Give at-risk Colombian children a safe home

Warm greetings and thank you very much for your generous support to our project aiming to reinstate and defend the fundamental rights of children and youth who live in the streets and whose rights are vulnerable.This year, on the 12^th of March, it took place our General Assembly where the 2017 Annual Report was released. “Papá Jaime”, president and founder, led the meeting attended by the foundation´s partners and founders, members of the Board of Directors; representatives of the Crowe Horwath (our External Auditors) and the Fiscal Auditor firm.

General Manager, Diana Zamudio, presented the Financial Statements highlighting the most important events of the year in which we took care of 2.573 children and their families at our four boarding centers. She shared the challenges the foundation has ahead in regards to create new funding sources to become more effective, and she talked about the necessity to find new strategies to generate greater impact on the community served by identifying -in a specific way- the right solutions to the problems, that unfortunately, still affect hundreds of boys and girls in Colombia and this is only possible with your support.

We need to expand the team of globalgivers in our continuous task, that this year is focused in education. In Colombia, boys and girls drop out of school, mostly because they did not have an adequate pre-school education. Thus, in this reporting period we will focus our attention to reinforce the non-conventional learning strategies through the improvement of the recreational and ludic spaces in our homes. Our experience has shown us that the child world turns around the joy of learning through games. Nevertheless, our children hadn´t had the chance to play a lot in their vulnerable homes. Many of them had to work in the streets helping their parents to get the daily income to feed their families. We need to give them back the opportunity to enjoy their childhood.

That’s why we created the ´Happy Hearts Project´ from which we intend to improve the learning methodologies through art and recreation. The purpose is to transform the behavior and attitudes of our children through the adaptation of the pedagogical areas in each center. We believe that through games, theater, reading activities music, sports, body culture, mindfulness and arts, boys and girls get a better experience of the world and learn to share assertively their emotions. It has been proven that games have two main functions: the emotional enrichment and the acquirement of cognitive abilities. At the end, we want to construct a warm space where learning becomes meaningful and in which enjoyment is the fundamental tool that stimulates their comprehensive development and well-rounded education.

On the other hand, our ´Happy Hearts Project´ has expanded worldwide. On the 21^st of April, Valery Thompson, one of our dearest Globalgiving donors, organized an event to raise money with the parents of British School of Belgium, to support this initiative. Valerie lead the fundraising as a representative of our Foundation to support the learning development of our children. “I believe that this educational project can help children to deal with the suffering their have experienced in the streets”, says Thompson.

Finally, as education is the main core of the growth of a human, we aspire that with our “Happy Hearts Project” 200 children and youths protected per year at “Niños de los Andes” succeed their scholar term with your support.

Once again, thank you for helping us to transform lives!

Links:

• 2017 Annual Report in Spanish.