Vida y Libertad
In 1994, Francisco Javier, an evangelical minister in Barcelona, Spain, was so shocked by news of an earthquake in Cauca, Colombia, that he came to the country with donations for those left homeless. Yet when he arrived in Medellín and saw the horrifying number of street kids there, he found a more important mission. Over the next several years, he came regularly to Medellín with donations and money for street kid programs.
After some time, Mr. Javier decided to form his own organization. He began outreach work with volunteers from the Fe y Esperanza church. Then, in 1996, the program bought a house to serve as a shelter for street kids.
Today, Vida y Libertad serves “precarious kids,” which is to say, kids who have been on the street but who have never become “of” the street. Families with problems -- from abuse to drugs to fathers who are in jail -- may send their children to Vida y Libertad while they work out the problems in their own lives.
The program now has two houses, one in the city of Medellín and the other on a farm above the city. Some 55 kids participate in the program, most at the farm.
Vida y Libertad also runs parenting classes, where fathers and mothers learn about children’s rights, parental responsibility, discipline with love, and where they can learn a trade. At one time, these classes were given at the farm, but after one of the mothers used the class as an opportunity to rob the program at gunpoint, classes were moved to a church in the center of town. These parenting classes have taught Vida y Libertad that many kids don’t leave their homes because of abuse or abandonment, but because of hypocrisy: mothers who say “I love you so much,” but never give their children either time or affection. The school teaches these mothers how to do what they say.
Vida y Libertad survives with the support of 70 godparents in Spain and Colombia. The program has rejected contracts with the ICBF (Youth Services Department) because such contracts limit their ability to evangelize the kids and their families.
As in every part of Colombia, these kids have suffered violence -- but many are also guilty of violence, and all share an “eye for an eye” ethic. Here, Vida y Libertad has shown the virtue of a religious education, because it teaches children to forgive. With forgiveness, the kids can move forward without the need for revenge.
Vida y Libertad’s farm sits on a mountain several thousand feet above Medellín, and it may have the most beautiful view of any program serving street kids. The kids seem to understand how lucky they are; one often finds them standing on the balcony admiring the valley.
In 2008, Vida y Libertad sent us the following update:
VIDA Y LIBERTAD es una entidad sin ánimo de lucro creada en 1996, con personería jurídica concedida por Bienestar Familiar según la resolución 1891. Actualmente trabaja con niños pre-calle desarrollando distintos programas de atención a niños con situaciones límite de marginación, pobreza y abusos. Son niños en situación de riesgo físico, moral o psicológico que provienen de familias disfuncionales, ya que no cumplen íntegramente las funciones de cuidado y educación, además de exponer al niño a situaciones de riesgo que se convierten en formas de maltrato. Los programas que actualmente estamos desarrollando son los siguientes:
1. Internado. Actualmente hay 45 niños y niñas, entre 2 y 21 años.
2. Proyecto de familia para niños que estuvieron en el pasado en el internado y actualmente los tenemos viviendo con sus madres en casas independientes (cubrimos todos sus gastos)
3. Becas escolares para niños de escasos recursos de la zona rural (Guarne) y urbana (Moravia, Picacho, Zamora, Granizales, Santa Cruz, Envigado, …) y que beneficia a 160 niños. Se cubren gastos de matrícula, material escolar, uniformes y comedores escolares.
4. También cubrimos los gastos de comedor escolar de Bienestar Familiar a 300 niños de muy escasos recursos de un colegio de Manrique y realizamos talleres pedagógicos con los casi 500 niños de ese mismo colegio.
5. Ayuda a las familias: suministro de mercados y ciertas ayudas para infraestructuras.
6. Comedor para 150 niños y niñas de Caicedo-La Toma. Los niños reciben alimentación de lunes a viernes, talleres pedagógicos y clases bíblicas.
7. Centro de Día, con niños de Moravia y del barrio de la Cruz de Itaguí (100 niños entre los dos centros); asisten a horario contrario al del colegio y reciben alimentación, refuerzo escolar, talleres pedagógicos, clases bíblicas y recreación.
CORPORACIÓN VIDA Y LIBERTAD
email: cvl@une.net.co
dirección: A.A. 1767
Medellín
teléfono: 4080913-4080664 de Medellín
www.vidaylibertad.org
