Social Development and Projects
It is our goal to, through the application of different projects, improve the quality of life in the villages we work in. Thereby “Help to Self-application” is our motto. We lay great importance in the involvement of the locals and their development through education. This is the only way to bring through significant improvements.
The advancement in education of well organized, productive communities through self-application of professional instruction, accompanied measures during the process of production, fortification of the basic organization, the creation of a space for peaceful co-operation with the goal of planning and implementing profitable programs and strategies, all this through the creation of a better quality of life for the needy and fragile communities we work in.
The projects should, through monitoring of process and schooling, lead to the increase of production and capital, as well as the improvement of the standard of living in the families the Fundación Madre Herlinda attend to.
Projects of production
In these projects the people should be presented with the possibility to earn money on their own. The goal is that in the future, through schooling, possibilities for education and professional instruction the people will be economically independent. Especially the socially disadvantaged women are supported through these projects. The idea is to help them get started themselves, but not to do the entire work for them.
Created organizations:
- United women of Pasacaballos Organization – AMUPAC
- Women organization for the development of the community of Puerto Badel – AMUDIC
- Women organization for the improvement of the community of Rocha – AMPRO
- Organization for the future of Cañaveral – AFUCAÑA
- Organization for the development of Turbana – ASODECOT
- Organization for sustainable agriculture of Pasacaballos – AGROCOP
Slum Barrio Madre Herlinda Moises
Named after the founder of the FMHM, the slum Barrio Madre Herlinda Moises originally lay about half an hour’s walk from the Foundations headquarters on the outskirts of Pasacaballos. The slum was founded in 2007 and is home to around 180 families. Many of them are so called “Desplazados”, families that were forced to flee their homes, because of violent conflict in Colombia. They are refugees in their own country.
As the occupation of the land is an illegal occupation, a lawyer was hired to negotiate a way to make their settlement an illegal one. The lawyer was bribed, the initiated process lost. About a year after the founding of the slum, a special police force violently dispersed the inhabitants. Thanks to international support, a letter of protest and the help of the Fundación Madre Herlinda a resettlement to a different location close to Cartagena was made possible. Bit by bit the people were able to rebuild, what they had lost through the violent raid of the police. The high rate of unemployment makes life for the people in the slum very hard.
The majority of men are part-time workers, the women are cleaning ladies. But despite of the amount of poverty, the people still feel a sense of hope. Work on the wooden huts is in progress, some already even have a cement floor.
Unto this day it is not possible to make their stay there legal, however there exists a confirmation from the mayor that the inhabitants are allowed to remain where they are. The legalization and the creation of a working infrastructure are one of the goals of the Fundación Madre Herlinda.
Since its foundation the slum Barrio Madre Herlinda has been supported by the Fundación Madre Herlinda and it was even made possible to employ a social worker, especially for the Barrio. In co-operation with the village council we are working on the before mentioned projects, the creation of a legal base and a supply of electricity and water for the slum. The aim is to educate and lead the village council so far, that it can, in the near future, manage the slum without the help of organizations outside of the Barrio.
More information on the Barrio Madre Herlinda can be found here: Blog of the Barrio Herlinda Moises.