La Fortaleza has a new safe space for children

“Here I feel happy and safe because I have learned to read and write,” Daniel*, 11, explains happily as he pulls his notebook and storybook out of his bag. “At the book club they gave me a new learning opportunity.”

For Daniel* and hundreds of children and teens from the settlement of La Fortaleza, west of Cucuta, a Eco-house for girls F It is a safe and protective learning space, as the structure built with over 10,000 plastic bottles is a community space where they can learn and have fun with their neighbors and friends.

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Although the icon Environmentally friendly home It has been operating as a community center for more than four years in La Fortaleza, thanks to the support of the Save the Children Colombia Foundation, in the past year, new training spaces have been created for children through reading and writing clubs and girls’ clubs, F-girls encouraged to participate as volunteers and mentors in these learning spaces .

“With the Reading and Girls Clubs, many children who were out of school have had the opportunity to continue learning to read and write. For the F children and girls, an eco-home is a safe and quiet place,” she explains touchingly. Odalys Hernandez, head of the F Girls Association.

“When we get here we feel welcome, this space gives us peace of mind.”