COLOMBIA:
Foster Families Help
Child Fighters Rejoin
Society
By Gloria Helena Rey
VILLAVICENCIO, Colombia,
(IPS) - "I took in a
14-year-old boy. I did
it for Colombia, for
peace. These children
need another chance, to
be able to live and grow
up as decent citizens,"
says Maria*, a
29-year-old mother of
three.
Hers is one of the
specially selected and
trained families that
have taken in
demobilised child
combatants in Colombia,
as part of the Programa
de Hogares Tutores or
foster homes programme.
More than 2,000
youngsters between the
ages of eight and 17 who
were recruited by
illegal armed groups in
this warn-torn country
and managed to escape
have been given the
opportunity to rejoin
society through the
programme, which got
underway in 2003 in the
western Colombian city
of Armenia and then
expanded to other cities
like Manizales,
Villavicencio, and
Bogotá.
The programme has the
support of Colombia’s
Family Welfare
Institute, the European
Union, the International
Organisation for
Migration and
non-governmental
organisations.
In Villavencio, some 100
children are getting a
new start in life in the
homes of foster
families. Today, 27 of
them are at the centre
while IPS is visiting.
Security and protection
are tight.
In the programme’s
centres, the youngsters
receive schooling,
psychological support
and an opportunity to
play football and engage
in other activities.
There are also rooms for
young mothers with their
babies, "because
sometimes the girls show
up pregnant, or get
pregnant during the
social reinsertion
process," says
psychologist Rodolfo
Tovar, the coordinator
of Hogares Tutores in
Villavicencio.
The city, which is two
and a half hours from
Bogotá by car and is the
gateway to the vast
eastern Llanos (plains)
region, is known for its
wide ethnic diversity
and its proximity to
conflict zones.
It is near the districts
of Ariari and San
Vicente del Caguán,
which were at the heart
of the Switzerland-sized
area demilitarised by
the government of Andrés
Pastrana (1998-2002) for
peace talks with the
Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia (FARC),
the main rebel group.
The talks collapsed in
early 2001 and troops
were sent back in to the
former safe haven.
Although the civil war
rages on, the youngsters
taking part in the
programme are beginning
to recover what they had
lost: the warmth of a
family and a renewed
interest in life. They
have traded in their
guns for pencils, books
and games, and are now
busy studying, working,
engaging in community
service and playing
football, like other
teenagers.
"I want to study and get
training so I can help
people and try to repair
the damages I caused,"
says one youngster in
testimony compiled by
the Hogares Tutores de
Villavicencio.
The United Nations
Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
reported in 2003 that as
many as 14,000 boys and
girls between the ages
of 15 and 17 were
members of the illegal
armed groups involved in
Colombia’s four-decade
armed conflict.
"We know that we are
only working with the
tip of a huge iceberg,
but if you don't start
somewhere, the problem
will just get worse,"
says Tovar.
The success of the
programme lies in "its
emphasis on emotional
intelligence, which is a
person’s ability to
understand their own
emotions, interpret
those of others, and
open up channels of
communication. That has
become the spearhead of
our work," he says.
Youngsters join the
leftist guerrillas or
rightwing paramilitary
militias due to a range
of reasons. Some are
fleeing physical or
sexual abuse at home,
while others are trying
to escape poverty and
find a means of
survival. But while the
armed groups give them
clothing, shoes and
food, the children are
not aware of the high
price they will have to
pay, including their own
life in many cases, the
experts point out.
And if they manage to
escape, returning to
their own families is
impossible, because of
the risk of being
tracked down by their
former comrades in arms.
The middle-class foster
homes, which receive
support, training, and a
small stipend from the
state, take in
adolescents who are in
danger after leaving one
of the armed groups and
help them in their
personal development and
social reinsertion
process, says Jorge
Grisales, a member of
the staff at
Villavicencio.
"The opportunity to live
in a family setting is
an experience that
allows them to build and
repair emotional ties
that have been destroyed
by the violence and the
war," explains Grisales.
"Simply depriving
children of the ability
to play is painful,
because that deprives
them of their
imagination and
fantasies, and stunts
their development."
The youngsters involved
in the programme are
encouraged to take part
in sports. "Play and
recreation help build
values. Football is
their favourite sport,
and playing it helps
strengthen the kids’
tolerance levels. They
get hit and kicked, but
don't hit back because
they know it's just a
game," says phys-ed
teacher Luz Stella Rey,
another member of the
staff.
Jeimy Barrera, a teacher
who works in the project
in Villavicencio,
describes the tutoring
that the youngsters
receive, to help them
perform better in school
and develop study
habits. They are also
given vocational and
skills training.
"Based on the kids’
interests and needs, we
plan activities in which
they themselves build
their own knowledge
base. The children are
divided into six groups,
according to their
educational level. We
have to apply a broad
range of learning
strategies, in
accordance with each
child, because they do
not all learn with the
same method," says
Barrera.
But the first challenge
was to strengthen the
students’ communication
skills. "They tended to
withdraw into
themselves; they had
problems communicating.
But they gradually
learned, through
play-acting, theatre and
group activities as
simple as preparing a
salad, for example."
Perhaps the most complex
aspect of the work falls
to psychologist Dora
Inés Grosso.
"What we are trying to
do is to give these
youngsters elements to
strengthen their sense
of identity, balance
their emotions, free
themselves of the
baggage of a tough life,
become part of a family,
and break with their
uprootedness from family
and society as a whole,"
she says.
Teolinda, a 52-year-old
widow and grandmother of
seven, who adopted
David, a 17-year-old
former guerrilla, says
"I am a mother of four.
My only son died at the
age of 33, and when I
adopted my new son, it
was as if my first son
had been reborn. We
immediately hit it off,
and even though he calls
me ‘aunt’, I feel as if
he were my own."
David "has not caused
any problems in our
family, and adapted
almost immediately. He
says he is very happy,
and that he hopes to
have his own children in
our house someday. It
feels good to have him
with us. His behaviour
encourages me to help
other children in the
future," she adds.
Yolanda, 48, who has two
children and three
grandchildren, adopted
two teenage boys, ages
18 and 17. "The former
has been with me for a
year. He is very
sensible, studious and
obedient. He has had his
emotional ups and downs,
but he has accepted help
with that."
"The process is just
beginning with the other
boy," she says.
The foster mothers
confess that at first
they were afraid,
because they did not
know what to expect.
The recovery process
also involves a reunion
with the youngsters’
biological families,
once everyone is ready.
"This is a beautiful
programme, but one with
very touchy aspects, and
we don’t want to
endanger the youngsters’
reinsertion process,
their lives or those of
their foster families,"
says Tovar.
IPS was unable to
interview or photograph
the faces of the
demobilised child
combatants, for security
reasons, and to protect
them from stigma.
* The names of the
families and youngsters
involved in the
programme have been
changed for their
safety. |
