Quibdó, Chocó, Colombia - When I landed in Quibdó, I felt strangely like it was a homecoming. The executive directors of our two grantee partners in Quibdó—Milis Moya from Fundación Casa Hogar Nuestros Sueños (Our Dreams Foundation) and Delfino Murillo from Fundación Chocó Joven (Young Chocó Foundation)—were both waiting for me at the airport with open arms. In fact, for the two and a half days that I was in Quibdó, there was literally not a waking moment that I was without my excellent hosts.

While I have been to Colombia previously, and know about the violence and resultant internal displacement that has taken place in the country, I had never visited a city where so many people were victims of displacement (or, one could say, survivors of violence and guerilla invasions of their villages). Everyone I met and spoke with in the city of Quibdó, adults and children alike, had roots in a village from which they had been forced out, sometimes after being held for days or weeks in guerilla custody.

I learned that the Chocó region has the highest rate of displaced people in all of Colombia. Just prior to my arrival in Quibdó, I started to ponder what it means to be displaced. How does it feel to be forced to leave your home on short notice, sometimes running away with only the clothes on your back? What is it like to be separated from your farm, your job, your community, your support network, and even members of your family? How do you garner the strength to start over, from scratch, in a new and unfamiliar environment?

Obviously, displacement takes a serious toll on a family, and the effects differ for adults, youth, and children. All must deal with the physical and psychological burden of displacement, but children often fall victim to additional direct and indirect effects, such as being orphaned or being left unaccompanied all day while mom and dad try to scrape together a living in a new and strange place.

Older children—adolescents and teens—are forced to adapt to a new community, make new friends, create new points of reference, and function outside of their comfort zone. As Delfino pointed out, these young people frequently decide to join gangs or get involved in other harmful activities in an attempt to create a new support structure to replace the one that was lost.

Our grantee partners in Chocó work tirelessly to help the younger generation adjust to and excel in their new environment.

Fundación Casa Hogar Nuestros Sueños

The women who founded Nuestros Sueños were displaced from their homes in 2003. In their new community, they noticed many adults leaving their young children home alone during the day while they worked as domestic helpers, sold fruit, or did some other activity to support their families. They had nowhere else to leave their children. On several occasions, there were floods or fires, and the children died.

A group of mothers decided to do something for the community and started a daycare for the kids—a place to take children from birth to age 7. From a small idea, responding to a basic community need, a dynamic, diverse, and successful organization grew, one that now boasts its own center—the nicest in all of Quibdó. This center serves over 200 children from birth to age 14 and provides them with a safe place to learn, play, rest, eat, and interact while their parents are at work. Nuestros Sueños also provides the children with psychosocial care, medical and dental attention, and opportunities to participate in extracurricular activities. For the mothers, Nuestros Sueños organizes workshops to teach sewing and the art of making traditional crafts, which can then be sold to earn income for the families.

Fundación Chocó Joven

My first activity with Fundación Chocó Joven was attending a meeting where Luiz Hernandez, a specialist in agro-forestry but also a youth leader in human rights and civic education, was facilitating a meeting of about 15 young people, each representing a different youth club or institution. The task at hand was to plan sessions where these youth leaders would train other young people in their communities about human rights and sexual health education. These young people have been meeting on Saturdays for four months to learn about their rights as well as how to be peer educators for others on rights and responsibilities, especially in the area of sexual and reproductive health.

When I asked them what they have learned and why they choose to spend their Saturdays at Chocó Joven, they told me that for them these meetings open up a whole new way of seeing the world—they can be agents of change, they can freely engage in debate and discussion about controversial issues, they can replicate what they learn for their peers and classmates. These youth also learn how to organize and effectively lead workshops and stimulate discussions.

Other elements of Chocó Joven’s work are campaigns and communications. The organization creates and presents banners and creates videos to raise awareness about children and adolescent rights. I had the chance to see the banners and to watch several of the videos, which cover topics ranging from sexual and reproductive rights to how to recognize and avoid land mines. Each video has a soundtrack produced and created by youth leaders volunteering with Chocó Joven.

The banners, huge colorful displays that can be used at schools and in public spaces, are carefully designed to reflect the reality in the Department of Chocó. Afro-Colombians are featured, and images are framed in a positive way—for example, showing a healthy, well-cared-for baby when asserting the right to have safe abortions, or a healthy parent-child relationship when demonstrating the right to physical integrity and to not be abused at home or elsewhere.

Overall, Fundación Chocó Joven is working successfully to create a positive support system for young people who are seeking such an outlet. Chocó Joven involves youth directly in its activities and workshops but also supports youth clubs formed in different communities of displaced people, helping them to build their capacity and engage in productive and healthy activities.

Susanna Shapiro is GFC’s Program Officer for Latin America and the Caribbean