In December 2020, a German-Colombian emergency pedagogy team traveled to the islands of San Andres and Providencia. After violent hurricanes Eta and Iota caused severe damage and claimed lives in Central America in mid/late November, the team conducted interventions to help local children cope with the traumatic experiences caused by the storms and the challenges caused by the Corona pandemic. 

Three months later, a team has once again headed to Colombia to conduct a joint aftercare intervention on Providencia. For the three emergency pedagogues from Cali, a colleague from Medellin and our emergency pedagogy coordinator Fiona Bay from Karlsruhe, the focus of this time's activities was once again on working with children and young people. "We did handicraft work with a group of young girls and were able to do various movement exercises with smaller children outside on the beach and use experiential education methods," explains Fiona Bay. Further training for teachers, social workers and other interested parties was also on the program. Overall, the island has already recovered a little from the destruction caused by the hurricanes. The landscape looks a bit greener, some houses could be repaired and there is electricity and water again. "People are now a bit more positive and you can feel a kind of rebuilding mood. Nevertheless, not all houses are habitable again and many people still have to live in tents," Fiona Bay describes. "Nevertheless, the fear remains with most islanders, because soon the hurricane season will start again and with it the worry that it could hit the islands again."

We are very pleased that we have now received a commitment from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) to fund further projects in Colombia and that the long-term work on the ground can continue.