October 26, 2015
Taliana Vargas, the highest representative of the Casa en el Árbol foundation and former beauty queen was welcomed with messages, dances and musical performances by the young people from the Cordobita district of Ciénaga – Magdalena. This was her first visit, after a month and a half of work on the Soccer for Peace program that is being conducted in partnership with Drummond Ltd.
Taliana, with her typical charisma, expressed her gratitude for the reception that she received at the Carlos García Mayorca school in Cordobita and said how happy she was to that the willingness of the children and their parents has been vital in moving forward with the project.
“Thank you to all of the children for their desire to learn, their desire to dream and their desire to succeed. Without such open hearts we would not be able to do much. Thank you for the support from Drummond, our helping hands, and the work by the people who work for Casa en el Árbol. I am so happy that this can be the first step to other communities where the social fabric is really being reconstructed.”
So far, 150 children from the communities of Cordobita and Jolonura have benefited from this first project, which will last for six months.
The program has also included and benefited 40 parents from the same communities in Ciénaga through the School for Parents that is connected to the Soccer for Peace program, through which a training, education and empowerment program was launched.
The workshops address the need to integrate the families into the social reconstruction process because while the children attend the sports training sessions on the field on Tuesdays and Thursdays, the parents work with the Foundation’s psycho-social team.
The person responsible for the program’s psycho-social monitoring and counseling, Tatiana Cuello, reminds parents during the activities: “Your children are being educated and we are trying to introduce them to a society that is much more tolerant and respectful and allows them to work as a team, so they have the ability to be supportive of the needs of others. In the same way, we want to educate the parents so they are a little more aware about issues related to raising children.”.
In this way, the parents receive instruction on parenting guidelines, how to handle communication, discipline at home, and relationships as a couple, among others, acquiring tools that improve their quality of life and facilitate the educational process for the children who are receiving sports training while being instilled with values and culture at the same time.
With her visit, Taliana Vargas was able to see the work that these communities have been doing and expressed that “When the psychologists told me that this was a special cycle, I said to myself: they gave their heart, body and soul, but I need to go see what Cordobita – Ciénaga is like. So I take great satisfaction [to see] that things are being done well, because what we want to do, through soccer, is to create better human beings and I think we are succeeding.”
With partnerships like these, Drummond Ltd. and the Casa en el Árbol Foundation will continue to replicate projects in which the communities make a commitment to participate and chose a lifestyle that encourages healthy living.
