FOOD AND EDUCATION FOR 80 AT-RISK CHILDREN IN BOGOTÀ
Introduction: Hogares Club Michin
“Hi there! I`m Riccardo Di Massa, I’m an economist, I’m Italian, and I’m currently volunteering in Hogares Club Michin, a non-profit organization that rescues children and teenagers living in problematic conditions in Bogotà, Colombia. This organization saves them from delinquency, violence, drugs, exploitation, sexual abuse, difficult domestic situations while affording them love, housing, education, food, clothes, professional courses, psychological, medical, and legal support until they become of age. After that, time is spent supporting them to find a job or continue studying in universities”.
Hogares Club Michin operates in two programs in behalf of these people.
Protection in Households
Colombian State issues a deed of protection (“medida de proteccion”) for those children whose rights are violated or ignored in their families and send them to Hogares Club Michin. This organization intervenes since 1958 saving them from difficult family or neighborhood situations and looking after them, affording them love, house, education, professional courses, food, psychological and legal support until they are older. Furthermore, they support them to keep on studying or working when they become of age, looking for jobs or further education. HCM is currently hosting full time more than 180 children (from 2 to 18 years) in 8 households in the barrio of Santa Maria del lago, offering them a comfortable and positive living space, with lovely teachers, instructors, doctors, psychologists, social workers and lawyers. This is to afford them everything they need to grow up with positive values and to find a nice job or university career once they become of age.
Prevention in Communities
In two barrios in the south west of Bogotá there are many children whose families cannot look after them or afford them a good childhood, because of problems of poverty, drugs or violence. Many of these children are victims of violence, exploitation or sexual abuse. As you can imagine, living a childhood in those conditions means growing up in a negative and hostile atmosphere, without values, and becoming negatively influenced people for the rest of their lives. Children who grow up in these conditions will most likely be involved in the reality of violence, crime, drugs and begging and will forever live in a mentality of mediocrity, brutalization, degradation and delinquency; living without dreams, and feeding the vicious circle which can be observed in this city and in the world. Hogares Club Michin has two Community Centers in the barrio Mirador de la Primavera, in the area of Ciudad Bolivar, and in the barrio of Diana Turbay, in the area of Rafael Uribe, where they work with children, before or after school and during weekends, in order to prevent critical situations. Here you can find them doing homework with nice teachers, having meals together, receiving medical, psychological and legal support, thus preventing them from being involved in criminal behaviour and lifestyles. More than 200 children are currently spending their weekdays in the two Community Centers and much more their weekends. We also work with their families, in order to prevent critical situations.
Our numbers
Since 1958 Hogares Club Michin hosted more than 17.000 children, helped more than 2000 women and 10.000 families. The expected expense for 2016 is 67.945$ (224.219.717COP). Our paid staff is composed of 9 people (Director, Financial Coordinator, Financial Assistant, Accountant, Accounting Assistant, Administrative Coordinator, Administrative Assistant, Auditor, Quality Coordinator). About 80 professional teachers, psychologists, doctors, social workers, lawyers, cooks and cleaners work with us. We also receive support by 20 volunteers every year. All our members and workers are high-level professionals and we do our best to keep the highest standards of quality for our children.
Psychological tests
Psychological tests have been administered to children when they get in the houses for the first time (ingreso) and when they leave them, years later (egreso), demonstrating that during their stay they have gained self-confidence, positivity and nice values. The effect of the program on families has been evaluated through social and psychological tests and they also demonstrated to have overtaken social and relational difficulties that presented at the beginning.
Effectiveness, transparency, quality
The Colombian State, through ¨Insituto Colombiano de Bienestar Familiar¨ (ICBF), finances almost 80% of the organization. Every year the contract with ICBF is renewed after that Colombian State guarantees Hogares Club Michin effectiveness, transparency and quality of treatment for the children. Besides, Hogares Club Michin obtained the certification by ¨ONG por la transparencia¨ (NGO for transparency) after that its balance sheet had been analyzed and evaluated as transparent. Our Households and Community Centers are always opened to public and can be visited by any interested person at any time.
Our financiers
Hogares Club Michin is currently receiving most of its funds by Colombian State through “Instituto Colombiano de Bienestar Familiar”, two Colombian Fundations and few more private donors. In the last years, the Community Center of Diana Tubay has needed more funds and has been in decline. For lack of funds, this center had to delete many educational, professional and artistic courses and activities that can no longer be provided to the children. For this reason, 39% of the current generic donations are addressed to this Community Center.
Support
If you are moved by this cause you may contribute through:
- Share this message with at least ten contacts and tell your relatives and friends about Hogares Club Michin
- Visit the organization websitewww.hogaresclubmichin.com
- Visit the organization youtube channelhttps://www.youtube.com/user/hogaresclubmichin
- Subscribe to our newsletterhttp://hogaresclubmichin.com/es/noticias/
- Donations can be made viahttp://hogaresclubmichin.com/es/tu-puedes-crear-futuros/
- if you are interested in volunteer options, i.e. fundraising, organizing events, teaching English, music, dance, painting to the children, our email is
- If you're a musician, an actor, an artist, or someone famous, contact us to be our testimonial
- If you work in a newspaper, a radio, a TV channel and would like to help us promote, contact us at
- If you work at a company or financial restitution that would like to make a corporate donation, please contact us at
- Contact us for any other idea
Education and food for the 80 children of the Community Center of Diana Turbay
The biggest challenge that Hogares Club Michin is currently facing is prevention, which means intervening before that a child becomes drug addicted or gets abused, exploited, recruited. This is a challenge because prevention is for sure the best option, but it is not measurable, so results cannot be shown to the Colombian State or to donors.
In the Prevention in Communities, Hogares Club Michin provides a psychologically healthy space for children that otherwise would spend their days in the street, exposed to drugs, sexual abuse, exploitation, criminality. The Center provides assistance in doing their homework, partial meals, recreation, sport and artistic activities, legal and psychological assistance in order to detect personal problems and aptitudes and to avoid abandonment of studies. The Center also works with their families. This way, children stay away from drugs, bandillas, bad domestic situations, prostitution, robberies, child labour, recruitment in guerrilla armies, abandonment of studies.
The total cost of the Prevention Program in Diana Turbay is 51.600$ (172.637.812 COP). 80 children and their families benefit of the program. The monthly cost to maintain the progam is 4.300$ (14.386.484 COP). The monthly cost to maintain a child is 53,75$.
This program doesn`t receive any support by Colombian State and by ¨Insituto Colombiano de Bienestar Familiar¨. The only support comes by a Colombian Fundation, but, as you can see in the financial excerpts, it is not enough and the Center of Diana Turbay has been in decline in the last 25 years and the situation got worse in the latest years.
As you can see in the first extract of the 2015 Financial Statement, from the 1st of January to the 31st of October 2015 the Center of Diana Turbay has been in deficit of 3.702$ (12.388.012COP). As you can see, the Center didn’t receive any revenue (ingresos operacionales) in the period, but it received donations (from Fundación Santa Gema).
In the second extract of 2015 Financial Statement you can see how money is spent (ejecutado) for the Center. The biggest costs are for stipends (teachers, social workers, psychologists, doctors, lawyers, cooks and cleaners), restoration, transportation, food, water and phone.