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Maria Wills, Bachillerato
Fasac is an organisation created by the Anglo Colombian School which helps the poorer barrios (neighbourhoods) in Bogot� by giving the poor children what they may need. Fasac was created because all the children at the Anglo come from a good background - the students have everything they need and want. Looking around, we saw that poverty in Colombia was very serious and that few had the same opportunities as us. So a way we thought we could help was by helping some of the poorer barrios in our city. We help them with studies, food, health and recreation for the teachers and students in every way we can. Fasac collects the money that is needed for these things from the Anglo students by creating several activities in which the students contribute some money. One of the actiities is Bonfire Night which we celebrate once a year. Another event is Jeans Day which we hold four times a year and thr students pay a small amount so that they can wear jeans to school.
The money that Fasac collects in these activities goes to the barrios as food, clothes and things for the studies of the children. It also helps the people in the barrios to construct new cloassrooms for the children and for the whole community. Fasac also has a program called 'Sponsor a Child'. This is one of the most important things that Fasac does for the poor children and consists of giving a small amount of money once a year. With that money, a child is sponsored, meaning that for a whole year a poor child can go to school, have three meals a day and have all the main things they need.
From Kinder-garden to eleventh grade in the Anglo, Fasac has representatives (students who want to help Fasac) in every class. These reps collect the money that the students contribute for the activities. But collecting the money and informing the rest of the students what Fasac uses the money for is not their only job. Their main job is to create a social conscience in the Anglo students.
Fasac wants the Anglo students to know more about the situation of our city and country and to show them that the world they live in is very different to the real world. The Anglo students have everything that a child would like to have, but many of the children from the barrios don't even have three meals a day and have to work at young ages.
Poverty is not just a Colombian problem, the whole world has to deal with this. This is why Fasac was created. As a result of Fasac, less children in the world are hungry and cold at this moment. |
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