FADM
Code: 921725fe-e692-11e9-9af5-00505603f1ab Copied
About the project
FADM
📝 Detailed information
🏢 About the local organisation
We are a nonprofit-organization who tries to contribute to a social development and a growth in education and sports for the youth of the island Tierra Bomba. We motivate them to reintegrate to school as well as form them in discipline and values through water sports as well as cultural and environmental activities. Our vision is to tutor young people, who have been born in social disadvantage in Colombian society. By preparing them in academic studies and in sports discipline, they will become agents of positive and evolutionary change in their families and communities.
Fundación Amigos del Mar is a nonprofit-organization that implements sustainable social development projects in Cartagena, Colombia through art, culture and water sports. We are a foundation that is committed to the community of Tierra Bomba and continuously working for a social change in Colombia.
💼 What the programme involves
• Help in planning and carrying out regular activities (recycling art and
language-workshops) together with the other volunteers
• Coordination of the different tasks with the other volunteers and
assurance of compliance (cooking, organizing, cleaning)
• Help in water sports training
• Help in extracurricular events (cleanings, festivals, conferences, etc.)
• Support of children and youth in doing their home work
• Caring for the animals of the foundation and animals rescued
• Share time and knowledge with children (play, chat, etc.) and be an
example for them
• Coordination of food and water for volunteers
🏠 Accommodation on site
The place where the volunteers live together is located in the village of Tierra Bomba on a small hill with an impressive view on the skyline of Bocagrande. There are eight cabanas. Every volunteer has its own cabana with a big bed, private bathroom with running water and fan. The cabañas are surrounded by a huge garden and a covered outside-area, where also the kitchen is and where we are eating or play with the kids after workshops. We have a botanical garden, a compost and a small house of bottles (recycling-construction out of eco-bridges). Furthermore there are four dogs and four cats living with us.
In the nights there is a nightguard.
As we live on a island and resources are very precious, we ask our volunteers kindly to save water and electricity and follow the recycling-system we have implemented.
🍲 Food
Volunteers prepare and cook together breakfast, lunch and dinner, we work in teams that change regularly (cooking team, cleaning team, organizing team).
Except Saturday and Sunday afternoon, after surfing, when we have lunch in a restaurant in Cartagena together with the kids.
As Thursday is a free day, meals are not scheduled or being prepared together during that day. Volunteers are responsible for themselves. However, the volunteers are free to use their accommodations and the kitchen of the foundation.
*same for holiday-week
We often eat vegetarian meals and have vegetarian food in the fridge, but from time to time there can also be chicken, ham or especially fish. Especially, when the volunteers wish some dish that includes meat or fish.
Furthermore, every Monday Pedro brings the weekly grocery shopping from the mainland. A wish list can be send on Sunday nights by the volunteers. The rest of the things that we need during the week to complete the dishes, we buy on the island in the small shops, to also support local businesses.
📍 About the location
Our work is mainly based on Tierrabomba and its afrocolombian communities, many living in conditions of extreme (>50%) or moderate poverty (>35%). Although the island Tierra Bomba is located next to the mainland of Cartagena and in front of Bocagrande, the village is struggling with water deficiency, poor electricity supply and environmental problems.
Many of the families live from hand to mouth, fighting every day to earn enough for a living. Furthermore the village is wrestling with the problem of erosion because of a rising sea level that leads to dilapidated houses.
In general the island presents low figures in school assistance and the government’s active interest in school enrollment and educational support is absent in these communities.
Many young people do not go to school regularly, however are working instead to support the family’s income. Broken families and ambiguous conditions are not uncommon. Out of these and other reasons, Tierra Bomba’s kids are partly missing an outlook on life. By fortifying them to get a solid education and train them in discipline and other values through water sports and the productive program, they increase their future opportunity on the labor market and open up new vistas.
Important: Volunteer live in the community Tierrabomba, which lies on the same named island Tierra Bomba. The island is only reachable by boat. Boats run in colectivo-system (they leave when they are full) and cost 2.000 COP. They run ONLY from sunrise to sunset (aprox 6am-6pm, depending time of the year)
🎒 Leisure activities
ℹ️ Additional information
The project takes place all year long, except holidays from the 27th - 7th of January.
Service Fees
Volunteers pay Fundación Amigos del Mar the service fee at the beginning of every
day/week/month.
The service fees is 60,000 COP / day, 420,000 / week, 1,350,000 / month (in 2019/20) and include: private accommodation and private bathroom and 3 meals a day (excl. Thursdays), with breakfast, lunch, dinner. This is equal to about 350 euros/month and 110 euros per extra week.
As a compensation for working on the weekends, volunteers have one week (or 5-7 days) off per month, unless otherwise agreed upon. During that week, Fundación Amigos del Mar is not responsible for the volunteers (incl. meals,
water and electricity supplies). However, the volunteers are free to use their accommodations and the
kitchen of the foundation.
Interested in this project? Create your account and apply online.
Sign in to apply📅 Available sessions
FADM20192020
01/12/2019 → 31/12/2020
ℹ️ Key information
Age required
18–99 years old
Solidarity donation
350.00 EUR
French tax residents may be eligible for a tax reduction of up to 66% of their costs (membership, plane tickets, solidarity donation).
📍 Location
Tierra Bomba Island, Cartagena Province, Bolivar, Colombia
Colombia
🌍 Location info
Local currency
Colombia Peso (COP / $)
Exchange rate
1 COP = 0.000274 EUR
Rate as of 31/05/2026
Timezone
Colombia Standard Time
Local time: 20:58 (12/11/2026)
🛡️ Before you leave
✅ Features
🗣️ Languages spoken