we try to update as new information emerges.”

Costa Rica is consulting with Bhutan for how to remain among the happiest places on earth.

A small country of 680,000 inhabitants, the Kingdom of Bhutan is located in the Himalaya mountains on the eastern border of India, and is the only country in the world to measure the happiness of their country like most countries measure their gross domestic product.

Costa Rica, which topped a list drawn up by the United Kingdom's New Economics Foundation for being the country with the highest life satisfaction, is looking to Bhutan for tips on how to remain in first place.

Bhutan began measuring the happiness of its people in 2008. On a census distributed nationwide, the last question on the form was, “Are you happy?” a question which 97 percent answered affirmatively.

From that point, they began measuring their country's Gross National Happiness (GNH) through a list of nine themes, including health, education, psychological wellbeing and time use.

“If you want to manage (happiness), you have to be able to measure it,” said Karma Tshiteem, secretary of the commission of GNH for Bhutan, who spoke at a forum in Costa Rica on Saturday afternoon.

He explained that the Bhutan government decided to track the happiness of its people in order to ensure the health of its nation. Seeing the world through GNH instead of GDP, he said, offers new opportunities for development as a country.

But how does one go about measuring happiness?

Bhutan has used nine variables (and 72 indicators) as a road map, studying nearly every aspect of its peoples' lives. The index looks at how the Bhutanese spend their time, their level of involvement in cultural activities, their perception of the government and their sense of safety. The GNH commission asks such questions as, “How often do you feel frustrated?” a question which only a mere 4.6 percent answered “often.” Another query was, “How often do you feel selfish?” to which less than 2.6 percent responded “often” and the large majority responded never.

Bhutan also looks at more common indicators to measure happiness, such as household income, life expectancy, literacy rate and environment.

In one study, the commission learned that less than 10 percent spend time in meditation, an issue the commission hopes take action on by introducing meditation in schools.

Tshiteem said it's too early to tell whether the work of the three-year-old GNH commission has had an effect on the lives of its people.

Asked what advice he has for Costa Rica, Tshiteem responded that many of the measurements and much of the priorities his country has undertaken are not foreign to Costa Rica.

Pointing to Costa Rica's slogan “Pura Vida,” he said, “The things we are talking about, Costa Rica is doing.”

Audience members expressed interest in measuring the GNH of Costa Rica.

To visit the website of Bhutan's GNH Commission, click here.

PUERTO JIMENEZ – Rosa Jiménez and three of her five children don't have to cram into her uncle's weathered two bedroom house anymore.

They have a new home, just down the street.

“This is really great,” she said, standing in a pasture looking at the windswept wood columns at her uncle's worn down doorstep. “I'm really happy and thankful for this.”

Jiménez, 39, makes and sells coconut oil from her porch here, where she says “work is scarce and poverty is much.” For six years since her husband passed away, she and her children have made do with the small rooms and narrow hallways in her uncle's modest home.

Jiménez and six of her neighbors here received new quarters this weekend with cash donations from Feed my Sheep, a U.S. based non-profit and volunteer labor from the Chilean-based Un Techo Para Mi País ( A roof for my country). A team of 30 volunteers began building the modest frame houses with tin roofs on Friday and dedicated all seven dwellings on Saturday afternoon.

Each home is about 200 square feet and costs roughly $1,700 to construct, 10 percent of which is funded by the family who is moving in. Un Techo Para Mi País also trains each family in basic construction methods so the family can keep the home in good condition and make improvements where necessary.

“It's good because the family feels like they have put something into the house too,” said Carla, 21, who has helped build seven houses in Costa Rica with Un Techo Para Mi País. “Ultimately, this is their home. We just help them get off the ground.”

Inside Jiménez' new home, Julia, Rosa Jimenez' six-year-old blonde-haired daughter, jumped up to see through the new latch window.

“Wow, this is incredible,” she said with a big smile between her freckled cheeks. “Grandma, come see!”

Un Techo Para Mi País is expected to return to Puerto Jimenez to build seven more homes before the year's end. The group is performing an analysis to determine which families are most in need of a new home here.

Feed My Sheep, which paid for the seven houses built this weekend, also funds a soup kitchen that feeds lunch to nearly 200 children per day in San Miguel de Desamparados.

To get involved with Techo Para Mi País click here.

To donate to Feed my Sheep click here.