English below
“La más terrible pobreza es la soledad y el sentimiento de no ser amado". La más grande enfermedad hoy en día no es la lepra ni la tuberculosis, sino el sentimiento de no ser reconocido.” Hay más hambre en el mundo por amor y por ser apreciado, que por pan. Algunas veces pensamos que la pobreza es sólo tener hambre, frío y un lugar donde dormir. La pobreza de no ser reconocido, ama
do y protegido, es la mayor pobreza. Debemos comenzar en nuestros propios hogares a remediar esta clase de pobreza.”
Madre Teresa De Calcuta
Hay 1,1 millones de personas viven en la pobreza en el país, de los cuales 45 % son niños y adolescentes. El Estado de la Nación" de Costa Rica 2011 indicó que 21,3 por ciento de los costarricenses viven en la pobreza , y el 6 por ciento vive en la pobreza extrema. Según un informe por el Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo (PNUD) en Costa Rica. La Asociación Alimentando Corazones nace hace 8 años como una herramienta de ayuda social, con el fin de involucrar a todas las personas y empresas socialmente responsables en diferentes proyectos, y que tienen el interés de extender su mano a nuestros hermanos más necesitados. Nos basamos en el fundamento Cristiano "Amar al Prójimo como a ti mismo." Somos una organización no gubernamental y sin fines de lucro, que trabaja integralmente con las poblaciones más vulnerables: menores de edad, adultos mayores, enfermos y discapacitados. Trabajamos con varias comunidades, la mayoría fuera del gran área metropolitana, donde la necesidad es más evidente y la falta de servicios básicos escasa así como la ayuda del gobierno. Creamos alianzas estratégicas con compañías con programas de responsabilidad social. También somos un medio para que cualquier persona que quiera ayudar con lo que pueda, lo haga. Nos gusta pensar que somos un puente que lleva esperanza y el mensaje de que estas personas no han sido olvidados, que hay alguien que pensó desinteresadas en ayudarles; facilitarles a los niños las herramientas para estudiar, llevar equipo médico a personas en estado terminal o proveer por medio de donaciones cama especial para un par de gemelos que nacieron parapléjicos y que han dormido toda su vida en piso de tierra, y las caras sonrientes de los cientos de niños que han caminado kilómetros para recibir el único regalo de navidad en la fiesta que ayudamos a organizar en conjunto con la comunidad. Son experiencias que no tienen precio. Te invitamos a formar parte de nuestro equipo. Alimentando Corazones.
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Alimentando Corazones
Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat. Mother Teresa
While the Costa Rican economy continues to grow at a healthy rate, the poor are becoming poorer each day. Their income has decreased 7.12% in the past year alone. There are 1.1 million people living in poverty in the country, of which 45% are children and adolescents. Costa Rica’s 2011 State of the Nation report indicated that 21.3 percent of Costa Ricans live in poverty, and 6 percent live in extreme poverty. According to a 2009 report by the United Nations Development Program in Costa Rica, Alajuelita has the highest poverty levels in the country. Only 64 percent of grade-school-age children attended school in 2009, and just 43.3 percent attended high school that year
Although the community is organized very well and the government assists it, there is a lack of basic services, schools, child care centers and counseling to households at risk, problems such as drug addiction, vandalism and prostitution. Many householders are drug addicts engaged in illegal activities or their schooling level is very low, making it impossible to have better jobs. These circumstances create that children have to drop out school in search for work, exposing them to sexual exploitation and forced labor. We live in a developing country society, where the social gap is large and the social indifference towards it, even larger. However, there are associations, foundations, small charities and good-hearted people that still care about what happens to our children. These costarican groups have carried the banner of a country forged in peace and love for nature. One of these charities that carry a message of hope, strength and courage, while providing food for children living in extreme poverty, is "Alimentando Corazones" or "Feeding Hearts." Food is a necessity and an inalienable right under the Second Declaration of the Rights of the Child according to United Nations. Which states: Children have the special right to grow up and to Develop Physically and spiritually in a healthy and regular way, free and with Dignity. I have the honor to consider myself part of that small group of people; “Feeding Hearts”. This project provides not only food and medical attention when necessary, but most importantly, we provide love and care, by just lending a helping hand along with an open heart, willing to listen to what the kids have to say. We let them know, they are not alone, that they care and that they have not been forgotten. We go to secluded places like the mountains of Alajuelita and provide food to the kids. A lot of these kids haven’t eaten properly in days, so when we come and we get together with them, their eyes spark, it´s like they come back to life. While they are with us, we play games, we talk to them and they talk back to us, telling us about their lives, they teach us humbleness and patience and we teach them how to pray and have faith. We set ourselves up from scratch by working on adobe floors to cook in wood-burning stoves while some other volunteers help by setting the tables, making sure everything is clean. We cook for them; along there are people from the same community who let us know the reality of the families living there. Sometimes these kids haven’t seen both of their parents in days, since mom and dad are out in drug binges and they have not come home yet. So the children go to their neighbors, relatives or even the authorities to find ways to survive, to find food to nourish their bodies and comfort their souls. We eat all together, they pack themselves up with more food for their brothers and sisters who couldn’t come that day and at the end they leave knowing someone else in the world is watching over them.
