Page 12 - FoC 2024 Summer Newsletter_Neat

A Cambio Puente Update- 2024

United Together = Great Transformations

clear, the people being served by our
team are not looking for a handout, but
for someone to walk with them as they
try to pull themselves out of poverty.
It is the interactions our team is
participating in directly that are making
a difference, but also the ones we are
facilitating for community members to
have with each other.

One such success was the Mother’s Day
Volleyball tournament! The pictures
of the park being used for recreation
and fellowship tell the story. When
we look at the faces of people being
Upper Cambio Puente is a different place today because of FoC treated as human beings with the same
and ACAF’s partnership with the people who live there. From hopes, dreams and fears of all mothers we see community
the tremendously successful water project, the completion of development at work. There is a sincere hope for a better life
the learning center and staffing it with volunteers from the for their children and to be treated with dignity themselves.
local university, the soon to be constructed kindergarten to There are so many good things happening in Cambio Puente
be staffed by ACAF, the fully operational daycare that provides through our community development, perhaps the biggest
working mothers with a safe place for their young children, is breaking down isolation and helping to breathe dignity in
the community kitchen that provides food to over 50 families, people’s lives that have had little reason to celebrate!
the park at the center of the city, and 52 homes that have
been built, there is new sense of hope for a better future. It is difficult to express enough gratitude to all of those that
are supporting these efforts. It is truly miraculous to see the
The people of Cambio Puente now feel a part of a community changes taking place on a community and individual level.
with a future. There are now individuals with a genuine
sense of agency for their future. This feeling is
palpable and visible in the interactions that are
taking place.

The new social workers offices that have been
built adjacent to the park and other areas
of infrastructure described above host our
community development services which have
broken down barriers of isolation that accompany
severe poverty.

In March, when we inaugurated our social
workers offices, there were several people
waiting to meet with the social workers as the
celebratory ribbon cutting ceremony took place.
Our social workers act as counselors for families,
and in addition connect families with resources
that are available through the government. In
order to make this happen, the social workers
need a safe place to meet with families and
listen. Often mothers with small children are
meeting to discuss issues with domestic violence
and there is a need to have privacy away from
their homes to conduct such meetings. To be

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