The Lutheran Church in Colombia wants to share some experiences from our emergency projects that are supported by ACT in the occasion of the 10th anniversary of Sphere. As a member of ACT, we are committed to the standards and the Humanitarian Charter of the Sphere project.
  
In 2006, we produced a book where we presented our "humanitarian help to vulnerable communities and to the displacement people in Colombia."  In this book, we described some of the works we have done such as: the housing and the drinking water improvements and the psychological recovery issues guided by the Sphere handbook.

Infrastructure:  housing improvement and drinking water for a life with dignity
 
Creation of communitarian spaces and housing improvement for the general well-being.
 
In this component, we made adjustments and constructions to improve the conditions of the families and to dignify their living places.  Initially, the project prioritized the impounding and distribution of drinking water for human consumption.  With Laco 21, we built 3 communitarian aqueducts in the communities of Las Delicias, Piedecuesta and La Nora.  With Laco 31, we perforated a deep water well to extract water in Villa Hermosa.  In relation to communitarian spaces, we constructed three communitarian halls, two restaurants, a restaurant lounge, two playgrounds and an ecological footpath.  With Laco 51, we constructed 41 housing units made of guadua (bamboo like plant) and all the settlement of El Oasis was readapted with 105 housing improvements.  Laco 52 was proposed as a reconstruction project for the victims of floods and sliding lands who lost their houses, reason why it was centred in the self construction basic housing units and also in the construction of a communitarian hall. Although the construction of houses is a very complex element in terms of time in emergency projects, the impact created not only dignifies their housing, it also affects positively the well-being of the families for their life in the community, their human relations were evidently better and solidarity feelings arose.
 
Psychosocial recovery
 
The psychosocial recovery and the communitarian formation were worked as one area.  We made 2672 cases of individual and family attention, communitarian formation, recreational activities that included theater, dance, music and sport activities.  In Laco 51, we made alphabetization and a special emphasis was given to illiterary eradication.  Additionally, we made integration activities in which all the community and the neighbouring areas participated.  For the psychosocial attention, women were the most beneficiated with coverage of 58%.  In the total of beneficiaries 38% were adults.  53% children and 9% elderly.  Although those were emergency projects, important impacts in the formation of the community and the reconstruction of the individual life projects were registered. The levels of communitarian and family violence decreased.
 
We also created a "tales and stories" book called "I will never stop to play". This work was only made by boys, girls and youth.  All those people are violence victims and displaced. They are living at the Ciudadela Sucre sector, the Soacha town and the Portal del Oasis of the Ibague city. This is part of the emergency project called LACO 51.
 
Every one in this area is suffering the consequences of the displacement issue and the consequences of the violence inside of their families, their neighbourhood and the social and psychological problems of this country.
 
This "tales and stories" book is a real opportunity to hear the voices of these boys and girls. We can know the reality with a particular style to express their thinking and sensations and feelings. They are sure that over all violence consequences they are still to be children and they will never stop to play. Here are some examples of how children told their own displacement stories.
 
A Displacement story

"One upon a time in the sector of the Tolima province, a family was living very happily where it had a cultivated land and animals. One day some Lords with guns arrived to their home and they took the oldest brother. The other family members were forced to go out of their land  or otherwise they would kill them.  The family run away fast and they did not have time to bring their own stuf. They run to the city where they will live in poverty."
Liceth Viviana Rojas, 7 years old.
 
The hope of my town

"Once upon a time a very poor family that did not have anything to eat and no where to sleep.  One day the army government and the guerrilla groups called FARC started to fight each other and the family went from the little town to a big city.  The father and  mother found a job and then they started  to buy groceries and they lived happy for ever."
Angie Yisela Sanchez, 9 years old.
  
Martha Wilches Mora
Coordinator DMD