Shipping of Donations

August 28th, 2012

Martinez Cargo Express Corp., a large shipping company in the Orlando area, has been chosen as the official company that will ship the donations that will be distributed in El Talon this December.  Twelve boxes will be sent on Saturday, September 1st, 2012.  Mr. Jose Martinez, owner of Martinez Cargo Express Corp., is committed with Beyond the Wall and has promised to support this cause.  The donations will be picked up by the company and it should take about five weeks for the boxes to arrive.  I'd like to thank Mr. Martinez for the unconditional support!

I invite you to follow me on Facebook (Beyond the Wall Campaign-Colombia) and through Twitter (@BeyondTheWallCO).

Fall 2012 Updates

August 28th, 2012

It's only been three days since the last time that I updated the blog, and it already seems as if I have a lot to inform everyone about.  First of all, I will be traveling to Colombia towards the end of September or the beginning of October and I'll be coming back to the States in December.  During my time in Colombia, I'll be making weekly visits to El Talon.  Those visits will not be considered "events" like the past distributions, but they will be significant.  The visits will consist of concentrating on certain subjects with the children of El Talon; for example, we'll have a day dedicated to music, sports, art, writing, and reading.

There will also be events leading up to the final distribution.  In the end of November, there will be a sexual education workshop in El Talon that the adults of El Talon can participate in.  Furthermore, there is a plan to be able to organize a medical mission with the support of the University of Cartagena, though this is pending confirmation.  Finally, the distribution date set for this year is December 9th at 10 AM.  The past distributions in December were always completed on the 23rd, but due to my schedule with school and a family reunion in Los Angeles, I have to travel back to Orlando on December 11th.

I must mention that I don't think that I have words to describe how grateful I am for all of the support this year.  In March, all of the donations disappeared for over two months and during that time, I desperately tried to collect new ones to take to El Talon, and luckily, by May 30th, I had enough donations to distribute in El Talon.  Later during the first week of June, the lost and original donations suddenly appeared, leaving me with double the amount of donations.  This year could have been the worst in Beyond the Wall's short history, but that was something that the followers and I could not allow...and I am now preparing my trip to Colombia.  Thanks to everyone for that unconditional support.

I invite you to follow me on Facebook (Beyond the Wall Campaign-Colombia) and through Twitter (@BeyondTheWallCO).

Beyond the Wall and ColSA

August 25th, 2012

It's a pleasure to announce that Beyond the Wall has formalized a partnership with the ColSA organization at the University of Central Florida.  The confirmation of this update comes after a private meeting with the ColSA board of directors that was held on Saturday, August 25, 2012.  I have had the opportunity to work with this organization in the past, and it was very successful, so I am confident that everything will be outstanding.

• What will change? The benefit of working as an alliance is that we will now be able to prepare events that benefit Beyond the Wall. Funds may also be collected on behalf of ColSA.

• How long will the partnership last? The alliance is effective during the 2012-2013 school year at the University of Central Florida.
• What events will be organized?  The events are currently being prepared.  A preview includes a soccer tournament that will take place in October of this year.

• What is ColSA?  ColSA is a student organization that promotes Colombian culture throughout the University of Central Florida (there are approximately 59,000 students) and the Orlando community. Students are not only Colombians; there are people that come from other countries such as India and Brazil.  Due to the fact that we are in a country where the majority of the population speaks English, all public presentations are done in that language.

Over the days, I will be letting everyone know about the events that are being prepared.  Meanwhile, I want to thank all of the members of the ColSA board of directors for this opportunity that will benefit El Talon!

I invite you to follow me on Facebook (Beyond the Wall Campaign-Colombia) and through Twitter (@BeyondTheWallCO).

The Importance of Donating

August 25th, 2012

Take a minute to read about the importance of donating clothing to the people of El Talon: clothing and shoes in Cartagena and its surrounding areas are much more expensive than in other regions of the country because Cartagena is a huge tourist destination. As we all know, everything that has to do with tourism is very expensive. For example, when we go to Disney World in Orlando, everything is overpriced because it's where all the tourists go. It's similar in Cartagena; everything from food, clothing, shoes, transportation, and homes are overpriced. What some people do is that they go to Medellin, where everything is usually much cheaper than Cartagena, and they buy a lot of clothing to bring back to Cartagena to sell to those that can't afford it. This business is popular during Christmas, which is usually when people shop for clothing. The prices for the clothes can vary, but an example is this: four shirts and two jeans from brands that are not too recognized can cost about 600-700 thousand pesos ($300-350 USD); the reason why people pay this is because the vendors give them the option of paying it off throughout the year. 

People usually wear the clothes for about three to four years, and then they buy more clothing using the same method. However, many people cannot afford to do this because of a lack of funds; they don't have enough for food, utilities, school (you cannot just "check-out" books at the school library, you must purchase them), uniforms, rent, etc...so what makes you think that they'll spend their little amount of money on clothing when they barely have enough to eat? I believe that Beyond the Wall does a good deed because we provide them with clothing that really helps them out; some of them can go to job interviews with what they receive, others receive shoes so they won't have to walk around the contaminated mud (for those that have been there know that this is a huge problem), children receive toys that their parents may never be able to afford, and some simply appreciate the needed extra clothing. Yes, there are plans of expanding into other areas of social work; for example, this year we want to implement sexual education into the end of the year's distribution event. In the future, we would also want to eventually partner up with other organizations that will help them with the infrastructure of their homes, we'd like to help them find some work using their own resources, but everything takes time and patience.

Before helping out a community, whether it's in Colombia, Brazil, Angola, Romania, or even here in the United States, one must first realize what the needs are, because EVERY COMMUNITY IS DIFFERENT, even in Colombia. The needs in El Talon are completely different than the needs in the slums of Medellin, and the needs there are completely different than those living in poverty in Cartago, Valle. It's easy for us in the United States, in the comfort of our home, to quickly find a solution for everything...but in reality, everything is much more complex and investigations/studies must be done 

before reaching a favorable solution. All in all, El Talon will always receive Beyond the Wall's help.

I invite you to follow me on Facebook (Beyond the Wall Campaign-Colombia) and through Twitter (@BeyondTheWallCO).

Summer 2012

August 25th, 2012

The Fall season is about to begin and Beyond the Wall is going forward with everything that's planned! The summer has been very productive for the campaign since there have been several positive changes and I've been concentrating on the necessary preparations in order to complete the planned projects in Colombia.

The donations will be distributed in El Talon at the end of the year and we are already packed. It's been a busy season because we've collected and packed the donations, but there is also a sense of satisfaction in knowing that the work was completed in an exceptional way.  The support of all the followers has been great; people have taken donations to the office where I work, I receive calls and messages every day to be informed about receiving more donations, I've received donations all the way from Chicago, etc.  It's obviously great to receive all this support, but this requires a lot of dedication on my part.  Even the representative of Colombia in Miss Universe 2010 and faithful follower of the campaign, Natalia Navarro Galvis, collected seven boxes of clothes, shoes, and toys with her family in Miami.  It's unbelievable that public figures such as Miss Colombia are also interested in El Talon's success!  Finally, the support of everyone during the year, not just the summer, has been very good.

As I mentioned in a recent post, a goal that I had was to become a nonprofit organization. After receiving the professional guidance that I needed, I decided to change my mind.  For various reasons, I should not become a nonprofit organization...for now.  The great advice that I received will be published in another post, but I can guarantee that I have prepared something for the rest of the year that everyone will enjoy.

All in all, I want to thank all the followers of Beyond the Wall for the unconditional support. I honestly don't know what I'd do without my family here in the United States and Colombia, the guidance of my professional counselors, and of course, all the people who take the time and effort to help all of the residents of El Talon.  Success is on its way!

I invite you to follow me on Facebook (Beyond the Wall Campaign-Colombia) and through Twitter (@BeyondTheWallCO).

2011 Board

July 17th, 2012

Crazy how time flies!  Over a year ago, I figured that an awesome way of receiving help was by forming a board of directors.  Adriane Norman and Juan Esteban Cajigas were chosen to become part of the campaign, and I think that it was an excellent decision.  We have worked together for about a year or so, but unfortunately, we will no longer be able to continue as a board for the Fall 2012 season.  They are now concentrating on other goals and I know that they will succeed wherever they go.  I'd like to thank them for their support and wish them the best of luck with their future endeavors.

I invite you to follow me on Facebook (Beyond the Wall Campaign-Colombia) and through Twitter (@BeyondTheWallCO).

Nonprofit Organization

June 19, 2012

I've been wanting to announce this for quite some time now, but the process to become a nonprofit organization will begin this week.  Beyond the Wall becoming a nonprofit means that the United States will legally recognize me as a charity.  I will be able to receive financial help from everyone willing to donate, I'll receive more support for larger projects, etc.  As a nonprofit, I will be able to achieve much more than anyone can imagine!  

I invite you to follow me on Facebook (Beyond the Wall Campaign-Colombia) and through Twitter (@BeyondTheWallCO).

Plans for the second half of 2012

June 15, 2012

Now that everyone is updated with Beyond the Wall, I am going to announce what the plans are for the year.

Since I began my campaign when I was 17 years old, I've learned two very important lessons: to not plan too much and to go one step at a time.  I have such a big passion for Colombia, that I always want to do everything all at once, but now that I am older (21) and have experience working on this, I'm definitely going to plan, but doing things step by step.  I've learned to be a bit more patient, even though I'm still working on it.  With that in mind, the following will be done in 2012:

• The donations have been recovered.  As mentioned in the previous post, even if I didn't recover the "stolen" donations, I still would've had enough for just one distribution in El Talon.  Now that I have double the amount of donations, I'm guaranteeing many more distributions in the coming years...even though I'll never stop receiving donations.
• Storage is very important; now that I don't have to worry so much about donations filling up in my home, I feel much more relieved and it's good to know that everything is organized.
• The donations will be sent to Colombia by ship sometime between August and September.
• The next most important step, without a doubt, is to become a nonprofit organization.  I will not do anything else until Beyond the Wall is recognized as a nonprofit because it opens many doors for the campaign..this is true expansion!
• After the nonprofit process is complete, I'd like to plan on getting a group of students in Colombia together to offer classes on sexual education in El Talon.  Education to me is very important, and this quote expresses it all: "Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for the rest of his life." -Chinese proverb
• Health is also important, so I'd like to have another medical mission completed in December.

I wanted to have a distribution in July, but due to the whole issue with the donations being "stolen," it was cancelled and I cannot change them back now due to funding.  Like last year, I also wanted to have a park built in El Talon, but unfortunately, I am hearing rumors about the possibility of El Talon being relocated in the future, so I'm not sure if that is the best idea.  The Beyond the Wall event this year will take place during the first week of December, unlike the last two years (December 23rd).  

I will be updating everyone with this great campaign!  Thanks to everyone for the support!

I invite you to follow me on Facebook (Beyond the Wall Campaign-Colombia) and through Twitter (@BeyondTheWallCO).

First half of 2012

June 15th, 2012


I think that the first half of 2012 has been the most stressful but most rewarding ever since 2009, when I first started to work on Beyond the Wall.  While I was in Colombia working on the 2011 Christmas distribution, my Father had to take all of the donations to a storage unit in east Orlando.  The storage unit was to be paid by me every month, which I did.  The donations that were stored in the unit were the ones that would be used for future distributions.  In March 2012, all of the donations suddenly "disappeared" and were considered stolen.  I asked for footage of recent activity, but the storage company employees informed me that the cameras had been "disabled."  After filing a police report, nobody gave me hopes on recovering the donations.  I was very disappointed with everything, but I realized that I couldn't let this be a reason for me to not continue helping El Talon.

I decided to recover the donations as fast as possible; I began to inform everyone through Facebook and Twitter about the problems that I was going through, and to my surprise, everyone began to help.  I received support from people that I didn't even know, and it went great!  I drove all around central Florida picking up donations from awesome people that simply want to make a difference in El Talon.  I flew to Los Angeles to pick up donations, my family went to Chicago to get some more donations, and all in all, just through Facebook/Twitter, one interview on La Grande 1030 AM with Fernando Negron and El Guajiro, and one video of support from Miss Colombia 2010, I managed to collect and pack all of the donations...in two months!

On June 7th, 2012, I was informed that all of the "stolen" donations appeared!  When I found out, I couldn't believe it and I was excited, but at the same time, I was very puzzled.  According to the storage manager, the donations were "transferred" to another unit and I was shown the empty one back in March; however, they wanted me to pay four months worth of rent!  In the long run, we made a deal and I only paid for one month worth of storage rent, and I was allowed to take the donations.  I know very well that there is more behind this whole situation and that I can perfectly file a lawsuit, but I am not interested in fighting against that storage company; the important thing is that the donations have been recovered.  I then had the difficult task of transferring the recovered donations into a new storage unit with my family, which was difficult because of the heat.  

Throughout this whole mess with the storage company, I've come to the conclusion that things must happen for a reason.  I've learned that I have to "go with the flow" when it comes to my campaign and that I shouldn't stress out as much as I did when the donations were "stolen."  I feel very happy to know that I can count on the community for support and on my family for anything.  I now look at this experience like this:  the donations were taken from me, I worked very hard to recover them, the "stolen donations" appeared, and I now have double the amount of donations for El Talon.  Again, things happen for a reason.  Thank you very much to everyone who supported me when I really needed it!

I invite you to follow me on Facebook (Beyond the Wall Campaign-Colombia) and through Twitter (@BeyondTheWallCO).