Since first partnering with Joaquin in 2021, Grand Circle Foundation has now raised over $10,898 for his Corporacion Campo Santo project.
By Barbara Sirigos, Director of Grand Circle Foundation
The city of Medellin has gone through a lot of historical events. Medellin was known as the capital and the cradle of drug trafficking in a dark era during the 1980s and 1990s, but the people found a way to transform their city and were able to construct one of the most innovative models for a social transformation.
On September 27th, 1987, a massive landslide destroyed much of the impoverished neighborhood of Villatina, killing 500 people and injuring 2,000. Joaquin Calle lost both his parents that afternoon and, like many other young people at the time, turned to something all too common: drugs and violence.
Over the years. Joaquin turned his life around and founded the Corporacion Campo Santo—or "the Hill of Values"—honoring the victims and survivors of the year’s turmoil. Together, they built a sacred field memorial to the victims and, in the process, created environmental projects.
The Hill of Values provides a beacon of hope for youth who might otherwise turn to violence
and drugs.
Joaquin has transformed "gang trenches" into recycling centers for recycling solid material, local composting processing, and cultivating a community garden. And as an educational tool, he has created environmental classrooms to educate the surrounding communities. Through these classrooms, Joaquin has successfully fostered local, national, and now international encounters to help students interact and learn much more from one another.
With the help of our generous travelers, like you, Grand Circle Foundation has donated $10,898 for the Hill of Values since first partnering with Joaquin in 2021.
Visit the Hill of Values during our Colombia's Colonial Jewels & the Coffee Triangle adventure.
