Children Beyond Our Borders
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the problem:
There are 20 million internally displaced young children around the world. Of those 20 million young children, 2 million are from Colombia. Unfortunately 3 out of 4 of those children are not able to continue their education (PLAN). Not being able to continue their education makes these youth all the more defenseless against the conflict in Colombia. Moreover, a lack of education predisposes them to discrimination from the communities that surround settlements of displaced families. Consider Medellín, the second largest city in Colombia, which has a total of 85,000 internally displaced people. Local inhabitants believe that displaced persons depreciate the real estate value as well as drive insecurity within the local environment. These beliefs are further developed when local communities realize the poor levels of education held by the displaced immigrants. Because of the discrimination and lack of education, low or negative self-esteem is very prevalent amongst these groups of people, especially in youth. Low self-esteem in youth “is linked to poor health and deviant social behaviors such as smoking, substance abuse, poor academic achievement, depression, suicide, and pregnancy” (Shirk, Burwell, & Harter, 2003).
vital stats:
people impacted:
200people involved:
30why it's important:
Every child has the right to education. No one should be deny the opportunity of learning about the world around us. Education helps us to develop a perspective, it helps us make wiser decisions and have points of view of everything that surrounds us. That is why is so important to ensure that children obtain an education.
the plan of action:
We plan to meet the needs of internally displaced people populations by providing an environment that turns children on to the excitement of learning while preparing them for a brighter future. New Horizons will help close the learning gap in Medellin and Cartagena, Colombia, by providing underserved youth an opportunity to participate in its unique extracurricular and vocational training program. Moreover, seeks to improve the self-esteem of internally displaced youth so that they can have the self confidence and appreciation needed to excel academically and socially to ensure that they have a brighter and prosperous future.
how you can get involved:
We seek to motivate talented and caring individuals to join our efforts of providing better opportunities to internally displaced youth in the world. We hope to reach out to people that can help us with mentoring, creating awareness, raising funds, and helping us to change the lives of displaced youth. We invite you to get involved with our organization by joining our annual service trip to Colombia and by becoming part of our volunteer & intern program. You can learn more about our projects and how you can get involved by visiting our webpage! We hope to meet you soon.
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