HELP THE PEOPLE OF PACIFIC COLOMBIAN

Hello everyone,

I am YOLIMA GÓMEZ HERRERA of Colombia, alive in the municipality of Timbiquí.

About COOPSERPTIM cooperatives

By ten years, I have been in charge of the administration of COOPSERPTIM. And it is an entity of economy solidaria, a non-profit organization, founded on 15 June 2008, with more than 10 years of experience in the provision of domiciliary public services of Aqueduct, Sewerage and Sanitary in the municipality of Timbiquí Cauca. And it is situated, in Colombia, in the coast of the Pacific, the southern Cauca.

COOPSERPTIM was constituted by 234 people that, in front of the lack of the essential public services like drinking water, basic sanitation and the lack of job opportunities in the associated zone, had created this cooperative.

10 years of firm collaboration with the Timbiquí administration

On 1 November 2008 the cooperative began it's operating capacity, with an initial budget of 531 euros. With the resources that was hardly attained, we buy a computer equipment. And on the first January of 2009, we achieved our first agreement with the city council of the municipality of Timbiquí for the operation of the domiciliary public services in the urban area, progressively for the year of 2010. They granted us the operation of the domiciliary public services of the rural zone.

Since then, we continue firm walk agreements with the city council of Timbiquí until the last in the year 2019. During all these years, our organization always enjoyed of administrative autonomy to run the public services.

Adverse situation came just before the pandemic

On that day, 1 January 2020, the new mayor without prior notice, and taking advantage of my absence, ordered the city council municipal civil servants to take possession of all of our goods, that the previous administrations had granted to us, preventing us to continue working. So our collaborators continued the public services and the place operation.

During this takeover and termination of the collaborative operation, they did not elaborate or record, neither delivered me or notified me any type of administrative act. They neither did a settlement, nor a suitable application of the reversion principles. They neither did splice when they received the infrastructure. Simply, in fact, the municipal administration took the installations and the team, using authoritarian that concedes him be on the top administrative authority of the municipality.

The obligation to keep 36 families, whose income depended on this organization to get through the pandemic

By cause of this and the situation, you can see me in the painful obligation to have to retain 34 employees and 2 who remain with me, those who continue working, with the confidence that we will recover. But this confidence did not last long. On March 2020, the government of Colombia, ordered the confinement due to the pandemic and we had to close the cooperative. But we keep the remained paying accounts, wages and payment to providers.

This is my reality and the reality of more than 36 families, whose income depended on this company. And this adverse situations affected our lives so much.

Support us to set up a cooperative business: the Supermarket of Economy Solidaria

It is by this cause that we are initiating this campaign which consists in raising funds, that will be used to set up a supermarket of economy solidaria in the municipality of Timbiquí cauca.

Description of our project: it treats of a system of purchase by subventions, where will commercialize primary need products and non perishable foods with a price 30% cheaper than local shop.

The aim of the project: labor links of 12 people that lost his employment because of the causes that already mention above and guarantee the food security of 100 families, of the municipality of Timbiquí cauca that having risk of exclusion and that do not have sufficient income, to buy foods and other primary products and services that they have to allocate, like for public services, lease and health services.

The methodology: it will make a process of targeting, to identify, the 100 beneficiaries that within the vulnerable group. Later, they will be handed with cards, to make us able to control the beneficiaries better. We will also give them psycho-social assistance.

The commodity products are the following : rice, sugar, oil, milk, lentils, beans, detergents, diapers, disposable and wet tissues

The funding goal: we need this amount of $17,400 USD

The budget will be allocated to the purchase of: teams, shelving $571 USD, baskets $286 USD, commercial scales $229 USD, point of sales software $429 USD, fire extinguishers $171 USD

Products: rice, sugar, oil, milk, lentils, beans detergents, diapers, disposable and wet tissues for $15,714 USD.

Let's improve the Pacific Colombian people's lives with economy solidaria

With this project would improve quality of life, since the Pacific Colombian is one of the zones of the country with lower development and with greater indexes of poverty in the country .

Thank you for taking your some minutes in reading our story.

WE ARE IN DIFFICULT TIMES, BUT THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO NEED MORE THAN OTHERS, THAT'S WHY I ASK YOU ON BEHALF OF THESE COMMUNITIES THAT LIVE IN MISERY TO SHARE THEIR STORY AND I WOULD THANK YOU IF YOU DONATE WHAT YOU COULD.