Field Stories

Barbara Inglin is Children of the Andes’ Field Officer, based in the city of Cali in Southwest Colombia. She has lived and worked with children in Colombia for over a decade, and has spent the last three years working closely with our partner projects and monitoring the impact of Children of the Andes’ support.

Maria Cristina Temmink has been working with COTA since 2005, initially as a consultant on capacity-building. Since October 2006, she has been working closely with three of COTA’s project partners in Bogotá, accompanying them and supporting them in all areas of their work.

Barbara and Maria Cristina have written accounts of their experiences of working with our partners and all the children in Colombia who are touched by your support:

Field Diary, Spring 2007

Field Diary, Autumn 2006

Field Diary, Spring 2006

Field Diary, Autumn 2005

Field Diary, Summer 2004

Field Diary, Spring 2007- COTA's Field Officer in Bogotá

“Currently, all three of our Bogotá partners are enrolled in local capacity-building programmes. Nutrinfantil and Colombo-Británica are following a programme run by the Bogotá Mayor’s Office that focuses on smaller, more grassroots organisations, while the Formemos Foundation is working with a leading Colombian private sector organisation to develop its strategic planning.

One of the main objectives of the capacity-building initiative is to help strengthen the structures and procedures of our partner organisations and make them more sustainable over time. The idea is that by ‘helping them to help themselves’, we are ultimately helping to ensure the quality and longevity of their support for the children in their care. My role is to give them all the technical and logistical support they need to guide them through what can be a challenging process.

Indeed, there have been some reservations from partners about the necessity of this process, especially since they are already working so hard and achieving so much. However, it is my job to explain not just the enormous benefits, but also the reasons why improvements to their already excellent work are essential to guaranteeing its continuity.

The process involves plenty of self-analysis, and fortunately our partners have not been too sparing with their self-criticism! They have voiced concerns such as: “We lack long term planning” or “We don’t know how to fundraise”. But many positive points have also emerged from the process, such as “We are managing to meet all the goals we have set ourselves”, and “Our local community truly recognises the value of our work”. And what has struck me most has been the incredible commitment of the staff to their organisations and above all to the children. Far from considering their job a 9 to 5 commitment, their work is something in which they have invested their hearts.

Working with these organisations over the past year has been a moving experience for me; hearing all the stories, the hardship of the children and their families, but also being around the energy and dedication of the people that work so hard to help them. It has also been a year of joy with every child that goes to school, that grows to be a healthy person, that can enjoy laughter, and that grabs your hand and shows you proudly around ‘their’ project. I am looking forward to the year ahead, confident that when we work together, we really can make a difference.”

Field Diary, Autumn 2006 - A week in the life of COTA’s Field Officer

There’s no such thing as a “typical” week at COTA’s Field Office. Each day brings new tasks and challenges to add to the never-ending list of ‘things to do’ that sits on my desk. However, a constant in my work is the daily communication by email with my colleagues in London, and because of the time difference, I tend to find my mornings taken up with a flurry of email correspondence. Of course, this depends on whether my office phone is working. All too often, this is not the case and I have to uproot my office to my home, much to the surprise of my cat and dog!

When monitoring reports are due, my week passes in a blur of computer screen and keyboard as I download the information sent through from the projects, consult my notes from earlier visits to the projects, and consolidate the reports.

I plan my monitoring visits to the projects in batches, to keep transport costs down. I usually visit each project twice a year, planning my trips to ensure that I have time to spend with the children and for meetings with project staff. With over 15 projects currently supported by COTA, monitoring visits occupy a considerable amount of my time, and produce an incredible amount of information to be processed and sent back to London.

Visits to our partner projects in the Coffee Growing Region (FNA-Manizales and La Rayuela) allow me a rare moment for reflection as the bus ride from Cali takes at least 5 hours, and the roads are so bumpy there’s no hope of reading or writing up my notes during the journey. Fortunately, the scenery is spectacular and I never tire of gazing out at the mountains and the open countryside.

Monitoring visits are not the only ‘distraction’ from my deskwork. Often, my week involves research visits to potential new projects, or I might be asked to interview candidates for a job at a partner project, or invited to represent COTA at an event. Sometimes, a whole morning is spent queuing at the bank to pay office bills.

Recently, I attended an event to celebrate the third anniversary of the Fundación Formación d’Futuros (FFF), a project that provides leaving care support to young men and women in Cali. When I worked as a fundraiser for COTA in London, FFF was one of the first projects I secured a grant for, so it was particularly poignant for me to be able to join in this celebration.

The key message of the event was to remind people that the same children who receive support while in care, continue to need our support as they make the transition from care to independent living. With little if any family support, these young men and women face a particularly lonely and difficult challenge when they reach 18 and have to leave care. There are 33 care homes in Cali and neighbouring towns, but FFF is currently the only organisation in Cali that offers a leaving care programme.

As I left the event, it brought home to me the importance of COTA’s work in helping to develop pioneering projects like FFF, and I felt proud to be part of the COTA team that has supported FFF’s work over the past three years.

Barbara Inglin, Cali Field Officer

Field Diary, Spring 2006 - Successes and New Challenges

As the Field Officer at Children of the Andes, a key part of my work involves supporting our partner organisations in the development of project proposals – helping them to define objectives and project activities, establish appropriate monitoring and evaluation criteria, and draft budgets. Depending on the complexity of the project proposal, I can spend anything from a few days to over a year helping to support its development.

Recently COTA was awarded a grant by the Lottery to support a 5-year project in Cali for the development of an educational programme to benefit working children. Although the funding for this project has only just come in, work on developing the proposal began as far back as June 2004!

Given the amount of time and effort that went in to laying the groundwork for this project, you can imagine that news of the grant was received with immense relief and joy by COTA and the two partner organizations responsible for heading the project here in Colombia – ACJ and Volvamos a La Gente.

After a brief lull between completing the proposal and receiving news of the grant, we once more face a hectic schedule of work to ensure everything is ready for the start of project in April. At times, the intensity of the work involved is overwhelming, and the knowledge that my workload will only increase once this project is underway leaves me wondering how I will cope.

It is at times like this that I think of Isabel, one of the beneficiaries of this project.

Isabel is 16 years old and first came into contact with ACJ eight years ago at their “School in the Market” – the precursor to the Lottery funded project. Life for Isabel has always been hard. Her father left when she was just a baby, leaving her mother to raise Isabel and her younger siblings on her own. For as long as Isabel can remember, she has had to work – first helping with chores around the home, then selling vegetables at the market with her mother, and, from the age of 13, selling sweets and snacks at traffic lights.

‘Home’ is a small rented room, which serves as a bedroom, kitchen and dining room. The bathroom is outside and shared with five other families. From the single window, Isabel can see the endless spread of tin roofs that make up the shantytown where she lives.

As if this wasn’t a hard enough lot in life, two months ago Isabel’s mother walked out on her children. Since then, as the oldest child, Isabel has had to shoulder the burden of caring for her brother and sister. Despite the worry of wondering how they will pay for the rent for the room where they live and get enough to eat, Isabel has not missed a day at ACJ. What’s more, she hasn’t used the dramatic change in her situation to try and gain extra attention or excuse her from taking an active part in the activities at ACJ. Indeed, it wasn’t until the Social Worker made a routine visit to Isabel’s home, that her situation became known to the project.

Isabel’s forbearance brings a sharp perspective to my work. I am reminded that the long hours spent working on this project mean that she can continue to attend ACJ, progress with her primary education, and benefit from the support offered by the staff there to help her cope with the new hardships in her life.

Field Diary Autumn 2005

During her most recent field visit to Bogota, COTA’s Field Officer Barbara Inglin spent a day at the Colombo Britanica Nursery – a project supporting young children from disadvantaged families. Many of the children have been displaced, and arrive at the Nursery under-nourished and under-developed for their age. However, the nutritional and educational support offered by the project is having a positive impact on the children, and many are on the road to recovery.

“I arrived mid-morning to find the nursery buzzing with the chatter and laughter of little children. I was greeted by a group of small children jumping and skipping about to the beat of music under the guidance of Victor – their energetic and patient dance teacher. The children have dance class twice a week at the nursery and the aim is not only for the children to have fun and let off steam, but also to help them develop their motor skills, which in many cases are under-developed due to malnourishment.

During one of the exercises a child has to make up a movement, which the other children have to copy. Victor explained that this exercise allows him to evaluate aspects like memory (how well they have learnt different movements), confidence (how they react to being the leader), attention skills (how well the other children copy the movements) and motor skills (how well they execute the movements and follow the beat of the music).

After so much energetic activity in the dance class, it was time for “re-fuelling”, and we all went downstairs for lunch. For many of the children, lunch at FCB is the only hot, nutritious meal they have during the day. That day, the menu was chickpeas with tripe (a typical Bogotá dish), chips, carrot and bean salad with yogurt sauce, and a fresh fruit juice with milk.

After the morning’s activities and with their tummies full of food, little heads soon started nodding and it was time for the afternoon nap. This lasts approximately one hour, and the children are allowed to wake up naturally and take their time getting ready for the afternoon. The children really do seem to view the nursery as “their second home” and to feel very comfortable and secure there.

The afternoon is spent in the classrooms doing a range of activities from reading stories, drawing pictures, playing counting games to singing songs and reciting poems. Then there’s just time for tea and playing, before the children are collected by their parent or guardian. “

Field Diary, Summer 2004

This time last year, when I looked out my office window at COTA, I saw the hustle and bustle of Kentish Town Road and the pigeon-crowded rooftops of NW5. Now, as Field Officer for COTA in Colombia, pigeons have been replaced by humming birds and the view from my desk is of an endlessly blue sky and lush tropical plants in the patio outside. The chant of the cicadas in the mango tree next door grows ever more furious as the day gets hotter and hotter… Yes, I’ve come a long way from NW5.

It’s been four months since I took up my post as COTA’s first Field Officer in Colombia. Four months of challenges, inspiration, excitement and hard work. The Field Office is based in Cali, a large city in the southwest of Colombia, where COTA supports 5 projects. Cali is an amazing city –full of colour, sunshine, and incredibly warm-hearted people who go out of their way to make you feel welcome.

After spending a few days setting up the office, I was ready to start on my first task as Field Officer - a 3 week monitoring visit.

My trip took me to projects in Cali, the Coffee Region and Bogotá. Without fail, I was met by groups of excited children, brimming with curiosity at the prospect of meeting an ‘extranjera’. They served as my guides, proudly showing me around and explaining what life was like for them on the project.

I was treated to fresh bread baked by the children at La Rayuela, given a delightful presentation by children at FNA Manizales, joined children at Formemos for a sing-along round a bonfire, and explored a Cloud Forest with the children from Escuela Rural. It was wonderful to be surrounded by so many happy faces and see for myself the benefits of the work of these projects.

Each of the regions I visited was very different. Cali, a big city set in the heart of the Cauca Valley, where the humidity and hot sun make you realise why many Caleños still ‘indulge’ in a mid-day siesta. Manizales and Chinchiná, small towns in the Coffee Region, surrounded by mountains, the beautiful, deep green of coffee plantations and a refreshingly cool breeze. And finally, Bogotá, the capital of Colombia, “2,600 meters closer to the stars” and as hectic and fast-paced as London.

Since then, I’ve been busy updating project information, meeting with staff from projects in Cali to discuss funding proposals, keeping my colleagues up to date on changes and developments in the field, and re-visiting projects in Bogotá. Even in Colombia, where time is much more ‘generous’, there never seem to be enough hours in a day!

I feel enormously privileged to be able to work for COTA in the field, and hope that my work here will help build our capacity to respond to the needs of our partner organisations and the children in their care, and bring COTA supporters and the children on the projects closer together.