It must be noted that the shelter’s financial situation does not always allow it to cover the programmes, activities and requirements of ICBF (Colombian Institute for Family Welfare – the government body that licenses shelters and places children in them) as it would like.

We have therefore decided to continue to help this refuge, notably with projects that we wish to perpetuate. For example :

To continue the therapeutic accompaniment with the specialized neuropsychologist that we have hired to diagnose the children on their arrival, to follow them weekly, to orient the educators and to provide them with continuous training. With three years’ hindsight, we can now say that this is a programme that is fully satisfactory and is very important for these vulnerable children in social distress.

USD 6’500.00 per year

Personal staffing for boarding children (clothes, shoes, hygiene products) to be renewed every six months – ICBF requirement (ICBF = Bienestar Familiar, a government agency that places children in approved shelters that meet the requirements).

For 80 interns (girls and boys)

USD 6’000.00 per year (which represents USD 75.00 per child)

At the Juan XXIII vulnerable children’s refuge in Calarcá, Colombi, for the following amounts, we are able to:

Accommodation situation for female boarders prior to construction

When it was created, the Juan XXIII refuge only took in boys in boarding school. It was only at the beginning of the 2000s that the refuge began to take in young girls (aged 8 to 17) in boarding school. In order to take charge of these programs, the shelter’s management had to look for a house outside the site, due to a lack of space in the existing buildings on the site belonging to the shelter. In the end, a house was rented near the village of Barcelona, 17.5 km from the Calarcá shelter, to house the girls in boarding school. The Juan XXIII Institution pays a rent as well as all the expenses inherent to this relocation, for the rent of the finca “El Eden” which accommodates on average about thirty girls.

These costs are considerable for the shelter and unfortunately restrict certain cultural and educational activities, of course to the detriment of the children. We have asked Doña Emeris Perez Garcia, director of the Juan XXIII refuge, to list and quantify the costs exclusively due to this relocation. The monthly costs amount to a few thousand dollars (see details in the attached construction report).

To sum up, if we take up the current costs exclusively due to the relocation to house the young boarding girls of the Juan XXIII shelter, the construction we describe will be amortized in 36 months.

2019 – Implementation of our construction project to accommodate 45 young girls who are victims of abuse and mistreatment

It is with great emotion that we can announce that we have realized a dream for these vulnerable young girls. Indeed, the year 2019 will have been a great year for our association, even if at times we went through a rather rough emotional lift, if we overcame countless administrative hassles, the final result of this construction remains magnificent and it will remain in all memories for a very long time.

We invite you to browse through our “Final Construction Report” which you will also find under REPORTS and through which we detail all the stages of this project (study – financing – organisation – plans – building permits – modifications during construction – inauguration – etc).

Many thanks to all of you, because without your support, we would never have been able to carry out this wonderful project in favour of young girls who are victims of abuse and mistreatment.