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OUR DIRECTOR
Verónica (holding the flowers) with volunteers
My name is Verónica Gutiérez Martinez. I was born in Tarija, Bolivia, and I have the conviction that we came in this world to serve it and not to take advantage of it. I have a degree in psychology, and got my first job in 2008 at Refugio, a center that works with child workers. Unfortunately, the center ceased its activities in 2009. Since that moment, this population became a part of my life: I pledged to help them unconditionally.
In 2009, we presented a small project to L’AMIE, a Canadian organization that work for childhood development around the world. Our project consisted in the implementation of small community gardens. L’AMIE sent us volunteers and a small budget to help with the project. With their contribution, we implemented gardens in 12 families, which was very helpful for them, and we started to offer pedagogical support for the children. Since we did not have a designated space for such support, we were working outside in the open air, sometime in the neighbourhood’s farm or in the backyard of the children’s house… it really was a special experience! The young volunteers from Canada really gave me the positive energy to continue to work for these kids.
Thus, together with Amparo Oller, a psychologist with a lot of experience and engagement with the population, we gathered the necessary resources to obtain a small site and to start the construction of the center we would later name Centro Integral Forjando Huellas.
The center’s main objective is to bring support to children and teenagers with social disadvantages with the end to prevent street situations and the associated dangers (violence, mistreatment, exploitation, discrimination, scholar desertion, delinquency, etc.) We try to work closely with the children’s parents to sensibilize them and to make an effective monitoring of every child.
In 2013, with the help of Father Miguel Donahue, director of the ANET, an organization that brings support to children with handicap, we finished the construction of the center, which includes a main room for the center’s activities, a kitchen, a warehouse, and a bathroom. The building represented a requirement to solicit the government for financial support. In 2014, our demands were accepted: we hired a teacher and a cook, and we started to offer breakfast and lunch for the children to give them the energy they need to get trough the day.
Unfortunately, because of lack of budget, the financial support from the government ceased in 2017. Since then, we are managing our tight resources as we can to continue to bring support to the children. Today, the lack of resources prevents us to offer lunch, the best we could do are sporadic breakfast and snacks. Without the government support, we cannot pay our staff and I am the only one left to help the children. L’AMIE continues to be our main partner. They sporadically send us volunteers and a small indemnisation.
With the pandemic and the deterioration of the sanitary situation, we were forced to close our doors temporarily. We are currently waiting for the authorization to open and to help the children again. Certainly, we will find a way to continue to offer our services to the children in need.
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