Projects

One of the first activities of this project was to make a mural with the children. Outside the school there is big wall that was very neglected. With the help and guidance of Hernan Tobon, a good friend of ColombiaCare who happened to be in Colombia at that time, the children painted the mural. It was a wonderful day, the children had a blast and the result was a beautiful mural that anybody that goes by admires. The children love to point out the drawings they did. A short video of the painting of the mural is at this link: Mural video

 

 

Project: Gato de Monte Project

This project takes place in a small village, "Gato de Monte" near Cali with about 70 children between the ages of 5 and 12. These are mainly indigenous people who have left their mountain villages as result of the Colombian conflict. There is a small school for the younger children with only two classrooms. The older children go to a neighboring village school. We started a library and an after-school program. We took advantage of a small unused building next to their small school for this purpose. With some of the monies we received in honor of our friend Marsha Vaughan (see Special People) we bought the books for the library and created another “Rincon de Marsha” (Marsha's Corner). We also paid for paint and for tables and chairs. The community leaders are very supportive of this project. In fact, they did the painting and repairs.

The expectation is that the community will continue to manage the library and several mothers will work with the children after school. By mid year we will assess how the community is doing. The budget for this project in 2009 was $2000. A short video of the inauguration day is at this link: Inaguration video