The Bocachica Health Care Centre
on the "Isla de Tierrabomba" in Columbia

This project was called to life in 1997 by a Mexican-American couple with the vision of helping practically poor people living in remote regions in many areas of their daily life, so as to ensure them better living conditions. Bocachica is an island village located on the Tierra Bomba island, in front of the coastal town Cartagena on the Northern coast of Columbia. About 12,000 mainly dark-skinned people are living there; they are the descendants of slaves imported by the Spanish. More than half of them are children younger than 15 years.

The living environment in Bocachica is partly very primitive, electricity reached the island only about 12 years ago and the fresh water must be brought by a tanker; it is then sold in various places on the island. There is no sufficient medical care. People are living mainly from fishing and handicrafts, there is almost no tourism.

Because of its location, Bocachica was a very important strategic place, where the Spanish built three forts to protect the trading town of Cartagena, which was of vital importance at this time, against the attacks of the English, of the French and of the pirates. These fortifications still exist and can still be visited.

The history of the project

At the beginning of 1997, Jorge and Karen Silvaunter, leaders of "Youth with a Mission", came for the first time to Bocachica and, moved by their poorness and distress, they decided to help these people. In order to win the confidence of the population, they decided to live on site. They bought a plot of land and an old stone house and, together with a small international team of volunteers, they started working to build up a social centre. This centre is used as a living and working place for the responsibles and the staff. The first project, right from the start, was a project to build toilets, since there were almost no toilets on the island and the hygiene problems led to many health problems.

The project today

After 6 years of building work, the social centre was almost completed. It includes rooms for the staff and the teams, an office, an outside canteen (covered by a roof), a kitchen, a living area, an apartment for the responsibles, a dental care room and a room for general medicine. It also comprises a soup kitchen, an hospital (still in construction), a library (for the school children) and a boat (18m long wooden boat).

Our branches of activity:

• Medical care (dental and general medicine)
• Sponsorship plan for about 100 children
• Soup kitchen
• Small building projects such as toilets and concrete floors for houses
• Youth labour
• Child labour
• Old people labour
• Building projects such as the hospital, the boat...
• Office work (management, contacts...)
• Maintenance work
• Reception

Hospital boat and infirmary

At the very start of the work in Bocachica we managed to buy an 18 m long old wooden boat that was used until then to carry tourists to the islands farther away. This wooden boat has remained unused for many years, and the German missionary Martin Hakenjos managed eventually to renovate it entirely. A large part of the means used to that purpose has been donated by the Kübler Company. Today, this wooden boat is almost finished and it simply waits for its engine, which is already available. Because of the required documents and on the custom regulations, especially in Columbia, the engine could unfortunately not be exported to this country yet. We are nevertheless very confident that this will soon be done and that we will then be able to use the seaworthy wooden boat as an hospital in order to bring medical care and material to people living on remote islands.

The Bocachica Health Care Centre has been in construction for many years. It is now reaching its completion, and we are particularly happy about the generous donation of the Kübler Company of this year, which we will use especially for this project. It will allow us to finance the pending inside equipment such as ceilings, the tiling, the electrical equipment, etc. We are thus very close to our goal, which is to operate this health centre fully to help many people all over this island and to ensure basic medical care.

Thank you very much!
Martin Hakenjos