BRIEF HISTORY
The Amigos y Hermanos Foundation is a non-profit organization that believes education is one of the most powerful tools for building a fairer world with opportunities for well-being for all.
Our work with children at risk and their families, Indigenous and Afro-descendant Communities has impacted the live of thousands of people affected by violence and extreme poverty.
A safe path to peace is the strengthening of education for new generations, which is why we are committed to providing quality school assistance to children in vulnerable and poverty areas.
FESTIPAZ, International Peace Festival of Colombia was born in Colorado Springs in 1999, in a global Youth meeting with a Mission.
ACHIEVEMENTS
- Support for children and mothers who are or have been victims of the internal armed conflict in the country.
- Management and development of productive projects that enable access to income for some families.
- Reduced links of children to groups of urban militias.
- Support for families by providing the costs of school education, school kit and uniforms.
- Psychological support for mothers of sponsored children. Mothers in at-risk areas are usually heads of households, having lost their husbands in the armed conflict or because of alcohol Guidance, drugs or common crime.
- TWorkshops and lectures on the relationship of adults to children, abuse and child abuse, values and family and community life, bullying, early pregnancy, among others, through the Parent School. These services help decrease the risks these children face growing up. They facilitate forgiveness and reconciliation processes by promoting values of non-violence in place of the strong influence of the internal armed conflict.
- Collaboration in access to education of children in the real possibilities that have their mothers to have access to income and improve their family relationships.
- Providing access to education for children can also benefit their mothers by giving another means of income and therefore improving family relationships.
- Many of our children who began their sponsorship from primary education have gained admission to the University.
- In partnership with the Government of Buenaventura and the Community Councils, in 2000, the return of more than five thousand families displaced by the armed conflict is achieved.
- The collective ownership titling of land encourages return.
- Reconstrucción de procesos de vida que garanticen la seguridad de la comunidad en retorno.
- Reconstruction of processes to ensure the safety of the community in return..
- Improved housing and food security.
- Brigadas de salud, asistencia médica, pago de tratamientos y cirugías de alto riesgo.
- Coordination with armed groups to respect civilians.
- Health brigades, medical care, treatments and payment of surgeries for people at high risk
- Support to the victims during the armed conflict.
- Celebration of the Christmas holidays every year.
- Donation of food, clothing, toys, etc.
- Donation to area schools of books for libraries, scholarships, study and other materials.
- Construction of the provisional headquarters of the Foundation house for community support.
- In partnership with the Universidad del Valle and CINARA, provided workshops and lectures on hygiene and sanitation and helped improve housing water and sewage systems.
- Psychological and spiritual guidance.
- Technical assistance for installation of home gardens to help feed the family population through self-sufficiency, whilst also improving nutritional health.
- Training and seminars on values, community participation and organization, with a view to remake the social fabric of the community.
- Actions of improvement and reconstruction of collective infrastructure such as schools and some houses.
- Promoting mental health and spiritual empowerment as a strategy for overcoming the traumas left by the armed conflict and the loss of loved ones.
- Church Planting and prayer groups to strengthen faith.
Friends & Brothers Foundation contributes in this area:
- Provide food and basic necessities in times of armed conflict.
- To encourage the generation of projects that can make the community self-sustaining in order to reduce the involvement of indigenous youth in armed groups.
- Develop projects in health promotion and disease prevention, and organize seminars for psychological and spiritual support.
- Strengthen educational facilities and improve housing.
- Build unity after violent attacks, while promoting peaceful solutions to the internal conflict.
- Unlink indigenous youth from armed groups. Thanks to the success of some productive projects this has been achieved, replacing licit crops for illicit crops (this was a result of the intervention despite not being its main purpose).
- Supporting Indigenous Communities in the course of the conflict.
Address:
Calle 4 #25- 04 San Fernando - Cali - Colombia
Email:
fundacionamigosyhermanos@gmail.com
Telephone:
(+57) (2) 5563369 ó (+57) (2) 3744266
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