Educating one person, saves many from HIV

Español / English

En los últimos tres meses, la Fundación SíFuturo ha realizado varios talleres con las
familias beneficiarias, buscando desarrollar y fortalecer competencias y habilidades
para mejorar sus relaciones intra e interpersonales. Entre los temas abordados
destacamos:

¿Cómo mejorar el diálogo y la comunicación en la familia?, taller en el
que se presentó la definición de comunicación, los diferentes tipos de comunicación y
llevó a cabo una dinámica para que cada participante identificara su estilo de
comunicación, buscando fortalecer el estilo de comunicación asertiva.

Otro de los temas abordados a destacar fue ¿Qué es la autoestima y cómo fortalecerla?, en el que
se explicó el concepto de autoestima, así como una serie de aspectos que influyen en
su formación y se ofrecieron unas recomendaciones para fortalecerla.

También se realizó un taller sobre El establecimiento de límites, aspecto en el que identificamos
que a la mayoría de los participantes se les dificulta establecerlos. En este taller se
expuso la definición de la temática y se dieron a conocer algunas estrategias para
aprender a establecer límites en las diferentes situaciones que se presentan en la vida.

Uno de los talleres que más interés despertó en los participantes fue el Taller de
manualidades, en el que se elaboró un muñeco navideño para entregar a los
benefactores de la Fundación, como muestra del agradecimiento por su compromiso y
apoyo con la misión de la Fundación.

También Celebramos el Día del Amor y la Amistad con las familias, en el cual los participantes compartieron escritos y canciones relacionados con este día, al igual que unos detalles para expresar el amor y la amistad dentro del grupo.

En uno de los talleres se contó con el apoyo de una psicóloga, quien
abordó el tema de la Reingenieria personal, buscando aprender a vivir desde el amor,
aceptándonos como somos, valorando lo que hacemos y propiciando un cambio de
pensamiento y comportamiento para alcanzar la satisfacción personal.

En el más reciente taller se trató el tema del Poder personal, partiendo de su definición y
explicando las fuentes del poder personal relacionadas con el pensamiento, las
emociones y las acciones y cómo estas influyen en la vida cotidiana.

Por su parte, para contribuir con la seguridad alimentaria y nutricional de las familias,
se realizaron entregas periódicas de mercados y alimentos. También se realizaron
talleres de formación musical dirigidos a niños, niñas y adolescentes, en alianza con la
Fundación Incolmotos Yamaha a través de su programa Becas Tokando.

Para facilitar la participación de las familias en las diferentes actividades que desarrolla
la Fundación, se proporcionan refrigerios y un apoyo económico equivalente al 50%
del costo del transporte que debe asumir cada participante para su
desplazamiento. 

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English

In the last three months, Fundación SíFuturo has conducted several workshops with
beneficiary families, seeking to develop and strengthen competencies and skills to
improve their intra and interpersonal relationships.

Among the topics addressed we highlight:

How to improve dialogue and communication in the family. This workshop
presented the definition of communication, the different types of communication and
a dynamic that allowed each participant to identify their communication style, seeking
to strengthen assertive communications.

Other topic addressed was What is self-esteem and how to strengthen?, in which the concept of self-esteem was explained, as well as a series of aspects that influence its growth, recommending different ways
to strengthen it.

Other workshop was focused on Limit setting, because we have identified that most of
the participants find it difficult to establish limits. In this meeting, the definition of the
topic was explained, and we presented strategies to learn how to establish limits in the
different situations that arise in life.

One of the workshops that aroused most interest for the participants was for developing handicrafts, in which a Christmas present was crafted to give to the Foundation´s benefactors to show gratitude for their
commitment and support to the Foundation´ mission.

We also celebrated the Day of Love and Friendship with the families, there the participants shared poems and songs
related to this day, and they also shared some gifts to express their love within the
group.

We had an invited psychologist the supported one workshop, addressing the topic of
personal re-engineering, seeking to learn to live from love, accepting ourselves as we
are, valuing what we do and promoting a change of thinking and behaving to achieve
personal satisfaction.

The most recent workshop was about Personal Power, starting
from its definition and explaining the sources of personal power related to thinking,
emotions, actions and how these influence daily life.

In order to contribute to the food and nutritional security of our beneficiary families
we have delivered periodically groceries and food. Also musical training workshops
were developed for children and adolescents, in alliance with the Incolmotos Yamaha
Foundation through its Tokando Scholarship program.

To facilitate the participation of the families in the different activities offered by
SíFuturo, we provide snacks and economic support, equivalent to 50% of the cost of transportation for each participant.  

Dear GlobalGiving Donors,

We are thrilled to share with you that Fundación SiFuturo turned 20 years old this month - and we are extremely grateful with you, our GlobalGiving donors, who have helped us get to where we are right now! We count on your support to continue to have a positive impact in the communities we operate! 

We also wanted to let you know that Luz Beatriz, our current director, has chosen to pursue personal projects outside of our charity but will continue to support our efforts in a sporadic manner. We want to take this opportunity to thank her for these past years of dedication and hard work and we wish her the best of luck in her new endeavours.   

This month, Luz Beatriz will be handing over her tasks to our new director, Mónica Sáenz, who brings extensive experience in the non-for-profit sector and was recommended to us by one of our partner organizations. We are very excited about the new ideas she will bring and hope we can continue to grow as an organization next to her.  

We have also decided to continue strengthening our team with a newcomer - Valentina Yepes, who will help boost our psychological, social and nutritional efforts in the communities we operate who live, are exposed to or are affected by HIV/AIDS.

In addition to that, our team will be laser-focused on two key areas during the second half of 2022: 

1. Expanding the scope of the population that participates in educational workshops aimed at promoting Sexual and Reproductive Health
2. Establishing new alliances that allow us to generate synergies, complement capabilities and continue expanding our services in the communities we operate

In this way, we reiterate our commitment to the fulfillment of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, specifically SDG 3 to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages, but specifically the targets:

• 3.3. By 2030, end the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases and combat hepatitis, water-borne diseases and other communicable diseases, and
• 3.7. By 2030, ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health-care services, including for family planning, information and education, and the integration of reproductive health into national strategies and programmes.

We count on your support to continue to have a positive impact! 

Today, we wanted to give you an update on our ongoing partnership with Incolmotos Yamaha. 

Incolmotos Yamaha is a non-profit entity whose purpose includes the promotion and development of culture, sports and health of children and the elderly. Since 2005, Incolmotos Yamaha has contributed to enriching the knowledge and quality of life of the communities where we operate -and that is the point where our missions as organizations intersect. 

We have been lucky to count on Incolmotos Yamaha´s support since the year 2014. On average, 18 of our benefitiaries have been granted one of the ToKANDO Scholarships every year. Those scholarships provide training and musical initiation to children who are in a situation of social vulnerability. 

The scholarships instill in our benefitiaries valuable knowledge, skills and competencies for life. Music offers countless benefits when it comes down to the development of cognitive capacity and multiple research shows that musical training increases attention and concentration. It also facilitates the resolution of complex math problems while promoting new ways of expression and channeling of emotions. 

We are very proud to see the values of discipline, perseverance, commitment and teamwork being reinforced through our partnership with Incolmotos Yamaha. 

This wonderful allianca has allowed that the studentes present themselves in concert in the Medellin Metro, in the University of Antiquia and participate virtually in the concerts offered by the Incolmotos Yamaha Foundation during the years 2020 and 2021.  And even prouder to see our benefitiaries take on larger challenges transitioning from the flute to the acoustic guitar over time!  

This partnership is one of the ways we try to adress the integral development of our benefitiaries. We are super grateful to them, and also to you -without your ongoing support, it wouldn´t be possible for us to have a positive impact! 

Dear GlobalGiving donors,

We wanted to let you know that since the last time we updated you on the progress of our project, we have managed to carry out a total of 21 training workshops covering the following topics:

• Adherence to antiretroviral therapy
• Coexistence with the diagnosis 
• Healthy lifetyle habits 
• Parenting guidelines and life projects 

Thanks to the work our social workers advance backed by the funds coming from GlobalGiving, we realized that there is a need to help the families we support navigate through the challenges posed by the transition to the new normal. It is because of that reason that we have decided to roll-out a series of awareness workshops in addition to the support we usually provide that includes: 

• Psychological and psychosocial support
• Treatment follow-up and
• Nutritional support 

In order to do that, we have gradually resumed our face-to-face workshops, facilitating safe meetings spaces. 

The face-to-face, going back to normal workshops have been well-received by our charity's beneficiaries who have repeatedly expressed their gratitude to you, our GlobalGiving donors. At SiFuturo, we want the role of our charity to go beyond the workshops, to be able to provide our beneficiaries with a solid support network for people living with HIV. 

Dear GlobalGiving donors, 

Immersed in the context of the pandemic, we saw the need to rethink our approach to sex education. Because of that and during the past 2 months, we decided to run some focus groups on the role of virtual sex education. The focus groups were conducted by an external psychologist with the aim of guiding the foundation's strategy on sex education, as well as the way we run our workshops in the new normal. Among the participants, we included a representative sample of people living in the communities where we operate. 

Among the findings of these workshops, we wanted to highlight:

• Most young people and adults who participated consider sexuality to be a taboo topic to talk about at home
• Young people welcome the opportunity to discuss sexuality with subject matter experts at schools
• It is an imperative to bridge what happens in schools vs. what happens at home regarding sex education 
• The training of adult caregivers, teachers and other professionals on the subject is a matter of central importance, and they are requesting more practical, action-oriented workshops for them in a train-the-trainer approach
• In general, young people prefer not to have virtual sex education, but they perceive anonimity as an advantage of this type of formats
• Access to quality virtual sex education can be the key when there is no endorsement of sexual education at home or in schools
• Men who participated in the focus groups emphasized the importance of also considering their doubts and questions about their own sexuality, since they often see an enhanced focus on pregnancy and orientation to women, overlooking topics that impact men 

These focus groups delivered two main messages we will act on:

• On the one hand, the importance of implementing a strategy that includes different ways to reach young people (e.g. through social networks like Instagram or Tik Tok) supporting and complementing face-to-face workshops by using various forms of interaction (posts, lives, stories, question boxes, games, contests, etc., potentially gamifying learning)
• On the other hand, the importance of a train-the-trainer approach targeting parents, teachers, and other professionals close to young people, so that they are given the necessary tools to guide and counsel them in sexuality-related matters, breaking taboos

Thank you for your attention! You know we rely on you to continue to have a positive impact!