It has been a good year for the Fantazztico Circus of Perez Zeledon in Costa Rica. This unique traveling circus is a project from the Vida Nueva (New Life) association, a non-profit that seeks to empower social enrichment projects for the benefit of young people, adolescent single mothers and victims of domestic abuse.

The Fantazztico Circus began the year with new buildings in Baidambu de Daniel Flores, a community in San Isidro -the gateway to Costa Rica’s Southern Zone. According to a community Internet portal in Perez Zeledon, the Palmares Parrish donated the land, in which a new 150 square meter building now serves as lodging for volunteers, circus trainers, a communal kitchen, and ample spaces to organize workshops for children of the community. A gymnasium for the young circus performers was also recently completed.

Earlier this year, the Fantazztico Circus performed before audiences at the International Festival of the Arts and the Festival of the Stone Spheres in the Osa canton. While the young circus performers enjoy their presentations in Costa Rica the most, they have also traveled throughout Latin America and Europe.

The Fantazztico Circus is the brainchild of Austrian visitor Gerhard Puercher, a man who began rounding up young members from the low-income communities of the Perez Zeledon canton and trained them as performers. Two other volunteers from Germany and Austria arrived in Costa Rica and continued this labor of love, which began in 2001. The Fantazztico Circus and the New Life association have been getting a lot of attention lately thanks to a documentary film that tells the story of this noble project.

A recent article in the international blogger collective Global Voices described the good work of the circus:

“young people [in Perez Zeledon] are left to their own devices, and they end up getting in trouble or addicted to drugs due to lack of opportunities to study or work. The circus gives them a chance to learn skills, discipline and become part of a group where they become valued.”