“But when you give alms, let not your left hand know what your right hand is doing” (Matthew 6:3). This is what the singer Iván Villazón has done. His gift towards social work as a believer in God has led him to form a kind of ‘castle’ created on the basis of humility and work that today became a seedbed of teaching for vulnerable children in Valledupar.
When he recorded his first production titled “El Arcoiris”, a version in walking rhythm by maestro Rafael Escalona Martínez, and considered Villazón’s letter of introduction, his instinct to help others sowed the first seed that over the years has germinated, reaching to be the Shalom Paz Educational Center, Christian Foundation for Social Work.
It is located in the Kennedy neighborhood of this capital, and its surroundings are the most vulnerable sectors of the city, conditions that were never an impediment for ‘La Voz Tenor del Vallenato’ to carry out its project of helping those most in need.
The non-profit foundation was created in 1987 by Elvin Aponte Molina and Iván Villazón Aponte, teacher and artist of Vallenato folklore, focused on opening spaces for education in Valledupar. For almost 40 years they have been working for the children of the tolerance zone, a sector called ‘El Boliche en el centro in the city.
This is how when his first album, ‘El Arcoiris’, was released, Villazón made the tithe available, as a tribute before God, to plant what is today an educational center that houses about 200 children from the El Carmen neighborhoods, 9 de Marzo, La Macarena, Pescaíto and other sectors located on the right bank of the Guatapurí River.
Together with her aunt and believing sister, Elvin Aponte Molina, Villazón undertook a project that initially included caring for the children of sex workers located in the sector, in addition to providing food, through a soup kitchen, to families in need, without imagining that the great power of God went further, and today they are a light of hope for education in Valledupar, as they provide education from preschool to fifth grade.
IT ALL STARTED WITH PRAYERS
Clara Molina, daughter of the founder of the institution and current director, said that this project began almost 40 years ago, when her mother, Elvin Aponte Molina, was doing social service with other sisters of the Christian Church congregation.
“My mother, who died in 2020, began to make prayers focused on sex workers, because the sector has been recognized as a zone of tolerance, but the mothers never arrived, but the children, to the point of being able to gather up to 100 eager children. of attention, love and help.”
In that hustle and bustle, Villazón’s voice, in addition to cheering hearts by exalting Vallenato folklore, became the echo to make possible a great dream that today has come true.
“Iván Francisco and my mother took hands and started on the way. The population served was already large and they found it necessary to rent a house to start with the children in the meetings. Iván Francisco Villazón began to pay those rents with his tithes from his first album ‘El Arcoiris, then they asked for help from the Icbf, which was provided by the community mothers and the school cafeteria, for approximately 10 years,” said Molina, who proudly assures that this effort is worth it.
In 1987, together with Iván Villazón and the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare, they created two homes run by community mothers in which they housed 30 children on average, a number that increased over the years.
In 1990, taking into account that the area of influence is high risk and little attention was being paid to the population between 6 and 18 years old, the need arose to open a school cafeteria to serve 80 student and non-student minors, including those that included minors working or abandoned on the street.
The following year, the institution was attached to the Prudencia Daza Educational Institution for approximately three years through aid from the Mayor’s Office of Valledupar, which was withdrawn and today the Shalom Paz Educational Center is completely private, up to fifth grade. , without the children making any contribution to the school.
“On that occasion, Iván Villazón and my mother made the brave decision to create the Christian Foundation for Social Work, with the aim of serving children. It was no longer one house, but four, even the main one was shared with a pool hall that today is a classroom.
MORE THAN 7,000 CHILDREN SERVED
It has been a titanic task in silence, but very rewarding. During its history, the educational center has served more than 7 thousand children, some teachers even trained at the institution and today offer their knowledge to raise the generations of the future.
“We have children of waste pickers, sex workers, migrants, child workers and children with difficult family environments. “Everyone is equal and the goal is to teach them to fear God, to follow His Word and move forward for the good of society,” said Clara Molina, who promises to follow the legacy of her mother until God decides. .
In short, good works are demonstrated by actions and not by words. The singer Iván Villazón, honored at the 57 Vallenata Legend Festival, carries out this great work in silence, with his heart in God and the goal of forming thinking, believing and useful beings for society.
Children “will always be love, the remedy for all calamities,” was the motto of its founder Elvin Aponte Molina, who watches from heaven and makes possible the continuity of this great work.