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"
A hand for
tomorrow
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The history of the
newborn …
Moi Pour
Toit foundation was born in 1987 in Martigny (Switzerland), thanks to
Christian Michellod, a Swiss journalist now the father of two Colombian
adopted children, who was deeply touched by the street children situation
in Pereira.
He decided to take action by fundraising in Switzerland, with the aim of
with the aim of support abandon children’s programs in this city.
In 1991,
the foundation was legally registered (Number 2024) by the Risaralda
Government and started initiating various programs in Pereira. The
foundation first bought a home for 12 teenage girls and went on to buy a
coffee farm in the Combia site in 1992. Four years later it opened a mixed
home for 40 girls and boys at the coffee farm. In 1995, it also opened a
reception center in the Cuba Neighborhood. |
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... When the Story was born
At the
present time, the Foundation takes care of 66 children, teenagers between
7 and 18 years old in the 3 Pereira Centers. Two third of these children
are introduced by the Bienestar Familiar, and the rest are taken in
spontaneously by Moi pour Toit. The foundation takes care of street
children including children abused by their families and children living
in extreme poverty conditions.
Since the birth of Moi pour Toit, it
has taken care of more than 550 children in Pereira.
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The Educational Process
As soon
as the child arrives at the foundation, he/she goes through an evaluation
process. This process lasts at least a month and is aimed at studying the
children’s physical and medical situation as well as their level of
education.
In the
second stage, which is the permanent stage the child follows a complete
educational process: attending school, participating in all other extra
curriculums as well as helping in various domestic chores. Simultaneously
we also start their first family contacts to study the possibility of
his/her reintegration. This period of time could range from a few months
and up to 10 years, depending on their families possibilities of assure
the child fulfillment of his/her rights or otherwise the disposition of
the child family to let the child to stay in the foundation. Our home is
an open doors home, which means that the child will never be obliged to
stay.
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... And the Stages at home
The child that
could not be reintegrated back into his/her family can stay at our center
until the age of 18, going through a preparation process that allows
him/her to acquire the necessary knowledge and autonomy to live their life
outside the center.
The different
stages aims to guarantee the child right to a peaceful development, and a
new dignity that allow them to become a responsible adult.
The foundation obliges itself to
overcome the child perspective as a compassionate or repressed object and
to access to the child recognition as a person full of rights and
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The Farm
The farm
where about 40 children live presently is located 10 kilometers from
Pereira’s Downtown in Colombia Sector. This home
was opened in 1995 and is now the foundation's headquarters. It is 32,000
square meters of land; 4000 constructed meters and 28,000 square meters of
this land comprises of coffee, bananas and various fruit plantations.
The
buildings are: one building for boys, one for girls, offices, dinning
room, kitchen, separated bathrooms, storage rooms, medical clinic room,
and psychological assessment rooms. The children enjoy a library, a
playroom, a football and a basketball court, a swimming pool, a small
park, a bungalow and a room for meetings and television. In addition the
children are also trained to in various handcraft skills and mechanical
training to repair things at home, and in the Front part of the farm is
the house staff, in charge of the farm care
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Farm girls and boys
Each
child in the farm has a personal mentor. This mentor follows the
development of the child right from the moment of arrival at the center.
The day at the farm starts early, with the domestic chores before the
children leave for school in the rural areas. In the afternoon, the
tutors/mentors organize different workshops and activities with the aim of
stimulating their physical, artistic and intellectual skills of the
children. These activities include: literature, theater, ethics, sports
and paintings, among others. Besides these classes, the children
participate in a special workshop where they make handcrafts such as
necklaces, knit works, and cards that are then generally sold in
expositions.
Also during the day there is always ample opportunities learning the art
of resolving conflicts by talking for example for these children.
On the weekends these children usually take leisurely trips some go
visiting their families. The ones that stay back during these period enjoy
some peace and quiet at the farm. Usually their start their initial
development process far away from the noisy city environment. |
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Teenager’s home
In la
Villa Sector, the foundation has a house with twelve teenagers, only boys
from 14 to 18 years old. This home protects and prepares the youngsters to
develop the independence and autonomy necessary to live life outside the
center after their turn 18.
These youngsters are in charge of the housework and they also with the
foundation support work on their own various projects. During their stay
at this home they have to go to school, mostly at night times. This is
simply to take advantage attending some technical classes that are run in
the afternoons offered by--SENA (a technical school from the government)
or some other institutions.
Moi pour toit offers these youngsters the possibility of learning and
mastering a skill allowing them to take their life’s in their own hands
not forgetting learning the fundamental values to enable their
reintegration process back into the Colombian society. |
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The teenager home for girls
Fourteen
young girls live in a house located in down town in Pereira, this is the
other home of Moi Pour Toit foundation. Here the girls attend classes at
school and also learn skills that will help boost their development
process. The skills include domestic work and human interaction.
When they complete their time at this home, some of these girls go into
various businesses, some working in factories, small business and some
settle down to making a home and a family for them selves.
Even though the girls leave the foundation when they are 18 years old, the
still retain their support network from moi pour toit including
emergencies just like a family that is always there for each other.
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The Bienestar Familiar Agreement
Since
1994, the foundation has worked together with Bienestar Familiar. Moi pour
Toit accepts at its center children that are under the protection of the
law. Bienestar familiar collaborates in various aspects including expenses
as well as with analyzing the proficiency of the educational systems used
with and for the children.
In this way the foundation as well as other social institutions maintain
constantly, quality standards that are always promoted and evaluated by Bienestar Familiar.
There is always a direct contact with the Bienestar Familiar defenders
that are in charge of doing follow-ups with these children under the
protection of the law. This teamwork requires and is undertaken with a lot
of good communications skills and professionalism. |
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UNICEF Recognition
At the end of 1995, the foundation had the opportunity to participate on a
national pilot project of “self-evaluation, strengthen and creation of
quality standards for children protection institutions”
At the end of this process, UNICEF accredited the foundation. This process
opened the door to the optimization of all the structures and actions of Moi pour toit foundation. |
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The Child and his/her family
Family
structure is essential for the normal development of the child. A child
taken with or without his will to a different environment, should have
knowledge of his personal history and if it’s possible the child will
always have links with his/her family making the reintegration process
feasible.
The foundation’s work is not only limited to the protection and potential
development of the child, but it’s goal is also establish links and
contact with the children’s families working towards the improvement of
the life conditions and the relationship between the family members, with
the aim that the family will guarantee the child his development and
protection.
After a period of time and when the process mentioned above has been
satisfactory completed, most of the children of Moi Pour Toit are in
general reintegrated back into their families. Families include parents,
grandparents, relatives and other recognized family members. |
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Family Support
To support the idea of an infancy
culture in the families, Moi pour Toit organize monthly a school for
parents, developing basic subjects for the development and communication
inside their homes.
Besides that, the institution serves as an advisor for these families in
terms of the health system. In this way the Foundation maintains good
communication links with the community, building an image of a
foundation that works and defend children’s rights and brings a
different opportunity for many people. |
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The foundation as member of the community
The foundation
learns and works together with other institutions, and is working to
build solidarity and social culture in Pereira.
In this way, it takes part of an institution network that is looking to
create a child’s protection database. The foundation is also part of a Risaralda federation of NGOs.
At this moment, the foundation is working together with Bienestar
Familiar on a project aimed to promote children’s rights between all the
protection institutions in Pereira. |
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The children as ambassadors of peace
The
foundation promotes dialogs and pacific coexistence. The foundation
supports and encourages children to participate in municipal and
national programs of peace. In these programs the children can express
their opinions and have responsibilities.
They also learn to solve conflicts and to improve their communication
skills and then they bring this experience to the center, share them
with other children and take concrete actions. In this way the children
are actively participating on the country development process. |
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An interdisciplinary team
The main
rule of the foundation is to give to children professional support.
Understanding that education is a basic element in this process, Moi
pour Toit supports its capacity of staff --building offering permanently
the opportunity to learn and get up to date information to improve their
skills
At the same time the foundation promotes on a permanent basis
communication and cooperation that allows each member of the team to
take advantage of the different coworker's professional skills.
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From the Nutritionist until the coffee pickers
At the
present time, the foundation works with approximately 30 people. Only
its Director is Swiss, the rest of its staff is all Colombians. The team
consist of 10 educators, two psychologist and the staff who are in
charge of logistics and social work. Besides that there is a qualified
nutritionist, 2 chefs, administrative staff, maintenance and coffee
pickers.
Often the foundation hires staffs to conduct workshops with the aim of
improving the school and cultural skills of the children.
It is also clear that the learning process is of the interests to
everybody, from the educators to the coffee pickers and the drivers,
each one of them are a role model to every child. |
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The foundation in Switzerland
In
Switzerland the foundation has a house consisting of storage rooms and
offices.
From there, Christian Michellod, the founder and his family lead all the
awareness campaigns within Switzerland promoting the foundation's cause
and fund raising for the projects in Colombia.
The foundation also takes part on events and fairs, where some Colombian
products like coffee and music are exhibited as well as some handcrafts
made by Moi pour Toit children like necklaces, bracelets, knit works, or
cards. In this way we present the Colombian vision of creativity, hence
contributing to the diffusion of the Colombian culture. |
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The foundation's Philosophy
To help is not only to give… To think
Pereira’s People as well as other people in South America are just
passive receivers is a limited idea that does not contribute to their
development. That’s why, the Foundation wants to go further beyond the
economic support, looking all the time to work together with state
institutions and the Pereira community, to guarantee that all the
actions will be sustainable and will have major coverage and strong
compromise between the members.
For that purpose, we count on the
professional formation of people from Pereira to enable the youngsters
to be able to diffuse their skills the future the region's development.
To help is not only
to give…
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Comment pouvez-vous aider la Fondation ?
The foundation exist thanks to the Swiss godfathers and the Colombian
godfathers on a small participation..
The main financial principle of Moi pour Toit is the direct
support to the children, with out intermediaries, and independently of
the big Country NGO’s. A hand-to-hand direct support.
The
Thousand Club allows you the opportunity to contribute a small amount on
a monthly basis, which is essential to the foundation in order to
continue its work.
Besides the financial help, the foundation also looks for
different ways of support. The educational needs and work opportunities
for the youngsters are huge, and its cover is vital for the development
of the children. That’s why, anyone interested in helping these
children’s development in any way are always welcome.
Club
des 1000
You can also make a
child’s dream come true and most of all you are making a difference in
their future for the better.
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