Tag: Colombia

Fe y Alegría Colombia defends children’s rights through “Huellas de Ternura”

Posted on by Nate Radomski

As part of the Global Fe y Alegría Movement, Fe y Alegría Colombia has joined the invitation extended by several Latin American organizations including: el Programa Centralidad de la Niñez, the Latin American Episcopal Council (CELAM), World Vision Latin America, Caritas Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Inter-American Confederation of Catholic Education, to participate in “La Caminata Huellas de Ternura”.

This initiative which runs through different countries from Mexico to Patagonia, seeks to raise awareness in favor of the defense of life and non-violence towards all children, especially those in the most vulnerable sectors, so that all feel committed to their care and the defense of their rights.

In Colombia, the walk began on February 4th and will extend until the 20th, beginning in the city of Cúcuta and ending in Ipiales where it will be handed off to neighboring Ecuador.

This event comes at a crucial moment in which Colombia is seen as a country with alarming figures of violence towards children, which is evidenced for example in 64 cases of child sexual abuse per day, according to data for 2018. Based on this reality, it is essential that we gain awareness of the situation, and take actions that counteract this and other types of violence that permanently impact the integrity of our children.

Colombia is living a difficult situation in terms of peace agreements and their implementation, in which new outbreaks of violence are beginning to resurface, especially in some areas of the country. Here, children are again exposed to situations of displacement, exclusion, lack of adequate nutrition, insufficient health care and education.

Fe y Alegría, given its mission and in its desire to build a world where all are welcome, in justice and equity, strives to guarantee quality and inclusive education for children and young people from the most vulnerable sectors of the population. From this point of view, it is committed to education as a means in which people empower themselves and transform situations that generate exclusion and undermine the dignity of all people.

To learn more about this initiative, visit Fe y Alegría Colombia’s website.

Fe y Alegría Colombia recognized with the Best Workplace award 2018

Posted on by Nate Radomski

CompuTrabajo, an online employment platform that awards the best companies to work for in Colombia based on the experience of current and former employees, has added Fe y Alegría Colombia within the TOP 50 of the best companies to work for in Colombia, placing them at number 14 with a score of 4.4 out of 5.

The results came after over 2.6 million reviews were submitted to CompuTrabajo – the largest number of opinions ever recorded by an employment portal in Colombia.

Friends of Fe and Alegría extends our congratulations to our colleagues at Fe y Alegría Colombia, who work hard to defend the right to a quality education for all children through popular education and social promotion in Colombia, and we share with you part of their gratitude message:

“We express gratitude to our human talent and future employees who left their opinions regarding our organization among the 2.5 million people who register on the CompuTrabajo portal; likewise, we ratify the commitment to continue offering our services in the construction of citizenship from Peace, Reconciliation and Dignified Life.

We make this award public as part of the fruits of the work and commitment of those who work aligning their instruments, following the score and singing our hymn to not be satisfied while there is pain. We move forward, we believe in a JUST education for our children, adolescents and young people.

Thank you, thank you very much.”

CONGRATULATIONS FE Y ALEGRÍA COLOMBIA!

Pulling Up Poverty by Its Roots

Posted on by Nate Radomski

Moved by Sebastian Torres’s stories of growing up in Colombia—stories of internally displaced people and the decades-long armed conflict—and following the historic 2016 peace agreement between the Colombian government and FARC, Andrew Hanna and Torres, students at Tampa’s Jesuit High School, were inspired to act. And with the hope of broadening opportunities for their Colombian peers, Hanna and Torres decided that education was the key.

“We decided to specifically target education because of its sustainability”, they explained. “In our experiences, education has opened the gateway to specialize in the fields that we are most interested in and [those that] consistently feed our intellectual curiosities. Even in the current scheme, education has directly allowed the both of us to flourish and grow in ourselves”.

Once Torres and Hanna’s idea to support education initiatives in Colombia had sparked, it was time to find a partner to work with.

“We came into contact with Fe y Alegría and after countless hours of planning and meeting; we were in the position to put our work into effect”, they said. “We decided to try and use Tampa Jesuit’s Mission Drive Day to help us achieve this goal because of the fundraising capability and student initiative. The Mission Drive is a yearly project for around one month during which the student body of Jesuit Tampa donates toward a specific cause, this year being to education for Colombian children [and youth]”.

Sebastian Torres, Junior (Year 11), 17 years old

Tampa Jesuit’s Mission Drive usually raises over $8,000 each year, but the Mission Drive is an important event because in addition to fundraising, it also helps increase student and community awareness, appealing to the student body, parents and family members of current students, and to school alumni.

“Through the Mission Drive, we are able to spread awareness about the severity of the issue at hand, raise funds, and foster incentive for further action in the student body and even greater Tampa Bay community”, Hanna explained.

Andrew Hanna, Junior (Year 11), 17 years old

Even though their initiative is just starting, the pair already has a few strategies in place well beyond the Mission Drive. They are currently planning a fundraiser to take place over the summer, as well as an immersion trip with other Jesuit Tampa students to Colombia to meet with Fe y Alegría Colombia youth. They also hope to expand ‘By the Roots’—the name they have given to their charter organization—to other schools in the Tampa area, thereby increasing awareness and involvement in their cause.

“As of the focus of eliminating poverty at its source, the inability for future generations to have job opportunities, we decided to name our charter organization ‘By the Roots’, with the goal of pulling up poverty by its roots”, they said.

The duo also has advice to other high school students looking to start initiatives to support Fe y Alegría’s work: if you have a genuine desire to help, speak out and never forget why you are doing the project in the first place. “Odds are there will be someone out there willing to help you help others”, they explained. “There’s a lot of work involved with planning and coordinating an initiative like this, but the amount of people who were more than willing to help us with our cause surprised us”.

For more information on the project that Tampa’s Jesuit High School is supporting this Mission Day, click here.

If you, like Sebastian and Andrew, are encouraged to show your solidarity with children and youth in the Global South, and wish to join us in defending the right to education for all, please get in touch with us!