Last updated on .
In 2017, we worked with Creating Change Together (CCT) to help coordinate a charity project, Bags for Belén.
Coordinating the Bags for Belén Project
Early in 2017, my friend Sabtain from Toronto contacted me to ask if we could help coordinate a charity project he wanted to do with his new charity, Creating Change Together (CCT). They raised over US$2,000 to donate schoolbags for children in our hometown of Belén de Umbría and wanted to come distribute them in early May. He called the project “Bags for Belén”.
We coordinated with Sab and his team, Ahmad and Max, over Facebook Messenger. Our company, Paisadventure, made all the travel and accommodation arrangements in Colombia, received the donation money wired from CCT to purchase the bags, and worked with the teachers in town to determine the schools with the most need.
Once we purchased the bags and they were delivered to us, we started getting student counts from teachers in all the rural schools. Every single student at 15 different schools would receive a new backpack through Bags for Belén, which ended up being nearly 500 students.
Distributing the Backpacks
The CCT team arrived late at night at the airport in Pereira. I picked them up and drove them to their hotel in Belén. Early the next morning, we set out to distribute backpacks to the first five schools. We followed a police escort down some muddy jungle roads outside town and stopped at each school.
The students greeted us with smiles and hugs as we passed out the bags. Some prepared speeches while others made thank you cards to give us. They were curious and asked us lots of questions about Canada and the USA. At some schools, we were even treated with snacks and juice.
The CCT crew interviews teachers on video to talk about the needs of the school and students and to elaborate on what the donation meant to them. Many students had been sharing backpacks with their siblings or carrying their belongings in plastic shopping bags. Some didn’t have a bag at all. Every teacher believed the project empowered the students and positively motivated them to work harder in school.
We repeated the schedule the next day, but we had a special visit from the mayor of Belén who came to thank us for our work and speak to the students on the importance of the project.
A Minor Setback
Unfortunately, we almost didn’t make it to the last school of the day because we ended up puncturing two tires on one of the jungle roads. We loaded the rest of the bags into the police car, then Sab and I waited with the car as Ahmad and Max went to the school with the police officers. A second spare tire arrived a couple hours later and we made it safely back to Belén.
Our Thoughts on Bags for Belén
All in all, Bags for Belén was a wonderful project that was appreciated by students, teachers, and parents. CCT plans to come back in the future to provide more assistance to the community. We look forward to working with them. Finally, after the project wrapped up, the CCT team took a couple well-deserved days of R&R to take in the sights by visiting Salento.
