Niños de los Andes
In 2008, Niños de los Andes sent us un update of their activities, which you can read here.
In 1973, Jaime Jaramillo saw a little girl running into the street to get the box for a doll. A car ran her over and killed her. When Jaime ran to help her, he saw that the box was empty.
Mr. Jaramillo is not a social service professional; in fact, he’s an oil engineer. However, after seeing that tragedy on the street, he decided to dedicate his life to helping street kids.
Over the next several years, Jaime discovered that many kids lived in the sewers under Bogotá, and since he was a scuba diver, he put on his gear and went to look for them. In the beginning, “Papa Jaime” brought food to these kids, but soon he saw that food was not enough. In 1988, with the founding of Niños de los Andes, Mr. Jaramillo opened the program’s first shelter.
In 2002, Niños de los Andes served 120 kids in a residential farm, 1300 on the street, and 400 with health care brigades. The model is based on the “Patrol,” a group of volunteers that travel the streets to meet the kids and build relationships with them. Doctors and nurses now accompany the patrols, giving emergency medical attention and teaching classes on hygiene, but the real goal is to convince the kid to leave the street. Because of Niños de los Andes, no kids currently live in the city’s sewers, but some 3-5,000 kids (and 20,000 adults) are still homeless in the city.
Beyond direct services to street kids, Niños de los Andes has three fundamental missions:
- To advocate for the rights of children
- To strengthen the nuclear family
- To raise community consciousness
The program’s philosophy depends on “man’s ability to re-create himself.” Because of this, the kids must be actors in their own lives and must learn about their responsibilites to the community -- and they have to be grateful for what their have received. Training is also fundamental: “Not to give a fish, but to teach how to fish,” as Jaime often says. Niños de los Andes also teaches kids to value human rights, difference, and diversity.
Volunteers are essential to Niños de los Andes. Thanks to Jaime’s charisma and hard work, Niños de los Andes is always on TV or in the papers, and he often inspires people to volunteer. Most volunteers are trained to work on the patrols, and they go out each week to hang out with street kids -- sometimes there are so many volunteers that 16 people are on a patrol! Many students also do their practica in Niños de los Andes.
Niños de los Andes does vocational training, but Jaime’s contacts in the business world are often more important -- many kids have gotten jobs in the oil industry thanks to Jaime’s intercession. Another kid won a scholarship to study tennis in Florida and several have gone to Europe as exchange students.
Niños de los Andes gets much of its budget from foundations in the US and Europe, but it also raises funds locally by recycling laser-printer cartridges, selling cookies, and with a street kid chorus that sings at weddings and parties.
PATRICIA GONZALEZ L
Proyección a la Comunidad
FUNDACION NIÑOS DE LOS ANDES
Carrera 8C Bis A No. 164A-51
Bogotá- Colombia
TEL 6780655
Cel 315 8952688
ninandes@ninandes.org y funiandes@yahoo.com
www.papajaime.com
www.ninandes.org
