PROGRESS REPORT : PROJET COLOMBIA

I am part of a team of twelve students from ENSEEIHT and

ENSIACET leading a volunteering project that will take place this summer for six weeks. Our team will be driving change at Tierra Bomba Island with Amigos del Mar foundation for a month and then we will be involved in the construction of emergency houses in Bogota D.C. with TECHO foundation.

Studying at INP-Toulouse has given me the opportunity to build a unique and authentic volunteering experience. I was aiming to create it from the bottom with other students, so we did.

I wanted to build a team of French students for them to discover my home country. I am looking for a better understanding of Colombia and also trying to have a tangible impact on it.

In October 2021, we gathered a dedicated and united team to build up this volunteering experience. In November 2021, we had collective and individual interviews with both foundations. In December 2022, we had a stand on the Christmas Market at N7 to collect funds and let more students know about our "Projet Colombia". In January 2022, our team launched its fundraising campaign to build infrastructures with TECHO foundation. For our Building Trip with TECHO foundation we have been driving a crowdfunding campaign to finance the housing construction for a vulnerable family in Bogota. We had to come up with events and ideas to make profit and turn to companies for subsidies. We organized an Afterwork at ENSEEIHT and we got a partnership with Vinci Facilities and we will get another one soon with the company ALTEN after we attended the cocktail party for their contract with the university. I think it is quite challenging to come up with a point for companies to be interested in our humanitarian project.

Our Projet Colombia achieves at least for United Nations Objectives. No poverty : In Cartagena, our mission is to cooperate with locals to drive workshops and help the children get more involved with their education. Life on land : The environment remains also a sizable matter in our mission since we will be cleaning beaches and forests on the island. Sustainable cities and communities & Clean water and sanitation : In Bogota, our main goal is to improve community infrastructures and build water boreholes to provide running water.

Even if I grew up in Colombia for twelve years, I am very sure I will see my home country pretty differently from now after this whole experience. I am a little bit worried that I will have to manage the whole group on the field. Nevertheless, I am utterly thrilled that this project is giving even more visibility to Colombia at INP-Toulouse.