From a far Bogotá looks like a big, rich, nice city, palpitating with life, but as one comes closer to certain districts, the beauty one has seen from afar cannot hide its reality, because its geographical, political, economic and social situation is marked by chaos. Beneath the surface there exists a tangible complicated situation, because all suffer from the same the problems, not only in the location, but also in the rest of the city, the country and the world as such.  
 
Year by year the location “Ciudad Bolivar” undergoes big transformations, marked by the influx of the population, due to the displacement, the des-mobilization , caused  by a situation of violence which large sectors of the country are subject to.

In Bogotá, in the location of Ciudad Bolivar there work the biggest numbers of N.G.O.s in development propjets. Some 40 organizations carry out more than a thousand projects. In spite of this, the situation continues to be dramatic, because of the 20 administration districts of the Capital, Ciudad Bolivar suffers the highest rates of poverty.  The new comers see in Ciudad Bolivar the possibility to start a new life, but the reality confronts them with:

• Social injustice, the gap between poor and rich. Status is all important!

• Living quarters, shacks, not houses, which are built on the mountain slopes,  result in  inhuman conditions

• Very difficult economic conditions, because of unemployment or sub-employment. 

• The youngsters continue to be victims and also actors of violence, developing ever more forms of cruelty

• The multiplication of places of amusement, where the access of minors to drugs and alcohol are uncontrolled

• Apparent fantastic offers in health service, which remain at propaganda level and people are less attended to than formerly

• In the total of the population there figure those who live below the poverty line, and others who find themselves in situations of misery. The most affected ones are the children below the age of five, women between 15 – 49 and the aged.

• In the midst of the same problems and difficulties there exist also family units well organized, people who work and study, striving for a better future for themselves and their children, who make use of available opportunities which FISDECO  in 34 years of carrying out it’s programs of social / pastoral care offers them. They believe that life is worth living and can be dignified and humanized.

Contact us : fisdeco@gmail.com

Foundation Social Integration and Community Development - BOGOTA (COLOMBIA)
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Last update: 31rd October 2008