Semillas de Amor: More giving

Aaron and Leslie, our interns at Semillas de Amor are doing some great things! They saw a need and pooled their own money to get school supplies (including shoes and clothing) for so many kids! They then went to each child's house and had their parents commit to sending each of their children to school. Here are some more photos highlighting some of these events. You can see more about specific children here. We know it was a lot of work getting all of these supplies together and then going to each child's home was a real effort. We really appreciate all that Aaron and Leslie are doing! Click here to help children like these!

Semillas de Amor: Valentina

From Aaron & Leslie, interns at Semillas de Amor:

Valentina Caicedo (3) is normally pretty shy, but has a gorgeous smile and loves coloring and playing games with the group. We visited her home and met her parents Elkin and Natali, who told us that she has a heart murmur that has been a problem since she was a baby. She still acted shy but was really excited for her new backpack and school supplies.

More posts about Semillas de Amor.

How to help a child like Valentina get the nutrition and supplies to attend school.

Semillas de Amor: from Leslie

The following is a post from Leslie, an intern at Semillas de Amor, about her first week in Columbia:

Meeting Uris, the founder of the organization, was a high point of my first day as an intern. She is wonderfully patient and genuinely interested in helping the kids of Turbaco, Colombia. She is well organized and has profiles on the kids that describe their background information. To include more information on the kids she had me type up a more detailed form in a nearby internet café. Her dedication to keep costs low is noticeable as she wanted to walk to another store to purchase cheaper copies of the form.

The kids at the site are very energetic, but they did not cooperate well at first which made it difficult for us to organize games. Later on in the first week we hit a breakthrough with coloring books and crayons. I have never seen kids so quiet and peaceful after being so energetic, it was great to see.

We also helped them with homework; for the most part we help with mathematics. They use a different system here so we were a bit confused on how to assist them at first. After consulting with Oswaldo, Uris’ husband, it was easier to correct the problems and explain it to the kids.

Semillas de Amor: Frainer

From Aaron & Leslie, interns at Semillas de Amor:

Frainer (6) is a smart, energetic kid who likes climbing trees and playing soccer. His mom was the first person to mention to us the lack of clean water in Nueva Colombia . We’ve never once seen him more excited than when he saw his new Spiderman backpack and school supplies.

More info and posts on Semillas de Amor.

Interested in helping a child like Frainer? Click here.

Semillas de Amor: Elias

From Aaron & Leslie, interns at Semillas de Amor:

Elias (10) is a member of both of the foundations we work with (Semillas de Amor and Alegria de Vivir). He lives with his parents and five siblings in a small, three-room house made of wood and tin with dirt floors. He’s healthy and likes going to school, but has a learning disability; unfortunately there are no specialists at the school in Nueva Colombia who can give him additional attention. We learned that he had no shoes to wear to class, so along with his backpack and school kit we included a pair of new, black school shoes.

More info and posts about Semillas de Amor.
Want to help a child like Elias? Click here.

Semillas de Amor: Eliecer

From Aaron and Leslie, interns at Semillas de Amor:

Eliecer (9) comes from one of the poorest families in Nueva Colombia, and we learned that he didn’t have any school shoes. To help him keep going to class, we gave him a pair of brand new shoes in addition to his backpack and school kit.

More posts and info about Semillas de Amor.

Click here to learn how to help another child like Eliecer.

Semillas de Amor: Fabian

From Aaron and Leslie, interns at Semillas de Amor:

Fabian (8) has two younger siblings that come with him each day to Semillas de Amor, Wendy (7) and Juan David (5). They come from a poor home, and often come in either dirty clothes, or simply without clothes. Fabian regularly shows up barefoot and/or shirtless. Along with a backpack and school supplies, we were able to get him a pair of new shoes and a white, button-up shirt for school.

Want to help a child like Fabian? Click here.

More posts and info about Semillas de Amor.

Semillas de Amor: Norbis

The following is from Aaron and Leslie, interns at Semillas de Amor:

Norbis (12) comes from one of the most upsetting family situations in Nueva Colombia. She has one older sister, and four younger sisters who come with Norbis to Semillas de Amor, but their parents don’t send any of the children to school. They live in a dimly lit house made of thin wood and corrugated tin, with dirt floors. As part of our goal to help all the sisters start attending school we went to their home and gave them each a backpack with a school kit. They were all very excited, and we were even able to finally meet their mother and ask her to start sending them to school.

Want to help Norbis attend school? Click here.

More posts and info on Semillas de Amor.

Semillas de Amor: Wilson

This is the first of a series about Semillas de Amor in Colombia.

Our Project Director, Chris Jensen, gives us an insight about this area: "The kids in Colombia live in EXTREME poverty. I was there in May setting up the project before they got there and there are kids that are malnurished, have no shoes or clothes for school, the community where they live was founded by refugees and hhas no water and almost no sanitation. They don't even have a highschool. Currently we are trying to raise money for a youth center so they have better place to meet and study."

Read on to learn more about the children who come here:

(From interns Aaron and Leslie)

Wilson Matos (10) is one of the best opportunities Eagle-Condor and Semillas de Amor have to help a child in need. He’s a bright kid with an infectious laugh, but suffers from asthma as well as some deep psychological and social needs. His dad is currently in prison; he and his two siblings live with an abusive mother and transient stepfather in a tiny, inadequate tin house in Nueva Colombia. The lack of a functional family and consistent father figure have created some serious problems in his behavior, both in and out of school. In spite of all his challenges, he’s a fun kid who loves riding his bike, and wants to graduate from school so he can be a doctor.

Want to help Wilson continue his education? Learn more here.