A group of students will travel to Colombia this July to reach out to impoverished children and promote a culture of peace.

The group of students received a $10,000 grant from the Davis Projects for Peace program to travel to Ibague, Colombia and implement a grassroots peace project, Kristen Hansen, international area studies senior, said.

Hansen and Juan Ramón Torres, who are directing the project, collaborated with other students to design their project, which is called Comprehensive Child Development: Promoting a Culture of Peace.

This project will involve students reaching out to approximately 200 children in the poorest neighborhoods in Ibague, she said.

“Through educational, cultural and recreations activities we’re going to teach them positive values and enhance their potential to promote the culture of peace,” she said.

The reason for the project, she said, was because more than 60 percent of Colombian households live in poverty, and 4.3 million citizens have been displaced as a result of the country’s armed conflict.

“Thirty-six [percent] of the displaced persons consist of children under the age of 18, those of whom are susceptible to domestic violence, malnutrition and getting involved in the drug trade,” she said.

Hansen said the group also is trying to get the community in Ibague involved.

“We’re bringing in doctors to teach them about health care, and we’re trying to get the professional soccer team in Ibague involved to run a soccer camp for a day,” she said.

Juan Ramón Torres, bioengineering and microbiology graduate student, said being able to return to Colombia with this group is an incredible experience.

“This is something I have always wished to do,” he said. “Which is to get back to my country and give my best.”

Torres said he’s known about the situation regarding underprivileged children in his home country of Colombia for a while.

“I think this is a great way to give back to my county,” he said.

Juan Galindo, petroleum engineering international student, is from Ibague. Though he will not be able to travel with the group because of summer classes, he said he was able to contact people in Colombia to help organize the project.

Though he said it was a shame he could not go, Galindo said it was rewarding for him to know the project would happen.

“They’re helping my people, my town and the kids in my city,” he said. “That’s enough for me, even though I can not go.”

The group still needs $5,000 in additional funding and is still looking for sponsors for the trip, organizers said.