What is CASA HOGAR?
CASA HOGAR Deutschland e.V. is a young and steadily growing non-governmental development cooperation organisation (NGDO) based in Bonn, which is also politically and religiously independent. Our focus is on women’s education in Chocó, Colombia.
This region in Colombia’s northwest is characterised by infrastructural neglect, poverty and a violent conflict between illegal groups over natural resources and drug routes that has been going on for decades. Moreover, due to the prevailing machismo, girls and women are often victims of (sexual) violence and are structurally disadvantaged.
With a focus on education for girls and women, we promote sustainable and peaceful social change in the Chocó.
CASA HOGAR – pronounced: kása ogár – is Spanish and can literally be translated in English as: “House Home”. In Latin America, “casa hogar” is an established term and means “home”. Whoever says “casa hogar” thinks of a safe place, of security, of a carefree feeling of well-being.
We want to offer such a place to schoolgirls in Istmina and students in Quibdó. In the meantime, however, our work has expanded beyond the hostels to include even more disadvantaged girls and women.
Since the end of 2015, CASA HOGAR has been acting as an ambassador for the Chocó in Germany, Austria and Colombia and has been tirelessly campaigning for educational opportunities for the disadvantaged population.
Started as a small group of friends, we are now a registered non-profit organisation with almost 100 committed volunteers coordinated by an office with two full-time employees in Bonn. Through personal contact with donors and at benefit events supported by various artists, we not only collect donations, but above all draw attention to the forgotten region in Colombia.
Our first project was the foundation of the Casa Hogar Niña María dormitory in the small town of Istmina. Here, girls of indigenous and Afro-Colombian origin live protected and carefree while they attend the Colegio Diocesano San José school on scholarship and gain access to higher education. In connection with the dormitory, the school was first expanded, so that instead of 200 students, a good 400 students from the region can now attend school. In October 2020, a dormitory for female students was opened as a further step to give young women from disadvantaged backgrounds the opportunity to obtain a degree.
Even though school and academic education, especially for women, is the basis for an independent and sustainable development of the region, it must not stop there. That is why we also offer workshops and support outside the school environment on topics such as sexual education, women’s and children’s rights and also involve the male Chocoans. After all, the entire population should be part of the social change.