Newsletter February 2022

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. - Nelson Mandela

Happy Belated New Year!
We wish you so much love, joy and hope for this year.
2022 will be our year of reflection, focus, sustainability and building strong relations. What are your themes for this year?

Thank you for being on this journey with us. We look forward to making many new educational dreams come and to create new agents of change this year!

Bertha is becoming an entrepreneur!

Bertha has been with us since the beginning of the foundation. She is really good at braiding hair and last year she started her own 'salon'. Sadly she was experiencing a lot of difficulties attracting enough clients. To help her succeed, gain more exposure and attract more clients, Rosita organized a collaboration deal with the big hotel/hostel company called Selina. Bertha is now offering her services at Selina's, including giving weekly presentations about the history of African braids. We are extremely proud of her!

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Graduation

In 2021, three of our students graduated from their studies and we are extremely proud of them!
Luis Carlos graduated in december 2021 and is now a dental technician. He had started working during his final year and will continue to do so. His wish is to save money so he can study Dentistry or Medicine. Together with Katerin, Luis Carlos leads the project on sexual education to combat teenage pregnancy.

Edwin graduated in August 2021 and is now a vocational environmental engineer. This month he will start studying to become a systems engineer with the aim to get better job prospects. Edwin leads the project on environmental education and the creation of a proper garbage collection system in his community. This with the aim to improve the quality of life in his community.

Katerin graduated in July 2021 and is now a nurse. Currently she is working at a nursing home in Bogotá and will soon start her specialisation. Katerin leads the project on sexual education to combat teenage pregnancy.

Get to know our other students

Colombia visit

Last year Rosita travelled to Colombia from October until January(2022) to work from Colombia.
After not being able to travel for two years, there was a lot of work that needed to be done. We organised our annual community conference and had many guidance sessions with the team, the students and the projects. We also welcomed new volunteers, celebrated long overdue celebrations and danced a lot as usual. Just like in the Netherlands, the effects of Covid-19 on our mental health was a big challenge for our students as well. During an intimite moment we managed to create a safe space for them to share their struggles and to let them know that they are being heard and that we are in this together.

Below we shared some photos to give you an impression of our time in Colombia.

Recap fundraiser

In December we launched our annual fundraiser with the goal to raise €9000 so we can pay the tuition fee of our 15 students. We managed to raise around €5500 and are so proud and thankful to everyone who donated to make education possible for everyone! We still hope to reach our goal so that we can keep supporting all of our students.

Please share our story with your network and invite them to support our work as well.

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Project Development

During her visit, Rosita participated in the activities of all the projects and organized different strategy sessions with the students. The students are generating an amazing impact with the work that they are doing. So far they have reached an audience of more than 150 participants with their projects activities.
We added some big changes to our projects. To be more effective and generate better results, we merged our 5 projects into 3 projects.
From now on we will continue with the following projects:
1. Salud integral (first aid and sexual education)
2. Financial education
3. Environmental education

Call to action:
1. Do you know organizations that we can contact to possibly work together with and who are able to donate knowledge, materials and/or money to help us further develop the projects?
2. Are you interested in being part of our advisory network so that we can reach out for advice regarding these projects?
If so, please send us a message.

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Vacancies
We are looking for volunteers to help us run this beautiful foundation. Please contact us if you are interested.

Board member Treasurer (Dutch speaking)
Communication officer (Dutch speaking)
Webpage builder
Ambassador
Fundraising assistant
Translator (Spanish - English)

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