September 14, 2016
The children from the Educational Institution La María, located in the municipality of Ciénaga (Magdalena), have a new space for sports and recreation. Thanks to the support from Drummond, Fundepalma and the Mayor’s office of Ciénaga, through which people participated in the reintegration process, the school has a new multi-use court.
In a symbolic act, the children from the Educational Institution La María took part in the “Golombiao” or “the peace game,” a game where soccer promotes the values in children and youngsters, which helps prevent the recruitment by unlawful groups.
During the event, the multi-use sports court was presented to the community of Ciénaga, where 743 children from the Educational Institution La María will benefit.
During the event, the children received booklets on the construction of values titled “Stories classified by values.” These booklets were prepared by former combatants with recycled materials. The assembly of these booklets are part of the social services that Drummond Ltd. has supported in the Department and along with the Colombian Agency for Reintegration (Agencia Colombiana para la Reintegración).
This interinstitutional alliance enables the quality of life to improve for the children from the Educational Institution La María and the neighboring residential areas by the promotion of sports, recreation and the healthy use of their free time. As the mayor of Ciénaga, Mr. Edgardo Pérez Díaz, stated that the sports court is a milestone and a symbol for Ciénaga.
“This work was carried out thanks to the support of Drummond, the backing of Fundepalma, the Mayor’s office of Ciénaga and the committed work activities of a group of people in the reintegration process, who dedicated 96 work hours in the activity of adapting the terrain prior to building the sports court. The result is that this sports court will become a place that encourages the peaceful coexistence among children, youngsters and teenagers,” said José Nicolás Wild, Coordinator from the Colombian Agency for Reintegration, “ACR”, in the Department of Magdalena.
Drummond Ltd., just like the other entities, worked alongside the communities in order to reinforce the social fabric.
“It is very important for us to have handed over the sport court as part of the social infrastructure that we develop in the municipalities from the areas of influence. Those who profited greatly were the students from the Educational Institution La María, that together with Fundepalma and the Mayor’s office of Ciénaga, handed this over to the service of the community”, said Mr. Alvaro Daza, Drummond Ltd.’s Community Relations Coordinator.
The Executive Director of Fundepalma, Ms. Yenny Salazar, expressed that handing over the sports court “is an example of public-private alliance, where Drummond with its leadership in the region has summoned the participation of other sectors. We are very pleased as businessmen for having such an important ally, and being able to offer these scenarios to the community, which make possible that the youngsters use their free time adequately and that we indeed create scenarios for the construction of higher social development in our region.”
Drummond Ltd. Contributes to the Construction of Peace
Fourty-six people in the reintegration process have participated in the actions of social service that Drummond Ltd. has coordinated with the Colombian Agency for Reintegration. Along with the resources and the technical support from Drummond, activities have been carried out include: maintenance in the ground plant of the Educational Institution Carlos García Mayorca (Ciénaga) and its section in the district of Jolonura, the beautification of the physical premises of five Centers for Child Development in the municipalities of Aracata and Ciénaga, activities for the maintenance of the park and Simón Bolívar toy library (Ciénaga) and the assembly of a series of booklets in recyclable material on the construction of values, which have been prepared by former combatants and given out to the children from the different municipalities of the Department of Magdalena with reading activities such as out loud reading activities led by those reintegrated into society.
This last social service initiative named “Let’s work for the culture and the reintegration”, is coordinated with the strategy on the prevention to the enlistment of the ACR “Mambrú does not go to war, this is another story”. Also through the means of the stories, a message of peace and reconciliation is given to the children. For many of these children from these vulnerable areas, the booklets become their first book.
