This season, Tea is partnering with The Global Fund for Children to give back to several organizations located in South America. This month, we’re featuring the Corporación Correcaminos in El Retiro, Colombia. Learn more about this wonderful organization below.
This month we feature Corporación Correcaminos, a grassroots organization in El Retiro, Colombia—a town that suffered during Colombia’s armed conflict and that today struggles with family violence and unemployment. Correcaminos promotes community participation, education and economic opportunities through cultural, educational and recreational activities with a focus on bicycling. One program donates bikes to rural children to encourage school attendance, while a small bike repair shop provides youth employment, and an after-school club combines mountain-biking with life-skills training.
Just one bicycle can change the course of hundreds of lives. The founder of Corporación Correcaminos credits receiving a bicycle when he was young as a turning point; it led to better opportunities for education and employment, better health, and in general a higher quality of life. Now hundreds of kids living around El Retiro—a town that suffered during Colombia’s armed conflict and that today struggles with family violence and unemployment—are getting the same opportunity.
The Global Fund for Children supports their after-school Recreation and Competition program. Correcaminos uses three core programs to help children in different ways: the after-school Recreation and Competition program, which promotes healthy lifestyles; a bike repair and job training program that helps youth develop new, practical skills; and the Biking to School program, which offers free bikes to rural children and encourages them to stay in school. Several program graduates now earn a living as professional cyclists! We are amazed at all the good work Correcaminos is able to do in Retiro and we’re so happy we could connect with them to help out.