Arriba las Manos Foundation, Colombia

EDUCATE A CHILD

About Arriba las Manos Foundation

Mona Partner Since 2021

Arriba was founded in May 2010 to support the comprehensive education of Ararca’s children, as a way of addressing poverty. The foundation received permission from the school principal to establish and run a school library and playroom with educational toys and activities for 100 primary school students.


After the first year, the teachers and school principal asked Arriba to extend the program to high school students. Since they did not have the personnel, they trained the teachers, provided the materials, and coached them as they learned to hold workshops and activities themselves.

The Challenge

Ararca is an isolated Afro descendant community on Barú Island, Colombia. Ararca is the smallest and the first of three small towns you encounter as you cross the bridge onto the island of Barú from the city of Cartagena, Colombia. Due to centuries of isolation, there is a lack of interest in reading and not much vision for education as an opportunity for progress. Government services are scarce. Therefore, literacy and cultural levels are dismal. The employment and income expectations are equally low.

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  • A young girl student focused on building blocks.

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  • A few young students reading in their school's library.

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  • A young girl student and teacher working through a math problem together.

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  • A young boy student working with Legos.

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  • A young boy student holding up a paper drawing of a star with math angle calculations.

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  • Three young students playing a building block game.

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  • Two young students reading in the library.

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  • Two young students playing a counting game in the library.

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  • Four young students sitting at a table together in the library playing a counting card game.

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  • A young girl student with butterfly art she made.

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The Solution: Arriba Programs

Dynamic School Library

The library is an inspiring, cheerful, stimulating, and peaceful place like no other in Ararca. It is run by a libarian-educator named Dionisia.


Here the children draw and paint, use playdough, work with legos and various mechanical toys, do puzzles, use memory games and educational lottos, and have access to many other educational toys and experiences.


They also have reading and comprehension practice, put on plays, receive school reinforcement, and participate in a variety of workshops.


How we help

Mona began funding Arriba in 2021 by providing full operational support.

2023 Achievements

  • Vibrant library setting with age-appropriate meaningful activities, soft music playing in background
  • 306 students attend activities held in the library during recess and before and after school
  • Trained 2 teachers from the school to assist the librarian to run workshops and this year also trained in the Doman-Philadelphia method

2024 Needs - $7,800

  • Serve 300 primary and high school students and 40 preschoolers


  • Hire a part time assistant for the librarian – couple hours a week


  • Continue training teachers in the Doman-Philadelphia method of teaching to improve their educational and instructional level, which is notoriously low.




Support Arriba's 2024 Needs

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