Bogota, Colombia and an amazing project

It was in march, when my friend Benedikt told me about his dad. Helmut von Loebell, now 73 years of age, was moved to Colombia just after ww2 and now needs help. With CES Waldorf, a highly ambitious, mainly idealistic project in Bogota, one of the most dangerous cities in the world. He was one to involve himself with the first SOS Kinderdörfer down there in th 80s, always inclined to share some of his success with those less fortunate. What amazed me about him was the fact that he has no desire to be a “goody two shoe” but perceives helping people as a natural thing to do. Helmut has so far mainly financed the project out of his own pocket and now needs some help in keeping the house running that feeds over 200 kids every day and, even more importantly, teaches them that they are worth something and that they can achieve better than becoming part of the paramilitary or a dealing in drugs.

That bought me over, and briefly afterwards, we decided to do something to keep the cash coming in. I asked my friend Maria Trieb, gifted camera and film lady to join, and in april 2010, we flew to Bogota and saw what’s going on there, talked to many people, teachers, kids and their parents to find out what this project was all about. I was pretty unprepared of what it would be like and yes, I was shocked, moved, desperate and also incredibly happy to see such an oasis in a pretty hopeless surrounding. I took a lot of pictures, and there is a lot more to come in form of a film, an event and an extensive fundraising movement in order to keep this place that is so important to the kids and their families up and running.

This is my favorite image of the entire trip: Helmut showing the kid the world…

If you wanna see more, please check all my images on my flickr account!