Picture from Colombiamoda 2010

The Colombian scientist works also in the Université d’Evry Val d’Essone. He is also a member of the National Committee of Pilotage  of the Carnot Institute for associative investigation.

Photo Montoya, Schumacher and Alonso by Dan Smith

Photo by mckaysavage

Though he could not fulfill his dream to reach the summit without oxygen, he became the first disable person to get conquer the highest altitude of the planet in history, planting the flag of the South American nation. The climate conditions obliged the sportsmen to use oxygen, but they were successful in their expedition that reached the goal at 11:15, Nepal time, on May 17, 2010. They sent an official communication at that time from the highest spot of the earth.

The ‘No Borders Epic’ Expedition (Epopeya Everest Sin Límites in Spanish), is made by a team of 21 persons. According to their official site, they worked for eight months to make possible that a sportsman like Cardona, which right foot is amputated, fulfills the dream to conquer the summit. Their aim: ‘To confirm that a disability is only physical and not mental,’ said the website.

‘We are an example for the entire world. We give testimony of how Colombians can fulfill their dreams and make them real, without giving importance to differences, when we build around us with what joins us. For this reason, the eyes of the world are now on us, because it is not the fails the ones that make you fail, but the inability to stand up again and continue, said Cardona.

The sportsmen has been also in different South American summits before he could reach the Asian and highest summit of the world.

The Colombian entrepreneur was general manager of Coca Cola Colombia in 2000. He was one of the main promoters of the American Football Coup 2001 as a way to give a good image to his country.

In 2005 he was promoted as General Manager in Mexico for the south and north regions. Now he is sent to Philippines to lead one of the biggest markets of Asia, that means the 2 percent of the global Coca Cola market.

Aponte, who joined Coca Cola Company in 1988 as a engineer in systems, was the responsible of the launching of Dasani in Colombia in 2005, a product that innovate soft drinks with natural products.

Latintrade mentioned Aponte among the most outstanding young Latin American entrepreneurs of 2004.

Surely worst than the long Colombian conflict, it is the reality of its street children in the biggest cities. The Gamín (street boy in Colombian idioms), became almost a traditional character. Even if some people and groups complain of the lack of more definitive projects to end the problem of unprotected children in the Colombian streets, it is possible to find a good list of institutions, private and officials, doing something. The problem stands in the same conflict. Only the growing number of displaced farm families, fleeing from war-zones and taking refuse in the cities, is a definitive source of children on the streets with all its consequences.

As Christmas is time associated with childhood, it is a good time to dedicate our blog to the reality of the poorest children of Colombia: the gamines.

One of those organizations doing something concrete in Medellín is Ciudad Don Bosco (Don Bosco City) a work of the Salesian Congregation. It is a real city for street boys, located in one of the most marginalized barrios of the Aburrá Valley, Robledo Aures (Medellín’s Northwest).

Abused children, street boys, child workers and victims of violence, find in the educative system of Don Bosco a safe place to stay and grow. The process starts in Medellín downtown with the Patio del gamin (Street boy yard), a centenary building of a poor area known as El Hueco (The Hold) – between the Cisneros Metro Station and Calle Colombia. Street children join the programs if they want after they are encourage to do so by the teams of educators that walk the streets looking for them. Several children are sent to the institution by the official Bienestar Familiar.

The second step is in Aures, where there is the main complex of Ciudad Don Bosco, in a real impressive view of Medellín. The institution was founded 40 years ago and have received support from national and international organizations to be able to attend as much children and teenagers from poverty and abandonment as possible. It has also a place in Amagá, a coal mines town at the south of Medellín where children are at risk of labor exploitation and school abandonment. Don Bosco is bringing the children out of the mines to guarantee their studies and formation.

It is a good time to join a good cause in Colombia. Peace comes from justice and concrete actions. Supporting projects like Ciudad Don Bosco is a good way to guarantee that Colombian children will gain a good future. You can find instructions for donations in its official page here.

You can visit the center as well. Send an email or call to 264 21 22. It would be a great place to visit if you are in Medellín.

Colombia Reports

Here we find US citizen Mark Kaseman, who has been for four years around Medellín bringing food and clothes to hundreds of the city’s poorest.

If you are interested in make a donation to the children of Mark, please visit this page in Colombiareports.com. He has all our trust and recommendation. In the name of the people of Colombia, we thanks persons as him, who let their own countries to give a hand for a best Colombia in supporting those who are more in disadvantage.

Colombia Passport join this Campaign to make a Colombian child smile in the hope of a best future.

He is what in Colombia is known as Paisa (those of the Paisa Region), because his parents come from the land of coffee, arepa and carriel, although he was born in New York on 18th April 1994. Hannah Montana (2006) is one of his debuts as Rico, owner of a costly shop in the Malibu beaches. In that production he was award with the Best Young Ensemble Performance in a TV Series.

Zack and Cody, Everybody hates Chris, Nacho Libre, Beethoven’s Big Break, Dadnapped, some scenes of The Disney Channel Games and The Perfect Game are other productions of his artistic performances. The Colombo-American young actor appeared in Jonas Brothers’ SOS music video as well.

As the son of a country said to be the best world Spanish, he speaks the language of his parents fluently and says with proud that he is a Colombian, as he mentioned to the press during the debut of “The Perfect Game” during the aperture in the Guadalajara Film Festival. He said also that he dreams to make performances in Colombia, a country to which he is in permanent contact through his Colombian relatives.

Arias said to Caracol Radio that what he likes more from Colombia is the Bandeja Paisa, a typical dish of the region of his parents.

The difficult surgery was practiced by the Santa Maria Cardiovascular Clinic of Medellín and became the first operation of this type to be made in Colombia.

Surgean Juan Camilo Jaramillo was the leader of the surgery on a teenager with a team of six other doctors with a high specialization in the matter.

Medellín is also well known for the development in the area of medicine. From transplants of organs to aesthetic surgery, the clinics, hospitals and schools of medicine of Medellín have been nationally and internationally recognized for their researches.

According to the last reports of the Clinic, the boy has assimilated the three organs. The surgery lasted more than six hours and there were transplanted a heart and the two lungs.

No doubt, the success of the operation means a step in the development of medicine in the country and the hope for many persons with problems of heart.

Medellín was also the first city of Colombia to practice a heart transplant in 1985.