Ciudad Don Bosco
Medellín’s Ciudad Don Bosco is one of the oldest and largest programs for street kids in Colombia, and perhaps in Latin America. It follows the Salesian model, but with an extraordinary infrastructure and a superb vocational training program.
In Medellín, street kids can attend one of three drop-in centers. The center administered by Don Bosco is quite nice, and there are always some 40-50 kids hanging out and playing soccer, getting a shower, or just talking. The services are those of any drop in center, but with several special touches: for instance, once a kid has come several days in a row, staff invite him to paint his hand and his name on a wall. In this way, kids feel like the space is theirs -- but without defacing it with graffiti. The center has only three rules:
- no weapons
- no drugs
- respect for everyone
There is an outreach team that goes out several nights a weeks, but most kids come on their own, or referred by friends.
Boys who come to the center can sleep in an emergency shelter in a middle class neighborhood. At 6PM, a bus comes to the center and takes them to the shelter, where they eat and sleep before returning to the city.
After spending some time at the drop in center, kids may enter the “City,” a huge complex high on the hill west of the city. New kids come to a special house where they get remedial education and learn to live with others. Once they adjust to a new life, they can move into the main part of the city.
The Salesian Fathers have a vocation for education and vocational training, so the City is strong in both fields. The school goes to 9th grade, after which the boys may attend local schools. The workshops are impressive, including training in computers, sewing and fashion, graphic arts, metalwork, woodwork, and auto mechanics. All of the boys try out all of the disciplines, then chose their favorite. Workshops train the boys and provide some income (though less income now than when the economy in Medellín was strong).
Boys and girls from the neighborhood participate in the workshops, only one part of Don Bosco’s outreach work. The autodefensas (right wing guerrillas) control the neighborhood, so popular support for Don Bosco keeps violence at arms length. Fortunately, Don Bosco has had very few problems with the autodefensas and has not been forced to pay protection money.
The program offers several pieces of advice for NGOs working in violent neighborhoods:
- You can’t work alone: all of civil society has to work together: churches, trade unions, mothers’ groups, football teams...
- Respecting everyone subverts their resentment and their need for violence
- Keep hope alive, because violence is born of despair
- In gang-controlled communities, you can win allies with results, but not with promises
The physical plant of the City is great, with superb workshops, open dorms, and very good fields and courts. Now the program is building a new dorm for 250 kids, designed with their input.
Nombre:Ciudad Don Bosco
Director: P. ARMANDO ÁLVAREZ DÍAZ
email: donbosco@une.net.co
donbosco@epm.net.co
Dirección: Carrera 96B Nº. 78C - 11. Medellín. Colombia
Teléfono: 57 4 264 21 22
Fax; 57 4 264 23 90
