Author: Nadia McGill
SILVER SPRING, Md. - In early November, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) distributed 10,000 school kits to vulnerable and displaced children in northern Colombia, bringing to completion a project that inspired thousands of young volunteers to help children from low-income families in one of the country's poorest regions.
"It was a great success," said Gabriel Villarreal, country director for ADRA Colombia. "We are very thankful for the support that was given to help these children, who have so little. These tools have made a great investment in their lives."
On November 5, ADRA Colombia began to distribute 5,000 school kits to children from schools in the communities of Pontezuela, Bayunca, Nueva Esperanza de Arroyo Grande, Ciudad de Tuja, Playas de Acapulco, Pedro de Heredia, Técnica de La Boquilla, Punta Arena, San José Caño del Oro, Luis Felipe Barrera de Barú, José María Córdoba, and others. Each child received a kit packed with basic school supplies, including notebooks, pens, pencils, rulers, erasers, and scissors.
"This is a great gift, and we must be very careful with it," said one of the recipients.
Her mother said that the school supplies would encourage the children to study with an increased joy.
"Tomorrow they will definitely rise early to go to school, so they can enjoy their new pens and notebooks," she added.
An additional 5,000 school kits were distributed in the Montes de Maria region, an area outside the city of Cartagena where much of the population is suffering from displacement due the country's ongoing conflict.
"The children were very happy to receive the school kits," said Villareal. "Many of the children in the targeted regions come from families without the resources they need to purchase even the most basic supplies for their children."
The kits were donated through a partnership between the Church of Latter-day Saints and ADRA International. Thousands of youth volunteers involved in the Seventh-day Adventist Church Pathfinder program helped pack the kits at the ADRA "Refugee Experience" exhibit during the International Pathfinder Camporee held from August 11 to 15 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
With 2 to 3 million displaced persons, Colombia presents the highest number of internally displaced people in the western hemisphere, and the second largest displaced population in the world after Sudan, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
ADRA has been active in Colombia since 1989, and in Cartagena since 2005, working in the areas of Food Security, Economic Development, Health Care, Education, and Emergency Management.
ADRA is a non-governmental organization present in 125 countries providing sustainable community development and disaster relief without regard to political or religious association, age, gender, race or ethnicity.
For more information about ADRA, visit http://www.adra.org.
For more information, contact:
John Torres, Senior Public Relations Manager
301.680.6357 (office)
301.680.6370 (fax)
John.Torres@adra.org
