Provide a safe place for kids in rural Colombia

This month in our Children´s Land Project we began working with the kids from the Normal Public School in Turbo on the definition and design of their Children´s Land plot. Several motivational workshops were developed with the participation of children, their parents and teachers; the objective behind these workshops are to identify what motivates children to join the project and what they understand when they hear the word environment.

Over 80 boys and girls from the Normal Public School participated, along with 15 parents and 6 teachers.

We also developed the "gincana" or scavenger hunt to raise important information for the project´s baseline. In groups of 10 the boys and girls participated in a competition where their knowledge and understanding of their environment was tested; the groups that reached the end of the race first won. Through the scavenger hunt we can determine how well the boys and girls know their immediate environment and what needs to be emphasized and addressed in the project.

Questions like: "What plant is this?" and directions like "You will find the next clue of the race in the place were the tadpoles live" were used during this activity.

The motivational workshops and the scavenger hunt were open to anyone from the community who wanted to participate and a special invitation was made to the children and their parents through a local radio station.

We also worked closely with the school's teachers on the project's action plan and were the Children's Land was going to be constructed. There were several options on the school grounds and 2 plots of land were pre-selected; the boys and girls will make the final decision.

Finally, AMICHOCÓ began working with the school´s teachers on integrating the Children´s Land Plan to other environmental initiatives already on their way in the institution. In the next months we will work closely with the recycling campaigns, the Water Protector´s Club, and with a greenhouse initiative that runs on school grounds.