After Togo, the first phase of the Fondacio Congress will begin tomorrow, April 2, 2022, in Colombia. It will open with a day of collective reflection on integral ecology and youth. Fondacio began working in Latin America in the early 1980s. School support, construction of decent housing and promotion of reading are among the projects carried out by Fondacio in Latin America.
Our history in Latin America
Chili
Fondacio was born in Poitiers (western France) in 1974, in the spirit of the Second Vatican Council. Three years later, in 1977, Domingo Santa Maria, a Chilean businessman involved in the Charismatic Renewal, met the nascent community in Europe. This led to a first evangelization weekend organized by Fondacio in Santiago, Chile, in July 1980. A year later, the Fondacio community was created in the Latin American country.
In 1988-1990, land was purchased in Conchalí (today Huechuraba), north of Santiago. A center was built as a "bridge" between the people of the shantytowns (the "pobladores") and the people of the wealthy neighborhoods, with responsibilities in the economic or political world. The center, Los Almendros, allows the meeting of different and distant socio-economic realities, which can be in communion and unity in the sharing of common activities and evangelization. In the years that followed, it became an incubation platform for numerous social and environmental projects.
Colombia
Then, in 1997, Colombian couples, trained in Chile, planted the seeds for the creation of a Fondacio community in Bogotá. In 2010, Fondacio Colombia co-created Oasis, a development and solidarity program, with the Colegio Emilio Valenzuela Foundation. Oasis is based in a shantytown in the hills above Bogotá, in the northeastern territory of San Luis. This shantytown dates back to the 1960s, when the Colombian Civil War forced many rural populations to flee. San Luis lack of investment in all structures: education, health, roads, property, etc.
Today, Oasis is active in areas as diverse as children's education, environmental protection and housing improvement. The local population can access and get involved in all projects. Oasis welcomes teenagers, when they are not at school, as well as mothers and grandmothers involved in education. In this way, Oasis offers a place that both serves the residents of the neighborhood and is a bridge between local realities and the international volunteers who participate in its activities. Since 2019, Oasis has expanded to another neighborhood in Bogotá, Ciudad Bolivar.
Different realities
"Yes, Chile and Colombia are part of the same continent, Latin America," says Caroline Jouan, secretary general of Fondacio. "But they are separated by several thousand kilometers. It takes six hours by plane to go from one to the other. They have many cultural and social differences. Zoom in on all the development and solidarity programs carried out by Fondacio in Chile and Colombia.
Chili
The Almendros Library
The Biblioteca Los Almendros was born in 2002, at the crossroads of the poorest, businessmen of the Chilean "City", built nearby, and the city of Santiago. The Biblioteca works for the social development of disadvantaged neighborhoods, on a cultural and educational level. It welcomes children, adolescents, adults and families, to whom it lends books. The Biblioteca also offers games and a green space.
"Often, children don't have many hours of classes in the afternoon. So they can go there instead of staying alone at home or on the street," explains Caroline Jouan. Tutoring is offered to them.
The Biblioteca Los Almendros also works with the elderly in health centers. It brings them books and their beds. It also organizes literary picnics and goes to meet the population by bike with a box of books. In 2020, nearly 1,000 people participated in its activities. Since 2016, this project has been carried out in partnership with the NGO Vidascopio. The team is made up of two permanent employees, foreign and local volunteers.
A more dignified house
"A More Dignified Home" is a housing reconstruction and improvement program. It is developed in towns north of Santiago, such as La Pincoya, Conchalí or El Barrero. Here, it is common to see poor families living in houses that do not meet the minimum requirements. They do not benefit from the traditional bank financing system and do not receive any state aid. A Hogar Màs Digno builds and improves the homes of pre-selected families, through a personalized architectural project. Before the pandemic, the program took care of an average of six to seven houses per year, with the help of young foreign volunteers.
Professional horticultural center
This project was created for people with mental and/or physical disabilities. Chile has no structure to accommodate them. So, they stay at home and suffer from isolation. At the Centro, they can work in the horticultural field. They grow medicinal plants, take care of fruit trees and sell their products (such as herbal teas). "This allows them to get out of the house and have an occupation," emphasizes Caroline Jouan. "The goal is to give them back their dignity through work, which also allows them to have a social life."
The Centro is located in the same place as the Biblioteca Los Almendros. Together, the two programs organize cross-curricular activities related to reading.
Jesus the Carpenter
"Jesus the Carpenter": This project, created in 2012, concerns the inhabitants of disadvantaged neighborhoods near Huechuraba. It all started with a workshop to awaken their creative power. Then, it expanded to entrepreneurship workshops. Participants learn to cook, comb and handle tools, but also to be inspired for their creations. In 2019, six entrepreneurship workshops were carried out, including: a basic hairdressing course, a sewing workshop with recycled clothing, a patchwork and weaving workshop
My next
This solidarity project, created in 2006, helps the homeless. The idea is to share a coffee or a meal with them, to break the loneliness and create bonds. The objective is also to try to get them off the street by putting them in contact with social structures. Thus, Mi próximo created the first inclusive social network in Chile: a web application that allows everyone to report situations of need to the relevant organizations. The network lists the institutions that work with people on the street. It aims to improve the general service in terms of distribution of food, materials and health.
IFF America
The Fondacio Training Institute (IFF) in Latin America was created in 2014, in Santiago. It offers intercultural and innovative training in ethical leadership and entrepreneurship of social projects. This training aims to empower young people, aged 20 to 30, to contribute to the social transformation of the continent. Indeed, Latin America and the Caribbean have developed greatly in a short time, but this has only benefited a few people, the majority of the population remaining poor.
Iff America's trainings enable young people to lead social projects to combat these inequalities in their countries of origin. They are trained to discern their vocation, acquire skills, leadership and project management tools, to create projects that respond to local needs or to integrate existing social structures.
Four courses are currently available:
- International Diploma in Ethical Leadership and Social Projects Enterprise, full-time or part-time. The diplomas are certified by the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana de Colombia, in partnership with IFF America.
- The International Social Programme ;
- Personal and professional orientation workshops.
Since its inception, IFF America has trained more than 90 students from a dozen Latin American countries. The Institute has also organized personal and professional orientation workshops for more than 100 high school students in Santiago.
Colombia
Oasis
- Education
The educational project offers spaces for personal work, tutoring and games. In this way, children are given the tools they need to think about their future. They are busy in the afternoon, when they are not in class, and not alone at home or on the street.
- Environment
The project allows residents to care for and preserve the nature around them. In fact, they are part of a forest ecosystem in the high Andes. Oasis organizes different activities. Residents are involved in maintaining urban gardens, promoting the use of ecological products, cleaning rivers and transforming burnt cooking oil into ecological soaps.
- Accommodation
Since 2013, Oasis has been involved in the construction of new prefabricated houses, in collaboration with the Catalina Muñoz Foundation. So how does it work? First, families pay for the foundations of their house (sometimes with the help of a microcredit). A donation is used to finance the rest of the house, which is assembled with the help of volunteers. The house is built in prefabricated form. It goes very quickly: a house is built in one day.
It is connected to electricity and water, has a kitchenette and a bathroom. The walls are covered with thermal and sound insulation (cellulose cotton) that the family can paint and personalize. The goal is for the family to manage the project, discover its capacities for action, initiative and connection with others. Oasis supports families throughout the process: before, during and after the construction day.
By the end of 2019, 76 prefabricated houses, each measuring around 30 m2, had been built.
Young Lives Development Center (YLDC)
The Young Lives Development Center (YLDC) program, already running in several Asian countries, has been training disadvantaged youth in Ciudad Bolívar, south of Bogotá, since 2020. The YLDC project helps them acquire skills to empower them. The YLDC project targets vulnerable youth, aged 16 to 25. Ciudad Bolívar has one of the most difficult conditions for young people to access higher education or work. During the lockdown, classes were taught online.
"These young people have obtained their baccalaureate, but they lack the financial, and sometimes intellectual, means to continue their studies," explains Fondacio's secretary general, Caroline Jouan. "In Latin America, there is a huge gap between high school and university. The problem is that, without a university degree, young people are forced to work informally."
The YLDC program offers four to six months of training. This includes transferable skills (English, computer science, etc.), as well as self-awareness to determine which studies to choose, and capacity building. Students can work on the side or start their own businesses to earn money to pay for their studies. The YLDC in Colombia has partnered with universities to cut tuition fees in half.
Students can choose to pursue short-term studies, such as apprenticeships and professional degrees, or long-term studies, with a five-year programme. Ten students completed the programme in 2021.
First phase of the Fondacio Congress
After Africa, the first phase of the Fondacio Congress will begin tomorrow, April 2, in Latin America, in Colombia. It will open with a day of collective reflection on Saturday, at the Faculty of Theology of the Javeriana University of Bogotá, entitled: "Raising Our Gaze: Integral Ecology And Youth, The Big Challenge".
Students, unemployed people, entrepreneurs, partners and members of the Fondacio community in Latin America will participate in the event. The goal is to hear and collect new thoughts and ideas from the periphery. This will help our Christian community evolve and take another step forward.
The event will be broadcast on the YouTube channel of the Faculty of Theology of the Javeriana University of Bogotá :
Then, the Latin American delegates and several members of the Fondacio Council will work in groups. They will review the last four years, since the last congress held in 2018 in the Philippines. During the first phase of the Congress, similar meetings will be held on each continent as part of the synodal process.
After Africa and Latin America, the first phase will take place in Versailles, France, from May 24 to 27, and in Asia, from June 18 to 22. The election of the President will take place in March 2023, before a meeting of all delegates in Africa in May 2023.
Below, listen to the testimony of three French volunteers in Latin America:
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