Vacation Colonies: A Summer Camp with a Difference Angela Moscarella - Gulf-Times.com
go to original November 5, 2013

Leticia Prado, director of the Vacation Colonies in Mexico. Prado says the charity is facing economic difficulties as the crisis has undermined donations. But she is confident that by using creative methods to raise funds, such as offering leadership courses to companies in exchange for sponsorship, Vacation Colonies can continue its work. (Jaime Tello)

Rodrigo Perez Oronoz has two lives. His normal existence as a 23-year-old university student in Mexico City, and his other life: the one he dedicates to impoverished children selected to go on week-long holidays throughout the year at two large houses donated for that purpose in the Mexican countryside.

Perez has been part of the ‘Vacation Colonies’ since he was six. His parents sent him to a paid summer camp for privileged children.

That camp is a source of income the charity uses to raise money to fund its real work: pulling poor children out of their bleak city surroundings in Mexico and taking them away for a week of outdoor fun and entertainment while nourishing their self-esteem.

He went back every summer until he was 13 and made many friends. The camps, held in two country houses, Santa Teresa and Don Cres, located two hours’ drive from the city, made a profound impression on Perez. Later, at age 16, Perez overcame his self-doubts and agreed to take a course to become a camp leader.

“It is only on the course that you really come to understand why you are there. It is impressive what you can achieve in a week with underprivileged children,” he told in an interview.

Perez’s fate became inextricably tied to that of dozens of kids from slums in Mexico City and other working-class districts that he and another 300 volunteers aged 17-25 help each year.

Read the rest at Gulf-Times.com

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