YMCA Colombia

YMCA Colombia

Why choose YMCA Colombia?

Founded in 1844, the YMCA operates in 120 countries around the world and has been in Colombia for 57 years empowering young people and impacting communities. We are present in 14 departments of Colombia, with almost 400 employees, over 900 Colombian volunteers, and 100 outreach and bilingual programs.

Founded
1964

Reviews

Default avatar
Ciarán
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

2022 Cohort

At first, I thought I couldn't manage travelling all over the city day and night, working in a school and university then hanging out with friends all within the same day... but I could! It was incredibly exhausting but exhilarating at the same time. I learnt so much from the day to day because I was able to live within a different culture from day to day where I was able to improve my overall skillset, including in subjects I didn't even think I'd be good at.
This was an experience that not many people get to do in this world and I would suggest it to anyone who wants to obtain a better, more holistic worldview.

What was the most nerve-racking moment and how did you overcome it?
Navigating my new city and host family I lived with. It required patience, compromise and thoughtfulness to get the most out of it. I noticed that Bogotá was an culturally rich place but with many problems surrounding the society, but with the right encouragement and company, it really brought the city to life for me.
Pros
  • Easy access to cheap, nice food
  • Parties. I love a party and Colombia does it well.
  • Helpful people. I had situations where people would go out of their way to help me without me asking.
Cons
  • Experienced some unsavoury, quite strange and difficult people that I needed to avoid quickly.
  • Relatively expensive to the rest of Colombia.
  • Such a huge city that it took long to navigate and was quite polluted.
Default avatar
Tabea
4/5
Yes, I recommend this program

My opinion to COLead3ers

The YMCA COLead3ers program is a cool program in which you will have a unique insight into Colombia. You will be sent to different schools where you will play games with the children. The idea behind it is that you speak English with the children and they realize that it is an important language for international relations. You also help the teachers to manage the huge classes, which consist of 40-50 children. The work was sometimes quite difficult for me as I don't speak Spanish and the children's/teachers' English is usually very poor. Generally speaking, very few people in Colombia can speak English.
However, the YMCA staff are very friendly and eager to help you!

Default avatar
Maegan
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

1 Year in Bogotá

I spent a year in Bogotá following my completion of an undergraduate degree in Latin American studies. I’d been speaking Spanish by that point for half my life, and I wanted formal experience with children. I say this to say, I felt that those things prepared me immensely for living in Colombia.

Colombia and Bogotá specifically is my second home! At the time, our team was small but mighty and I still keep in contact with the people I worked with back then. Everyone made me feel like family, even though I was so far from home.

I loved my school, which was in Soacha, and I made strong and long lasting relationships with my kids. I love them so much and every day with them was a gift. I feel like if you go into this experience with a full heart and want to give all of yourself to your students, you will walk away with no regrets. Many people I worked with had also never met a Black American person, so I loved sharing my culture with my students. In return they gave me so much love.

What was the most nerve-racking moment and how did you overcome it?
On my first day of school, a parent from the school was supposed to pick me up but he forgot. After a long bus ride to Soacha, I had to get a colectivo the rest of the way to my school, but I didn’t really know how they worked. I didn’t get off the colectivo and ended up outside the city. I asked the driver how to get back and he told me to wait and get on another colectivo. The thought of that overwhelmed me so much that I burst into tears, ran into a grocery store, and sat on a bag of rice for hours calling my bosses so we could get everything fixed!

Eventually they got my location and sent someone to get me and take me to the school. I pulled up to the school and they were like “ok let’s get you to your first class!” After all that, I still had to teach 😭
Pros
  • Living and working in a culture that I’d studied
  • Making lifelong friends and mentees
  • The love I experienced from everyone around me
Cons
  • Couldn’t access any of my own cultural foods
Default avatar
Alexandra Paula
4/5
Yes, I recommend this program

4 months in Valledupar

My experience with the COLead3rs in the cities of Valledupar and Barranquilla was very interesting and made me grow as a person a lot. Working with the students was very satisfying and fun and navigating a different work and workplace culture taught me a lot. At times a bit difficult, but it was nice to see myself adapting to this new type of dynamic. The YMCA of Barranquilla were always so attentive to my needs, all the activities I participated in with them were a pleasure and they are an amazing team to work with. The city of Valledupar is very chill and surrounded with beautiful nature and Barranquilla gave me some of my best nights out in Colombia. My host family was extremely sweet and nice and I found it very easy to make friends and genuine connections during my stay in Colombia. I received a lot of support before getting here from the YMCA Colombia team and all the process with the visa and everything regarding logistics was much easier with their help. I travelled a lot around the country and Colombia is truly a gem, fun and diverse, full of culture and gorgeous nature and much easier to get around than expected.

What was your funniest moment?
Random karaoke party in the uni with my coworkers.
Pros
  • the students <3
  • travel opportunities
  • always feeling very welcomed by all colombians I interacted with
Cons
  • workload a bit too much at times
  • workplace dynamics a bit confusing
  • always having to report everything and sometimes feeling watched over by the team a bit too much
Default avatar
Alexandra Paula
4/5
Yes, I recommend this program

4 months in Valledupar

My experience with the CoLeaders in the cities of Valledupar and Barranquilla was very interesting and made me grow as a person a lot. Working with the students was very satisfying and fun and navigating a different work and workplace culture taught me a lot. At times a bit difficult, but it was nice to see myself adapting to this new type of dynamic. The YMCA of Barranquilla were always so attentive to my needs, all the activities I participated in with them were a pleasure and they are an amazing team to work with. The city of Valledupar is very chill and surrounded with beautiful nature and Barranquilla gave me some of my best nights out in Colombia. My host family was extremely sweet and nice and I found it very easy to make friends and genuine connections during my stay in Colombia. I received a lot of support before getting here from the YMCA Colombia team and all the process with the visa and everything regarding logistics was much easier with their help. I travelled a lot around the country and Colombia is truly a gem, fun and diverse, full of culture and gorgeous nature and much easier to get around than expected.

What was your funniest moment?
Random karaoke party in the uni with my coworkers.
Pros
  • the students <3
  • travel opportunities
  • always feeling very welcomed by all colombians I interacted with
Cons
  • workload a bit too much at times
  • workplace dynamics a bit confusing
  • always having to report everything and sometimes feeling watched over by the team a bit too much

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