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: Behind the Scenes

From Aaron, an intern at Semillas de Amor:

On the morning of July 5th we met Uris, Damaris and Andrea (the three women behind Semillas de Amor) at the food bank in Cartagena to see what happens behind the scenes, and help load the food into a dilapidated truck they hire to take it all back to Turbaco.

The food bank is a charitable organization that sells food at mass retail prices, which allows Semillas de Amor to get enough food for all of its 100+ kids despite a limited budget.

We helped load crates and bags full of fruits, vegetables, bread, fish and chicken; the food for a single week with the kids weighs over 100 lbs, which these three women buy, transport, and prepare with no pay, and essentially no help.

It was a ton of work even with Leslie and I around to offer extra help, and although they have their own families and homes to manage, these three rockstar women go through this routine every week, all for the sake of the kids in Semillas de Amor.

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.

Last Week + Self-Esteem Activity (from Amanda)

Amanda fills us in on her last week at La Aldea Infantil:

My last week here at the Aldea. I can't believe how fast the time has gone by! As a going away gift, Katy and I decided to make the kids some "galletas Americanas" (American cookies) and award each individual child with a certificate/award that had a positive connotation to it. We thought that this might help the kids with their self-esteem--something that a lot of them struggle with. It was a big hit and a lot of fun. Jose Antonio's face (first photo below) just lit up when I read his name and his award: Senor Obediente. I think it was really good for the kids to be applauded for good things. Even a few hours later I saw a few of the children still clutching their awards. We had all kinds of variaties of awards ranging from natural leader to amazing-american-football-spiral-throwing ability :) Our hope is that the children will more be able to recognize the good qualities in themselves as well as those around them.

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.