The Organización Pro Niñez Indefensa (Organization Pro Child Protection, OPNI) is a nonprofit founded in 1974 to work with female teens between 14 and 17 years old who live on the street in at-risk situations and have been users of psychoactive substances. Teens who participate in the program are in the protective care of the Instituto Colombiano de Bienestar Familiar (Colombian Institute of Family Welfare, ICBF) and participate in its therapeutic program in one of its homes: Ricuarte, which provides emergency shelter, and Guasca – Cundinamarca, an evolutionary shelter they move to as they reestablish their rights.
“Rewriting my history”: Strengthening occupational skills and social integration
Colombia
Problem
The teens protected by OPNI come from the streets and at-risk situations, involving consumption of psychoactive substances from an early age, family violence, sexual and labor exploitation and exclusion from the formal educational system. As a result of these factors, these teens do not have the necessary tools to build their life project.
Project
We work to strengthen occupational and personal skills of teens through an agro-industry workshop, facilitating their social inclusion and minimizing the risk of relapse back onto the streets and at-risk situations.
Comunidad
70 girls and teens and 20 guardians or family members.
volunteers involved
-
"(Español) Ser voluntario no es solamente ayudar una comunidad, es conocer la realidad critica del mundo donde vivimos, es ser consciente que algo tiene que mejorar. Ser voluntario no es solamente compartir conocimiento sino también tener mas experiencias y mejorar tus habilidades. Ser un bien observador no va cambiar el mundo pero ser protagonista si, ser un agente de cambio es un titulo noble. Cada pequeño aporte cuenta. Dar algunas horas de tu vida para cambiar el mundo te convierte en héroe y vale la pena. Dejemos al lado el individualismo para un mundo mas justo, mas solidario, Ser voluntario es un compromiso social." Pierre Carlande Saint-Dic, Business Administration -
"(Español) En esta experiencia de América Solidaria, he descubierto que ser voluntaria en estos tiempos también podría considerarse como ser rupturista, es una oportunidad de ser generoso con otros y dejar un poco entre paréntesis nuestra vida en nuestro país de origen, no desde el postergarnos como personas o profesionales, al revés, si no desde el abrirnos paso desde otra mirada y desde otra cultura a conocer y aportar a las transformaciones sociales para ser y hacer una América realmente más solidaria, al menos ese es el desafío y ha sido bueno saber que hay muchas personas que compartimos esa idea." Camila Vergara, Psychologist -
"I consider (...) that being a volunteer is a decision, not so much about rationality but about feeling. It goes beyond gaining experience, it is a way to live life, to get in touch with the reality of most of the population. The opportunity to live life differently. Being a foreigner in a country, but at the same time not feeling so foreign, because you are living a reality without borders, this poverty that is not “theirs,” it is ours." Katherine Garcia, International Relations -
"I see the creation of new ideas that do not come from me, but from the people I work with, that they create without even realizing it. Rather than hopelessness learned from a life of poverty, I see endless human resources with multiple talents and colors that can change their destinies." Nataly Cayo, Psychologist