Working in the City of Cali, Colombia
Siembra Vida Colombia operates in the city of Cali to bring social change in the underprivileged community of Siloé. This sector has the highest rate of illiteracy in the city and 27% of the children live in extreme poverty. The community Siloé has more than 100,000 inhabitants, 20,000 of whom are children. For 50+ years refugees have come here, escaping guerrilla armies in the countryside.
Today the sector is in great need, especially the children. Around 5,500 children do not attend school and about 1,200 minors between the ages of 5-17 are forced into labor. Many children from the age of 6 start inhaling shoe glue to relieve their hunger.
Our central office and community kitchen are located in the heart of the community. We provide culinary classes, train staff, and serve hot meals to children each weekday. We also partner with the Fundación Transforma to provide an after school program to the children of the community. God is doing great things in Colombia!
Our Areas of Impact
Little Chef’s Program
We initiated the program “pequeños chefs” or little chefs in English. With this program we offer culinary and gardening classes accompanied with discipleship for children in the community of Rincón Puerto Rico. We believe in sharing the word of God with the young generation of our community.
Women Seminary
During the last months we had the privilege of sharing personally with the mothers of Siloé. We were accompanied by other missionaries from Puerto Rico and also Pastor John from our partnering church The Crossing from Michigan. Specifically our missionaries from San Juan Puerto Rico Sharon and Sherli provided a unique workshop related to beauty as God sees his daughters.
Discipleship and Education
We are collaborating with 6 churches in Siloé to continue to take the word of God to the homes of the people that have been impacted through our programs.
Food Distribution to Children and Families
Over 20,000 plates of food distributed to people of most needs
Culinary Arts
We are providing scholarships for people to study culinary arts. We are collaborating with the organization REDECAS to create a small community restaurant that seats up to 20 people in the heart of Siloé.
Agroinfluencers
We have 3 community gardens where we are teaching the word of God as well as food security and agro-business to individuals recovering from addiction, women liberated from sex trafficking, Indigenous groups escaping guerilla armies and communities in extreme poverty.
