Give at-risk Colombian children a safe home

Lets do it together! Happy New Year, we are delighted to start this 2020 working hand in hand with our GlobalGiving friends and community. We wanted to take the chance and thank each and every one of our donors and especially those who participated in our Giving Tuesday and Year- End Campaign.Thanks to your unconditional support, GlobalGiving awarded us with a Certificate recognizing our outstanding crowdfunding success in the 2019 Year-End Campaign. The funds obtained will go towards improving the quality of the health, educational, housing and psychosocial attention. Fundación Niños de los Andes is incredibly proud of this recognition, but also thankful for your continuous help, as we work together to accelerate community-driven change.  

With this in mind, we would like to share with you what to look forward to in 2020:

1. Building our UPS Foundation funded outdoor gymnasium: On January 23, 2019, we officially recieved the Grant money that alllows us to set in motion our Project “My time at the Foundation, an Unforgettable experience” in our homes. This project aims to increase the motivation and sense of belonging of the 1,236 children in all of our three programs and will contribute to the generation of alternative methodologies to make institutionalization and surrogate family care in Colombia warmer and more welcoming. Our purpose and objective aligns with United Nations parameters for the alternative care of children and adolescents at risk. 

2. This upcoming year we are excited to witness first-hand and more importantly share with you more success stories of young adolescents like Nicoll, daughter of a young man who was a part of one of our programs, who with the support of donors like you, is studying modern languages at the University.  "I am so thankful for this opportunity, as I never imagined that my life would take this path where I am able to pursue my university studies at one of the most prestigious institutions in the country" said Nicoll at the end of 2019. At Fundación Niños de los Andes, our goal is to prioritize access to higher education in order to increase their opportunities of formal jobs inclusions and entrepreneurships.

3. In 2020, we are eager to expand our donor network, as we begin a year with new challenges and obstacles that encourage us to have more people learn about our worthy cause. Through this growth we hope to achieve more sustainable ways of having our children directly benefit from every single donation, no matter the size. In order to achieve this expansion, we are planning on posting more through our social media platforms, Facebook and Instagram, at a more frequent basis. Also, we will be posting more project reports this year, with the sole purpose of keeping everyone informed of the milestones that we have achieved with your help, participations in campaigns and any other important activities. Nevertheless, as this is just one of many ways to grow our network, we are open to hearing any comments or suggestions any of you have!

As years go by, our work never ends, as we are committed to change the devastating situation our children continue to live in Colombia. Fundación Niños de Los Andes is eager to face this 2020 full of challenges, projects and opportunities that will allow us to make the best out of each and everyone of your generous donations this year and onwards.

Best regards,

Angelica Vega

With the holidays and Giving Tuesday coming up, we are excited to announce our newest project for our children. For over three months we have been preparing to introduce a new sustainable model for the children who live in Nuevo Amanecer, where we will integrate the insitutional care cycle with our new infrastructure, learning workshops and loving strategies useful for critical moments. As a result, this will increase the child’s motivation and sense of belonging to our programs to ensure that their time at the institution is unique and inspiring. Experience has taught us that love is the most powerful tool and that directed physical activity is an effective antidote for curing depression and anxiety, common side-effects of living a childhood full of neglect and abuse.  

Through our work on building this new model of intervention, we have reflected on several stories of children who exemplify the justification of our project: born on June 12, 2004, a set of loving kind twins known as the “Perez Twins”* came into this world, not knowing the misfortune that they would live. “We were raised by an alcoholic and angry father, and lived many years of physical abuse and continuous neglect. Eventually we grew tired of this torture, so we decided to flee in search for a better life. Unfortunately, this wasn’t as easy as we thought, since in our first escape we were taken in by the FARC, a guerrilla force that prides themselves in taking in young boys, like us, so we can join the ‘revolutionary fight’, but knowing the danger this could bring us, we continued our venture by ourselves. Our misfortune seemed to have ended after we were taken in by an aunt, but this happiness didn’t last long, as our father was able to find us and managed to threaten our aunt to the point where we had to go back to the streets. After a few days, our uncle found us wandering in trash, and took us into his home, but again the fear behind our father’s threat forced our uncle to put us into government protection. We have never been under institutional care, but with Fundacion Niños de los Andes’ we feel that children like us are incredibly lucky to be a part of something special, a home, a family, one we never thought we would ever have. Nowadays we are living a completely different life. We have realized that not everyone is like our father, that we do deserve to be happy, and that we can reach our dreams into becoming professional soccer players.”

For these boys, they have lost their sense of love, trust and feeling protected as their lives have consisted of running away from misery, starvation and violence. These circumstances are generally the key ingredients that formulate drug abuse, and gang violence. But for the “Perez Twins”*, soccer and music became their tools and passion for handling the difficult emotions that stem from years of abuse. To this day, they are known in our Foundation for being kind and mature boys and for us, stories like these motivate us into building a better environment and experience for children who cannot afford to suffer more. At Fundacion Niños de los Andes, we believe that through love we can transform the complex psychological and emotional problems that our children at-risk experience.

With this upcoming holiday season, it is important for us to reflect on the hardships life brings us, and the blessings we are fortunate enough to live with. After many hardships, these boys have found a home where they feel safe, a feeling they lost hope for. Luckily, we are blessed to have donors and people like you who play a big role in contributing for the greater good for our children. 

Thank you again for all your support in helping us build a safe and empowering environment for our children! Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Holidays!

*Their last name was changed in order to protect their identity.