Fundación Dios es Amor
In 1995, several people concerned about the welfare of children in Barranquilla began to visit children’s jails. Very quickly, they learned that many kids found themselves in prison because of sexual and physical abuse they had suffered as children, so they decided to address the problem directly: through a shelter for abused street girls.
The Fundación serves girls from 4-15 years, using specialized psychological attention. The girls live in the shelter for only a year to assure that they do not come to depend on the institution. An older girl takes charge of a new one when she comes, teaching her the rules, as well as hygiene and etiquette, and the program has discovered that peer pressure works to socialize the girls. The first months in the shelter are used to improve the girls’ self esteem, to teach them how to care for themselves, and to overcome depression. In these months, no one talks about abuse.
The second stage begins when the girl is ready to address her problems. She learns that she is not guilty for what happened and that the abuser is ill. The process is complicated, because she must overcome her sense of guilt and sin, but without resentment or fury toward the abuser. During this time, the girl learns physical and emotional self defense, and how to detect bad intentions.
In the last months of her stay, the girl becomes a model for her peers and an educator for new girls. She works with educators on values and school, as well as beginning to figure out how she will live with her family again.
Even though work with families is most intense in the last months, theparents are always present. Each weekend, mothers and non-abusive fathers come to a parenting class, where they learn how to discipline with love, how to avoid abuse, and how to overcome addictions. Abusers do not participate in the school; because of the Fundación's close relations with the police, it is generally able to send them to jail.
At the beginning, the girls studied in the local school, but it became very expensive, so the Fundación opened its own school. The school was recently licensed by the government for both remedial and regular classes. Education is unorthodox and individualized, relying on a good library and qualified staff. The school is also open to neighborhood girls -- most often the daughters of local maids.
Fundación Dios es Amor
Director Fabián Ramírez
Encargado de psicología, Carlos Barraza, <fundiamorbq@LatinMail.com>
Cra 43B #84-141
Baranquilla, Atlántica
Colombia
378 2815 o 378 5976
