When the La Cruz elementary school director decided to allow Nicaragua students to join her Costa Rican classes, things started to change. La Cruz, Upala, at Alajuela province’s northernmost point, is on the border with Nicaragua.

Under the guidance of creative designers and communicators from J. Walter Thompson and with the commitment of Costa Rica’s leading TV station, Teletica, the children created a vision of their own country. They called it Costa Nica.

In this country, everyone has a right to equality, to ride a bike, and to be free from fighting, according to some of the children interviewed about the anti-xenophobia project. Teletica aired a 1-hour documentary on the project last year which stimulated an intense national dialogue through social media and other forums on culture, identity and xenophobia.

J. Walter Thompson has been creating unique social media campaigns throughout the world. Their most recent in Costa Rica was recognized internationally for drawing attention to violence against women. “Second Scoreboard” involved a real-time ticker placed next to soccer scoreboards during national games in Costa Rica, lapses when domestic violence reports spike. This ticker showed domestic violence reports received during the game.

Costa Nica has signed on over 40,000 “citizens” and donated 2,000 books on the project to schools throughout the country to stimulate dialogue on xenophobia.

Nicaragua and Costa Rican Children at the La Cruz school together created a own motto, coat of arms, symbols, flag, a set of rights, and an anthem for the country they say is a perfect one, where borders don’t exist: they call it Costa Nica.