A Better Life

Friends of Colombia and The Colombia Project
(with headquarters in Florida) maintain a strong
presence in northern Colombia, helping people receive
education and start small businesses. According
to RUPD (Colombian Association of Registered
Displaced People), which is managed by Acción Social,
an institution of the Colombian Presidency, the
state of Magdalena ranks second for numbers of displaced
people (14,773 at the end of 2005). However,
Fundehumac (Human and Community
Development Organization) estimates there are
thousands more unregistered DP’s who have migrated
to Magdalena in the last two years.

Three programs are supported by FOC: Paso A
Paso, the Magdalena Foundation scholarship program
and the Colombia Project micro-enterprises.
All three are administered by Fundehumac and all
three have recipients who are displaced. Scholarship
recipients provide support to the other two programs
by mentoring the younger children and assisting
the micro-enterprise recipients with training
and on-site counseling for their businesses. Alba
Lucía Varela Moreno, President of Fundehumac,
and Haroldo L. Suarez, President of The Magdalena
Foundation, Inc., say the programs have exceeded
all expectations.

Next year’s FOC conference in Cartagena will
provide an opportunity for RPCVs to witness the
programs first-hand. Conference attendees who
might be interested in a day trip or an overnight
trip to Santa Marta/Rodadero to visit the programs
supported by Friends of Colombia please contact
helenedudley@yahoo.com to indicate preference
for a Friday, February 8th one-day van trip (three
hours each way; cost $40 RT) or a two-day trip
(Fri.-Sat.), staying overnight in Rodadero. Participants
would visit Paso A Paso, the Magdalena Foundation
Scholarship Program, and The Colombia
Project micro-credit loan program. More information
on these projects is available at our Colombian
partner's website, www.fundehumac.org/Proyectos/
Proyectos en Ejeccucion.