Circumstances that occur throughout life mark the destinies of human beings and the hearts of families such as that of Maria Angélica Alzate and her husband Juan Pablo Jiménez, who faced adversity when they learned of a serious illness that Simon, their first son, suffered in the first days of life. The treatments received in a timely manner, to counteract cancer, allowed his child, now 12 years old, to be a recovered and healthy child, however, this event marked the life of the family. Since that moment on, they approached organizations such as Fundación Proyecto Unión, which was created to alleviate the needs of many families without resources that go through this type of situation.
The Foundation, through its “Casa de los Angeles” program, offers a home away from home to support families who are going through the illness of a child, which is why Maria Angelica went there to extend her hand of friendship to other mothers. The social sensitivity of the Alzate Jiménez family has accompanied them since they faced this difficult experience, always focusing their efforts on the most needy children, this also led them to value life more, becoming a traveling and adventurous family that leaves a positive impact wherever they go.
To date, Angélica, Juan Pablo, Simón and Matías have traveled 46 countries, doing natural tourism and getting to know the local culture, so they took advantage of the community of followers they have on their instagram @mochilapa4 to create social tourism, mixing tours and rallies with social impact, in vulnerable communities. That is, people could do tourism while knowing different cultures, but also generate social impact, devoting a few hours to social work and donations to foundations with established causes.
Therefore, on this occasion, their focus was Colombia, their city of origin, although they don’t live here now, last week they coordinated for a group of Spanish volunteers of “Tiger Foundation”, to transform the morning of 62 children of the Santa Rita de Cascia Home. Through singing, music, reading stories, as well as organizing clothes, this group of volunteer tourists gave their heart and shared their generosity, contributing resources for the construction of a new home for the children, the “Hogar Amparo de Ángeles”, a work being carried out in the municipality of Tocancipá.
Thanks to these purposeful initiatives, ecotourism has a double impact, not only enjoying nature, culture, gastronomy and art, but also providing well-being to vulnerable children in our country..
