History Why?
Given the situation of displacement due to violence in Colombia, Cigarra was founded in 2002 to help families who arrived having suffered emotional, physical and economic trauma.
The foundation was located in Cuidad Bolivar since this locality has the largest population of displaced people in Bogota, with socioeconomic strata of misery, 1 and 2. The community of Puertas del Paraíso requested the establishment of a safe place where parents could feel at ease to go out to work.
In the last 20 years, the foundation has been an island of solidarity for more than 1,500 children in the area, providing them with love, early stimulation, educational, emotional, recreational, nutritional and psychological support, with the mission of giving them a comprehensive quality education, regardless of their economic situation.
Mission
We are a non-profit organization that seeks to provide quality comprehensive care to children in the locality of Puertas del Paraíso, Ciudad Bolívar in Bogotá, showing a warm environment with opportunities for communication, interaction and lifelong learning.
Vision
To create a world where all children, regardless of income, have access to quality child care.
Inauguration of the Greta Thunberg Building
On September 12 of this year, the Greta Thunberg building was inaugurated in honor of the Swedish activist who fights for environmental rights affected by climate change. This work was made possible thanks to the financial support of ASOCOLDEP (Colombian Association of Private Education) and its president, Dr. María Belén Jiménez.
Music Building
The second floor of the music building is inaugurated, where the community closet begins to operate. Subsequently, the second and third floors for music education are completed.
Inauguration of dining room and kitchen building
On February 25, the kitchen and dining room were inaugurated with the help of the Wetton Foundation. On the second floor, the new administration office, two classrooms and restrooms are located.
Older Adults Group
A group of 20 older adults began attending one day a week and later increased to 40 adults.
Open space for teenagers-Malala
This year a new group was opened at the foundation to serve adolescents between the ages of 14 and 17, named "Malala," in honor of the Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai, a fighter for girls' rights.
Casa Na-Bakery and Psychology
This year, the "Na House" was purchased and adapted for the operation of a bakery, provided by the NGO International Refugee Trust of the United Kingdom. The other part of the house is intended as a place for health and psychology workshops.
Inauguration of Cigarette and IT
The house called "Cigarrita" was purchased and remodeled with contributions from the NGO International Refugee Trust of the United Kingdom. This year, the computer room has been Home , with 34 computers donated by St. George's School in England.
Bakery and Playground
This year 35 adults registered to participate in the bakery project with mediated instruction from FUMDIR. This year we began the construction of the children's playground in conjunction with the community, the remodeling of the foundation's house and we rented a space that is used as a multipurpose room.
Social interest housing
A program for the construction of 30 low-income housing units was started with the support of Servivienda and the San Jorge de Inglaterra school, and support was provided for the construction of three additional houses on stilt houses.