Catatumbo, a region known for its breathtaking landscapes and resilient people, has sadly become one of the areas most affected by Colombia’s ongoing conflict. Families here live with the constant threat of forced displacement, armed violence, and economic insecurity. For children, the impact is devastating; they lose not only their homes but also their sense of safety, routine, and access to education.
Key Impacts
- Mass displacement: More than 56,000 people have been forced to flee their homes in Catatumbo since January 16,2025. Communities in towns like Tibú, Ábrego, Hacarí, El Tarra, Convención, Teorama, and San Calixto are among those most affected.
- Schools closed & children out of school: Over 46,000 children and adolescents missed the opportunity to attend school this year because about 710 schools across 10 districts have been closed due to violence.
- Forced recruitment & threat to children: Armed groups are reportedly recruiting minors, and many families are fleeing because they fear that their children will be taken.
- Destruction & insecurity: Civilians report abuses including killings, kidnappings, forced disappearances, forced labour, sexual and gender-based violence, and the destruction of homes. Communities are also suffering from injury or death from explosive devices and other conflict-related dangers.
- Confinement & restricted movement: Many people are unable to leave their communities because of fighting or threats, meaning they cannot access essential services, food, healthcare or safe shelter.
Many of the children in Catatumbo have been forced to leave everything behind with their families, fleeing violence in search of safety. For them, school often becomes a distant dream rather than a daily reality. Yet education is the one thing that can give them the hope of a better future; a chance to heal, to dream again, and to break free from the cycle of poverty and violence that surrounds them.
The Impact So Far: Healing Wounds, Rebuilding Lives
Through the implementation of Healing Wounds, Rebuilding Lives with our partner Cinco Sentidos, we’ve already seen a positive and significant impact on children adolescents and their families, who have benefited from this initiative and found in it a path toward recovery and the strengthening of family bonds.
- Greater emotional well-being and resilience: Through psychosocial workshops, children and adolescents have developed skills to process the traumatic experiences of displacement and violence. These sessions have helped them build emotional resilience and learn healthy ways to cope with challenges, fostering long-term psychological recovery.
- Stronger family and community ties, and better use of free time: Our recreational and artistic workshops have created safe spaces for families to come together, communicate, and support each other. By engaging in creative activities, children have strengthened emotional bonds with their families and communities while developing essential social, emotional, and cognitive skills such as creativity, self-expression, communication, and teamwork. These skills are vital for their personal development and long-term integration into society.
Moreover, the workshops have encouraged the positive use of free time, helping children stay away from risky activities while fostering a sense of belonging and connection to their community.
School Kits: Bringing education to the kids
For a child in Catatumbo, a simple notebook and a set of pencils can mean the world. When violence forces families to flee their homes with nothing but what they can carry, education is often the first thing children lose. Schools are closed, books are left behind, and dreams are put on hold.
That’s why delivering 342 school kits to displaced children in El Carmen was about so much more than handing out supplies; it was about handing back pieces of childhood stolen by conflict.
Each kit contained five notebooks, pens, pencils, a ruler, crayons, scissors, glue, an eraser, a sharpener, and a small backpack to carry it all. Modest items, but for these children, they bring colour back into a life overshadowed by fear. They mean returning to class with dignity, being able to take notes, draw, write stories, and imagine a future beyond the crisis. For many, these are the first new school materials they’ve owned in months. They can once again sit in a classroom not as displaced victims, but as students, as dreamers, as children with a right to learn and hope.
For a child in Catatumbo, a simple notebook and a set of pencils can mean the world. When violence forces families to flee their homes with nothing but what they can carry, education is often the first thing children lose. Schools are closed, books are left behind, and dreams are put on hold. These school kits are small packages of hope, and they’re helping children take back a sense of normality and possibility, one page at a time.
Food Vouchers: Providing Immediate Relief in Times of Crisis
One of the most urgent needs for families affected by displacement and violence is access to food and essential hygiene products. In the first phase of the emergency response we provided 50 hygiene and food parcels, and now as part of Healing Wounds, Rebuilding Lives, we have launched a food voucher program aimed at providing this vital support to 122 highly vulnerable families temporarily settled in Ocaña and surrounding areas.
How it works:
- Partnerships with local businesses: We work with local stores where families can redeem vouchers for basic food staples and hygiene products. These partnerships ensure fair pricing, product availability, and dignity in service for every beneficiary.
- Carefully defined product list: To guarantee real nutritional impact, vouchers can only be used for essential items such as rice, beans, vegetables, protein sources, and hygiene products. Products like alcohol, tobacco, sugary drinks, or non-nutritious ultra-processed foods are explicitly excluded.
- Monitoring for transparency: Each voucher is assigned to a specific family, and we are also exploring electronic vouchers to further improve security and accountability.
- Regular distribution cycles: Families may receive between one and three rounds of vouchers over six months, depending on their level of need, reaching an average of 20 families per month. This ensures consistent, reliable support while helping families stabilize their situation.
By addressing food insecurity directly, this program provides families with immediate relief while they work toward long-term recovery and emotional healing through our other psychosocial and educational initiatives.
How You Can Help
Together, we can bring light where there’s darkness, hope where there’s pain, and rebuild lives with dignity. Because every child deserves the chance to laugh, to learn, and to dream again.
But the reality in Catatumbo remains urgent. Children here continue to face poverty, violence, and displacement on a daily basis. That is why our work cannot stop. With your support, we can keep providing educational materials, food assistance, and hope to children who need it the most.
We believe that change is a collective act. Your support can help us do more:
- Donate to our emergency appeal: Your gift will help us reach more children with school kits, food vouchers, and psychological support.
- Share this story: Help raise awareness so others know what’s happening and get involved.
- Follow our updates: Stay connected to see how your support is making a real difference in Catatumbo.
Together, we can help the children of Catatumbo reclaim their right to education, and their right to a childhood.
Written by: Victoria Cornelio | Communications Officer
