Healing for Sexual Violence Survivors in Colombia

Great news! Thanks to you, we’re about to open a brand new art therapy and counseling center in el Choco, a poor community in the north of Colombia. Your vital support will help even more people!

Here, Afro-Colombian and Indigenous women and children survivors of war – uprooted from their homes and exploited as child soldiers – will have a new, safe space to share their stories of war and begin to heal.

What’s more, the decision to expand to el Choco is deliberate. The region will be home to one of the many “concentration zones” being negotiated as part of Colombia’s pending peace agreement. All sides in the conflict have used children as soldiers. These zones will serve as areas for these de-mobilized soldiers from rebel groups, including child soldiers, to assemble after they’ve withdrawn from combat.

Colombians have long dreamed of peace. And while a soon-promised signed agreement will be a moment to celebrate, we know that real peace depends on so much more than just a piece of paper. To ensure lasting peace, it requires hard work in communities impacted by war to meet urgent needs and to foster healing and recovery.

And thanks to your support, that’s exactly what MADRE and Taller de Vida are doing. In el Choco, young soldiers who have known nothing but war for years will have access to our vital support services. Together, we’ll provide counseling, therapy and other healing support to help them demobilize and reintegrate into society.

Your support helps ensure that these children of war can rebuild peaceful lives. Thanks so much for making this important work possible!