The History of Oasis
Oasis began its actions in the territory of San Isidro (Bogotá-Colombia) in 2011, at the initiative of Fondacio Colombia and the Colegio Emilio Valenzuela Foundation, under the direction of Sandra Ardila and Gustavo López, co-founders and directors of the institution, who began this work by offering an opportunity to young people at social risk.
In its beginnings, Oasis offered adolescents and young people an alternative way to occupy their free time with days of sports and artistic activities. Today, Oasis has expanded its actions and serves other populations in the territory such as adults, the elderly and families, allied institutions in the sector and the district school in the region, supporting educational and environmental issues.
Our identity
Oasis has a dual vocation: both for its own team and for the neighborhood community with the ultimate goal of sustainable development.
By promoting the discovery of oneself and those around one, Oasis is a place of personal and professional development.
In each of its projects for the community, Oasis also tries to enable the autonomous development of the beneficiaries.
Our goal is to support beneficiaries, volunteers and allies in a dynamic that allows them to move from assistance to solidarity, then to sustainable development.
In this way, Oasis articulates its social action according to Fondacio's pedagogy: "being oneself", "being with others", "being for others" in a relationship of friendship in the image of Jesus Christ.
Our method
The solidarity model inspired by Fondacio consists of the synergy of individual, community and technological dimensions in a dynamic of friendship.
To achieve this, Oasis builds partnerships with institutions that provide technical expertise, human support and/or funding. The complementarity between Oasis and the partners involved is exercised throughout the project:
• Upstream: this allows the population access to the proposed service
• During: it promotes the proper completion of the action
• After: it guarantees the sustainability of the benefit provided
testimony :
Adrien, 30 years old, VSI, 2 years at Oasis
"It's been almost a year now since I left for Colombia with my 3 children and my wife Camille, who works as a volunteer in a center for disabled children in the south of Bogota.
At Oasis, I am responsible for finances as well as coordinator of the Environment department. I am delighted with my mission: here I live an experience of friendship and multicultural reciprocity. What I really like about Oasis is being part of a project with such a strong local component. Finding myself working in a neighborhood where I would never have set foot if I had not been sent there, I find that it is a little detour from life that is quite incredible.
When we leave on a mission, we often tell ourselves that we are going to volunteer to change the world, with lots of ideals; but when we come back, we realize that in reality it is our world that has changed. And I think that during this mission I fully feel this sentence because an experience at Oasis is a complete break with our previous life: it is a geographical break, a break in distance from our loved ones, as well as in the way of life or the way of working, but also an upheaval in the place of our personal, emotional involvement, in short it is a huge change compared to what I did before. I now have a totally different vision of the world, compared to the vision I had before. Before I experienced certain things as being impossible to change. Here I tell myself that ultimately nothing is impossible to change. "
Learn more about Oasis here:
https://www.oasisbyfondacio.org/copia-de-bienvenidos-a-oasis
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Link to source : https://www.oasisbyfondacio.org/copia-de-bienvenidos-a-oasis
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