Its Wednesday and I go to meet the guys from the charity Mariposas Amarillas and spend my first day in Colombia helping the kids in the centre called Fondadores.
The kids are kept like animals in a room attached to a “school” which is the size of a tuna can and hotter than a sauna. The kids have no stationery, no paper to write or draw but what shocks me the most is the fact that there is no water and its 35 degrees !
The kids are crying and asking for a glass of water, they are about 20 of them maybe more in a room or I should say yard of 4mt x 2mt roasting and becoming irascible.
They start fighting, they scream, they cry and cannot concentrate because of the heat and lack of water.
One kid gets upset and comes back with a knife, another with a big stone and want to kill one of the “teachers” . These kids are violent and very distressed.
The next day I go and help the centre called Oasis in another very poor area of Santa Marta and the situation is pretty much the same.
The co-ordinator is sitting outside the centre topping up her sun tan while a British girl and I’m trying to teach and look after over 30 kids.
I have seen enough and while the British girl keeps coming home in tears and sobbing so loud that she sounds like a constipated whale cause she is unhappy and they treat her garbage, I thought I would have a word with the co-ordinator before I leave and find myself another charity .
I hate lazy people and people who come to South America saying that they are doing volunteering work to tick the box and put their pictures with the kids on facebook to get glory and admiration from friends, family and strangers.
I ask the co-ordinator why she sits outside topping up her sun tan while we are struggling to look after the kids and would appreciate another pair of hands but she says that she needs to stand outside to make sure that she keeps the 4 years old at bay and I tell her that I can keep them at bay while I’m teaching the others.
I ask her why they were charging 50 American Dollars when the kids had no materials, no water to drink and no overheads as they were meeting at one of the hostels in Santa Marta and go straight to the point which is where is the money going to cause I’m pretty sure that it’s not going to these kids.
She says that they are building a 3rd school which I reply that It doesn’t make sense to me as the other 2 were 2 unfinished rooms and I couldn’t understand the concept of building a 3rd room when the other 2 make the chickens laugh.
Needless to say that I refuse to pay the 50 USD and tell her that I would prefer to spend the money on stationery for the kids as these donations were “disappearing”.
The founder on the other end had nice clothes and one of the latest phones despite being unemployed and having a family to support too. I raise more questions about the info pack they send to the volunteers as it contains too many contradictions like the ID cards which don’t exist, the groups of the kids called lions, tigers and leopards which don’t exist, the photocopies and some other material that the 50 USD is supposed to cover but that all the volunteers are paying from their own pocket.
As I like to challenge everything and everyone and I can sense that she is getting nervous and pissed off and I’m not stopping cause I’m not done yet.
The charity is not registered at the Chamber of Commerce and volunteers are advised not to tell immigration that they are coming to help Mariposas Amarillas cause this charity is a ghost charity ... in the eyes of the authorities doesn’t exists like all the things mentioned on the pack which is deceiving and in my opinion dishonest too.
Honesty is paramount to me and so I finish helping the kids on the Friday and say goodbye to Mariposas Amarillas ....
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