Empowering children to empower others

Amelia* (17) and Angela (16) are two Venezuelan sisters who as community advocates, empower children in Uribia, Colombia. Like them, 180 young men and women in nine different communities in Colombia’s north-eastern La Guajira region, are creating a support network with the growing number of migrant families coming from neighbouring Venezuela.

Once a week, a group of 30 young advocates in the community of Uribia, like Amelia and Angela, gets together at the SOS Children’s’ Villages Child-Friendly Space. The SOS social workers share lessons on different topics relevant to their daily lives, such as discrimination, violence, gender equality, multiculturalism. Later that week, these young men and women have to transfer what they have learned to other children through activities of their choice, like dramatizations, dance, songs, mime, etc.

The aim of this initiative is to empower the community advocates so they empower younger children in their community themselves. On top of this, the young advocates summon other families and children in the area that are not yet part of these activities.

“We see these young advocates as one of us, we prepare them because they know the community, its dynamics and its values,” says Estefania Jaramillo, SOS social worker. “They are the first to approach the families, they invite the children to the SOS Child-Friendly Spaces, and then we visit the families again to reinforce their work.”

Amelia and Angela say they are always waiting for these days to play with the children. They enjoy being community advocates because as they describe it, it is a fun way to help others and gives them optimism.

“I like supporting parents and children. I also feel it also helps me to prepare for when I go to university and become a professional,” says Angela.

A united family

These two young women arrived in La Guajira three years ago, her parents and five younger siblings were waiting for them at Uribia. Today the family shares a humble room in a small house where they live with four other Venezuelan families; they are 26 people in total. As most Venezuelan migrants in the area, they struggle: their mother is unemployed and their father finds occasional jobs as a construction worker.**

Amelia and Angela were not able to go to school until this year due to lack of space in the educational institutions in the area. Fortunately, today they both are in the seventh grade, they are outstanding students and top of their classes.

As the old sisters, they are aware of their family’s challenges and can see their parents worry when they cannot get money for food or water, a luxury in these dry lands. But both girls have very clear goals to support their family in the future. Amelia wants to be a bacteriologist to investigate and cure diseases, while Angela is attracted to law. When they achieve their career goals, their dream is to buy their family a house where they can be more comfortable.

“It is hard leaving the place where you were born, raised and grew up,” says Amelia. “But with this experience, we have learned to stay together as a family. Family is the most important thing for us.”

*Names have been changes to protect children’s privacy

**Currently the family is a beneficiary of the SOS Children’s Villages Emergency Response Programme, they receive support with nourishment and school supplies. Likewise, they receive regular visits from the SOS team and the rest of the children attend the SOS Child-Friendly Space.