Eddy Angulo (San José, Costa Rica, 1947) professed as a religious in 1975, the first Costa Rican vocation of the Augustinian Recollects. In the Boys’ Town they have just paid tribute to him after a lifetime linked to this educational and social ministry.
Your life and the Boys’ Town have always been united…
I came to the Boys’ Town through the National Children’s Trust (named PANI) of the Government of Costa Rica. My parents separated and although the five children stayed with our father, he went to work far away and our older brother took care of us.
He got a job with some nuns in San José and shared with us the food that the nuns gave him. They soon found out that their young worker was taking care of his younger brothers, who were in a state of poverty, and they notified de PANI.
They took us to the Domingo Soldati Home, where I finished primary school. We lived in extreme poverty, quite a few of us worked as shoe shiners in San José until we were no longer allowed to go out. It was closed in 1963 and we were all sent to the Boys’ Town.
My older brother was part of the first group that inaugurated the Town, which was first installed temporarily in a ranch in Guadalupe because the buildings had not been finished. My brother became godfather of the daughter of the Spanish ambassador, a friend of the founder of the Boys’ Town, the Augustinian Assumptionist Luis Madina.
In 1962, six pavilions and the dining room had already been built and the institution moved to its current location. The construction of the house for children in the nursery had also begun, but they never arrived and it was then the first home of the friars.
As an adult, as a religious, I have been in the Boys’ Town in two long, different stages that add up to almost 30 years: from 1978 to 1995 and from 2015 to 2025.
In the first stage I was in the kitchen. I packed and distributed the food in the four shelters that were outside the institution before they were moved inside. I was also in charge of the canteen and the bakery, which served sweet and salty bread, sliced, bonnet and Jamaica style, even in stores in San José. At 5 in the morning everything was prepared to be distributed from 7.
In the second stage, the last ten years, I have collaborated in the Health area: transfer to hospitals and medical appointments, prescription management, collection of analysis results… And I also coordinated the cleaning team at the Temple of Our Lady of Consolation.
How was your vocation born?
As a child, as a student, I saw those young friars who came from other countries to take charge of the Boys’ Town, dedicated to God and to us, all with so much love: they played football and basketball with us, they ran, they jumped, we all felt their dedication and their closeness.
At that time we were about 170 beneficiaries and life was more familiar: they ate with us in the dining room, their company was constant. Seeing them so happy and doing such special things, I said to myself:
— “If they can, why can’t I?”
There have been many years in the Town, surely many changes as well…
Over time the Boys’ Town grew a lot, the number of students multiplied, the institution became much more professional. From my childhood until today everything has changed a lot, a lot…
The workshops are very well equipped with new and technological machinery; You can see it in the Automotive section, for car inspections, or in Agriculture and Agroindustry, with machines for making cheese, ice cream, rolls… With all the advances!
The age group has also changed: at the beginning there were children from 5 to 20 years old, all in Primary, and the workshops were mechanics, welding and carpentry. Some went to the Night School in Cartago, about 4 kilometers away. Currently, they are between 12 and 22 years old and study Secondary School at the Augustinian Technical School.
What has not changed is the objective of giving them the opportunity to study, to obtain professional education and to grow in civic and spiritual values that guarantee a dignified future: without the Town, they would not be able to access this opportunity.
Of all those you have known, which religious would you highlight for their dedication to the Town?
I would highlight Salvador García (1934-2004), very committed; He fearlessly went to the Legislative Assembly to demand from the deputies what they had promised by law. He was the director with the longest tenure, but he never had a problem rolling up his sleeves to fetch water for the trees or tend to the rabbit hutch; he was very active and happy.
Of José Luis Garayoa (1952-2020), I highlight his hope and effort to make sport something educational and fun. He promoted handball a lot. He was very cheerful and enlivened the masses with his love of music, he played the bandurria very well.
And Jesus Manuel Zabala (1940-2011) stood out for being an enormous worker and for his passion in leading the mechanics workshop.
How do you see the education offered today in the Boys’ Town?
I think that our students today are the best prepared in the entire history of the Town: academically, with a high school diploma in their hands; with a lot of experience in their professional workshop; and many even successfully enter the University. In this way we fulfill well the motto of “forging young people with a future.”
It has also improved a lot that almost all of them now get a scholarship, can visit their families every month, have everything they need (food, clothing); it is even common for them to win intercollegiate sports or science competitions.
It is also not difficult to see students who say their prayers with enthusiasm, want to receive catechism and request baptism, communion, confirmation, days of great celebration for the 80 or 90 who decide to receive the sacraments.
In short, they receive a truly comprehensive education, they learn and practice values, they commit themselves responsibly and with their eyes set on the future.
And how do students and collaborators see the Recollects?
I think that the collaborators see us religious as hard-working and friendly people, they mention us as a reference. They are also very grateful, they receive a lot of training and the fruits are seen.
Of the beneficiaries, to whom we give so much support, it is enough to say that they are attracted by Augustinian values, some are in the Augustinian Recollect Youth, they participate in retreats, in spiritual projects of great strength such as Emmanuel…
We also have projection outside the institution itself, for example through the Augustinian Recollect Spirituality Center, whose activities reach many people in the surrounding area.
Our Augustinian Recollect charism is well suited to a ministry like the Boys’ Town: religious and lay people walk together in this search for improvement, in listening and closeness, in humane treatment, in giving opportunities for change and for the beneficiaries to draw from themselves their strengths, to be the protagonists of their story.
In the country, the Boys’ Town has prestige, renown. It complements very well the other ministries of the Augustinian Recollects: the parishes, the postulancy, the Spirituality Centers… And we are accompanied by members of our Family: the contemplative Augustinian Recollect nuns, the Secular Fraternities, the Augustinian Recollect Youth, the Association of Christian Mothers of Saint Monica, the International Solidarity Network ARCORES…
One of my dreams would have been to be able to promote a center of higher education, a University.
There are many good things and we have used resources that complement each other. Perhaps we should improve by putting more emphasis and creativity into the activities we carry out and, with so many meetings, hopefully talk less in order to do more.
