Helping women to improve the quality of life in parts of Colombia
Children of the Catalina community, Colombia, raising poultry.
Photo: Samuel Lobato/CWS
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Many families in parts of southwest Colombia live in extreme poverty despite their region's resources. Historically, indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities have been exposed to extreme poverty and conditions of marginality, the expression of structural racism. Both armed factions and investors are interested in the region because of its natural resources and its access to the Pacific Ocean and principal highways. Civilians are often subjected to violence and repression, and many have fled their homes and ancestral lands for other areas. Youth, besides being the victims of violence, are often coerced to join the armed conflict by insurgent and paramilitary groups or by the army and the police.
To keep their families intact, women are working together to improve their living conditions. Church World Service and the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) 2005-2008 Advance joined together to support three groups in implementing a three-year Food Production and Income Generation Project for Poor Rural Families. The groups have helped to improve the basic survival conditions of 248 poor rural families, 142 of which are headed by women. The participating families have increased their food production, and have created and maintain four plots to grow medicinal plants. Forty-six families (236 people) have increased their income, and 100 children, ages 6 to 12, who had worked in local mines have returned to school.