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This is our story about helping a Colombian school in a marginalized community to enhance the education and overall well-being of its students.
Helping a Colombian School: Background
In Belén de Umbría, a tiny two-room school serves a marginalized community. Andrés Escobar Primary School has two teachers and 30 students from preschool to 5th grade. Many of the students have discipline issues or learning disabilities. Some come from broken families, have just one parent, or are raised by their grandparents. A few students have been displaced by violent conflict in Colombia while others have drug addicts or prostitutes in their families. All of the students come from very low-income families that struggle to afford school supplies, uniforms, and lunches.
My girlfriend (now wife), Marisol, is one of the teachers at Andrés Escobar. As she was starting her second year at the school, she was discussing the lack of support by its parent organization, Nuestra Señora del Rosario. They have a secondary school and another much bigger primary school in town. Those schools get much more support as far as repairs, books, and activities for students while Andrés Escobar is often forgotten and left to fend for itself. Marisol also said that students often come to school without the proper supplies and lack motivation.
Initiating the Project
After hearing of the problems faced by the students and school, we came up with an idea to try and solve some of them. By doing this, we believed we could change the attitudes of the students and make the school a happier place to learn. I decided to create a call to action on Facebook to see if we can raise enough money to pay for school supplies for the students for a year. It got an overwhelming response. Many friends and family members asked how they could donate.
I calculated that for just US$40 per student we could buy each student a new backpack, lunches, and enough school supplies to last the entire year. I immediately set up a Go Fund Me campaign asking for US$1200. Not only did we reach the goal after three days, we surpassed it. Through the generosity of friends and strangers, we raised US$1635. In addition, an anonymous donor from Spain offered about US$350 to cover all of the lunches for the entire year. Student lunches at the time cost just COP$2,000 for an entire week – about 60 cents – and many students couldn’t afford this. With the extra money, we would be able to do a whole lot more than what we had originally hoped.
Helping a Colombian School, Part 1: Buying Backpacks and Supplies
The first thing we did was purchase a new backpack for each student. Some students were sharing old backpacks with their siblings or using backpacks with gaping holes in them. Other students didn’t have a backpack at all and were bringing their supplies and books to school in a plastic shopping bag. The owner of the shop was able to give us a 5% discount on the backpacks.
Marisol and Lina (the other teacher) then found a stationary store to buy all of the supplies for each student, including notebooks, pencils, pens, colored pencils, rulers, erasers, glue sticks, and more. It took the store a little longer to gather everything because they didn’t have enough on hand. We had to wait an extra day for more supplies to come from Pereira.
Copies and Printing
We also went to another stationary store to put down money to start an account for copies and printing. The teachers have to pay for the copies out of pocket and are not supported by the school in any way. The cost is passed along to the students who have to pay for each copy that’s given to them during the school year. This often results in the teachers unable to recoup the money by the end of the year.
Surprising the Students
Once the supplies were in, we went to the store with the backpacks to put the packages together for each student and put them into the backpacks.
The next morning, we transported all of the backpacks to the school. This five minute video is the result:
The students then had a chance to show off their new surprises and go through all of their supplies.
Helping a Colombian School, Part 2: Buying School Uniforms
The students were very grateful for the backpacks and supplies but our work wasn’t done. The following week, Marisol and Lina made a list of what uniform parts were missing for each student. Some students had no uniform at all while others were missing pants, shirts, or sweats. We offered to give them one piece of the uniform and their parents were responsible for the rest. The students who had complete uniforms were given a pair of socks.
Helping a Colombian School, Part 3: Repairing the School Building
The school building, as previously mentioned in the video, had several problems. It hadn’t been painted in many years, the roof leaked terribly every time it rained, and the school was in bad shape in general.
The teachers and I both understood that the condition of the building could negatively affect the psyche of the students. We knew that significant improvements would immediately improve attitudes and discipline by giving them a happier place to study every day.
First, we thought about how we wanted the school to look after the renovation. We wanted a mural on the side of the school; the shield of Nuestra Señora del Rosario; a Colombian flag; the name of the school; a portrait of the namesake of the school, Andrés Escobar (1967-1994); and an inspirational quote. It was important to have a portrait of Escobar, a Colombian footballer who was brutally murdered in Medellín after scoring an own-goal in the 1994 World Cup in the United States.
We contracted a painter, Saul, to design the mural for the side of the building and to paint the designs we needed. He gave us an incredible offer knowing our funding situation. He basically cut his price in half and gave us the mural for free while we had to cover the cost of supplies. This allowed us to stay well under budget and do even more things for the school.
Interior
The first part completed was the interior:
Damaged Roof
We also talked to a carpenter to fix the damaged roof. He was so inspired by the project that he offered his services for basically nothing but supplies.
Exterior
Saul worked tirelessly and finished the exterior after a few weeks. When it was done, the community and mayor called it “the most beautiful school in Belén de Umbría”. It went from another drab building in a rough neighborhood to drawing people to the area just to see the new look. Here are the before and after photos:
The following photos are some of the details of the school, including the shield, portrait of Andrés Escobar, and the very appropriate quote by Nelson Mandela:
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”:
The mural instantly beautified the school and the entire neighborhood:
A Contract with the Students
The finishing touches on the school were saved for last. We decided that the Colombian flag should be made of handprints of the students. Marisol told them that by putting their handprint on the flag, they were signing a contract to take care of the school, study hard, respect the other students, and to be honest at all times. All of the students took it seriously and faithfully agreed. During the last hour of class, we had each student and teacher put their handprint on the flag.
September 2, 2016: Update on Other Issues
We’ve been able to do a few more things for the school in Belén de Umbría since beginning the project in March. Once the construction finished and supplies were handed out to the students, we decided to look at the smaller issues affecting the school.
Computer Repair
First of all, we hired a technician to clean and fix the computers in the school. All 15 computers are over 10 years old and have been having serious issues. Five of them were completely dead. The tech was able to fix a few of the dead ones. He also installed new educational programs on all of the working computers. This was done over a long weekend in May.
Printing Allowance
Since the teachers have to pay for copies and printing out of pocket, we decided to create an account at a local stationary store for the teachers. The COP$100,000 lasted through August, which is almost ⅔ of the school year. They were able to print appropriate material for each class without having to budget or force students to share printouts.
Welcome Reception
There was a reception for the parents and guardians of the students to introduce them to the new and improved Andrés Escobar School. They were given an explanation on how we raised the money, where the money was spent, and why it was done. They were all very grateful for the project and were happy with the results.
Children’s Day
We decided to have a pizza party for the students for Children’s Day. We had a few pizzas delivered and bought some soda and snacks. They were surprised by the party and had a great time.
Tablet for a Deaf Student
A deaf student transferred to the school in April. She was having a very difficult time communicating in her previous school because nobody knew sign language, and this was causing behavioral problems as well.
When she arrived at our school, the teachers immediately made her feel welcome. The other students began to learn some basic sign language to communicate with her, and the decision was made to purchase a tablet for her.
With the tablet, the teachers are able to download lessons in sign language so she is able to learn the material with less difficulty. She’s much happier, she’s doing very well in every subject, and her behavior has been excellent.
TV Interview
Finally, we were featured on a local TV program for our work. The program ran 4 times and lasted 20 minutes. The students were interviewed and gave their thoughts on the project and how it affected their lives, and the teachers talked about the difficulties in the community and why they need as much support as possible. I was asked how and why the money was raised and where the donations came from. The filming was done during an entire school day and was on the air the next week.
Helping a Colombian School: Final Thoughts and Thanks
Marisol, Lina, and I would like to express a heartfelt thanks to every donor who made this project possible. In just over a month, you were able to completely make over a school and change the lives of 30 students.
Helping a Colombian School: Recapping Our Budget
To recap, we were able to renovate a school in a marginalized community in our hometown of Belén de Umbría. This is our budget and how the money was spent:
Donations
Here is a rundown of the donations (minus ~US$350 from Spain) and general expenses in US dollars:
Donations Collected $1635.00
Go Fund Me fees $ 137.25
Expenses to Date $1392.40
Available Funds $ 105.35
Expenses
Here’s a breakdown of the expenses in Colombian pesos and US dollars. The approximate conversion to US dollars that we’ve been getting is $3,117.80 pesos per dollar:
School Supplies $ 603,000 ($193.41)
Backpacks $ 781,000 ($250.50)
Printing and Copying $ 248,000 ($ 79.54)
Transport Supplies to School $ 8,000 ($ 2.57)
Lunches (first 2 weeks) $ 104,000 ($ 33.36)
Multi-Subject Teacher Books $ 200,000 ($ 64.15)
Uniforms $ 389,000 ($ 124.77)
Painting Supplies $ 338,250 ($108.49)
Painting Labor $ 850,000 ($272.63)
Roofing Supplies $ 118,700 ($ 38.07)
Roofing Labor $ 84,000 ($ 26.94)
Computer Supplies $ 39,000 ($ 12.51)
Computer Labor $ 200,000 ($ 64.15)
Tablet $157,500 ($ 52.39)
Children’s Day $112,500 ($ 36.08)
Parent Conference $102,400 ($ 32.84)
Total Expenses to Date $4,335,350 ($1392.40)
Helping a Colombian School: Suggestions
What do you think we should do with remaining money? It may not look like much but it’s enough to do a whole lot in Colombia. I’ve listed a couple ideas below. What else can we do?
- Many of the balls and supplies used for physical education are in bad shape.
- We can have a party at the end of the school year for the students.
