Bancamiga and Jardines Topotepuy motorize the Huerto para la Vida

Located in the Mirador del Este, at the top of the Petare parish, the Nuestra Señora del Encuentro Educational Unit is the pilot center of an initiative that promotes Jardines Ecológicos Topotepuy in the hands of allied companies such as Bancamiga Banco Universal, in order to establish the Huerto para la Vida, which would become a space to plant, learn and inspire.

This week, a group of collaborators from Bancamiga and its allied companies, together with staff from the educational unit, Topotepuy and some members of the community, participated in a dynamic that was entitled “Elaboration of the Huerto para la Vida Mural Newspaper, U.E. Nuestra Señora del Encuentro.”

In five work tables, the participants made this Mural Newspaper that will be exposed in a visible place of the institution, so that the members of the educational community and the Mirador del Este know about the importance of the Garden for Life and participate actively .

Cury Bottome, director of Jardines Ecológicos Topotepuy, pointed out that the program was born from the first moment that Topotepuy Ecological Gardens existed, because it was like the first garden for life that was developed.

“Peter Bottome and the landscape architect Ricardo Fuenmayor were two visionaries who came together to develop this 16-year-old garden in this space with their Cloud Forest, the result of planning and continuous work. Although the community enters Topotepuy to learn and enjoy nature, Ricardo always had the concern of taking this to other places.”

He expressed that “for God’s sake” the opportunity was given in 2018 to get to know the school, with a “spectacular” land that is now vacant, where the vegetation has been lost and urban planning is highly concentrated. “It is in this place where we are working the pilot project and where we have the opportunity to show how valuable nature is for the quality of life.”

“As the project progressed in 2018, the possibility arose for Bancamiga to learn about the program and for its volunteers to fall in love with the initiative. And that’s what happened. We are all in love with that future that must be valued. If we do not protect ecosystems, if we do not understand that garbage is a great enemy, that recycling is so important and that we must love biodiversity, if we do not value that, we will not understand the importance of preserving the quality of life for the future of our children.”

Ecological Ambassadors, keys to sustainability

For Omaira Lozano, a volunteer for Huerto para la Vida, this is a project that encompasses aspects such as social, economic and environmental. The integrality of these elements has to be found with an axis that serves as a pivot: the Ecological Ambassadors.

“Sustainability will be possible as long as we have that axis. Ecological Ambassadors can be defined as those members of the educational community who have participated in activities and training, in order to strengthen their commitment and knowledge about the Huerto para la Vida.”

The Unidad Educativa Nuestra Señora del Encuentro has been operating since 2000. Some 900 students receive comprehensive training in the initial, primary, secondary and technical stages. In addition, its spaces serve as a dining room for 220 people from the community in vulnerable situations, who benefit from lunches and even students with breakfast.

According to Sister María Inés, rector of the Educational Unit, this is a project with a very important and challenging vision, because it implies a change in mentality.

“It is valuing what we have and being grateful for what God presents to us every day. It is having a hopeful vision, that part of what there is not but what will be, “he said.

The Huerto para la Vida is one of the programs that Bancamiga Banco Universal promotes as a socially responsible company committed to preserving the environment and promoting environmental education.

Source: El Sumario

With information from Bancamiga and Jardines Ecológicos Topotepuy