Dharma Foundation: a home for hope
The project takes in 105 children with cancer and provides comprehensive care during their illness
Completed Project
The Dharma Foundation, with the support of Fundación MAPFRE, has developed this initiative to care for children with cancer in Bogotá. This project has allowed 105 sick minors from all over the country to have a home and food while they are treated at centers such as the Instituto Nacional de Cancerología, Clínica Salud, IPS Oncosalud, Hospital San Ignacio, Clínica San Diego, Clínica del Niño and Clínica Cardiovascular Pediátrica de Soacha. The beneficiaries, who come from highly vulnerable situations, are aged between 5 and 18 and come from all over Colombia.
When treatments allow, the patients can continue their academic development with the support of the Foundation, which works towards their reintegration into home environments and daily lives as quickly as possible. This assistance takes the form of scholarships and economic resources to cover costs – books, uniforms, transport et cetera–. In addition, the beneficiaries have a computer room so they do not fall behind with their academic studies.
The project also helps children to manage their pain, anxiety and other traumatic experiences caused by the disease, and organizes workshops which promote behaviors appropriate to their ages and other specific situations.
Since its foundation in 1998, the Dharma Foundation has been providing help to children and young people with cancer who have extremely limited resources.
The project, which Fundación MAPRE has supported since 2015, comprises different programs which seek to achieve the full development of these children; shelter, recreation, guidance and health rights, learning support and hospital classes, social solidarity funding, companionship and counseling.