High in the mountains outside of Medellin (a few cable car and bus rides away) in the town of Bello is a small village named Regalo de Dios. Somewhat ironic this translates to English as “gift of God” as it is home to widespread poverty. Most of the residents that live here are displaced from the civil and drug violence in Medellin and live here in the hills as a hope for survival. In fact, this community is still controlled by gangs and if you ask Marcos, the founder of Angeles de Medellin, he’ll have more than one insane story to share with you.
Angeles de Medellin (Angels of Medellin) was started in 2006 by Mark (aka Marcos) Kaseman from New York. When Marcos first arrived in Colombia, he was volunteering at a local school teaching English, but that soon turned into opening a community center in the barrio of Regalo del Dios to assist displaced victims of violence. With no support from large organizations, Marcos relies on donations from volunteers and people around the world by providing food, clothing, and school supplies for the children and their families.
As soon as you jump off the cable car at Santo Domingo, you can see how much love people have for Marcos in this community. As you wait for the bus up to the community center at the local panderia, kids will run over and hug Marcos while their parents will greet him with a huge smile and a “buenos dias Marcos!!” However, Marcos wasn’t always so well loved in the community – years ago, the paramilitary threatened to kill Marcos if he returned to Regalo del Dios. But did that stop Marcos? Nope. He still returned the day after the threat and told them his only agenda was to help the children.
The community center provides a safe place where kids can come and play games collected over the years. For many, this is their only access to games, toys, and books. For the adults in the community, Marcos offers computer classes, sewing classes, cosmetology classes, and English classes (which are also offered for the older kids). While I was volunteering there, Marcos had a program where the single mothers in the community would make lunch for the elderly, disabled, and children every Wednesday. Marcos would buy all the required food and the moms would prep, cook, and clean up and Marcos would pay them.
Not every day is the same, but you can guarantee every day you’ll be playing some games with the kids. Their favorite game? Memory games. These kids are so freaking good at it. In all the time I spent playing it, I think I maybe won once… and I’m pretty sure solely on luck!
On my last day there, there is a party to give out hundreds of pairs of shoes donated. Kids were waiting at the center before we even arrived for the day excited for their new pair. With any good party, it also included music, food, and face painting. Once one kid asked for the symbol of their favorite soccer team, Atlético Nacional, painted on their face… I spent the good majority of my time perfecting it on many others.
It’s no wonder Marcos has repeat volunteers that come back after the years. In my short three weeks there, I was deeply impacted and hope to return soon!
give back
As a tourist visiting Medellin or an expat living there, you’re most likely confined to a small, wealthy area. See another side of Medellin and bring a smile to the community of Regalo del Dios.
want to volunteer with angeles de medellin?
Reach out to Marcos on Facebook and let him know! He meets with volunteers every week day at 10am at the Acevedo station to ride the cable cars up to the community center. Other than asking for a small one time donation, Marcos lets you volunteer as little or as often as you like.
Have you volunteered while traveling?
