Joining in means nurturing dreams to see them grow into grades, literacy, and love for the environment. That’s why the Fundación Agrícola Himalaya supports the La Libertad Educational Institution, the official school that is the heart of Bitaco, with a high school and six rural schools in the Chicoral, El Retiro, El Diamante, Santafé, Zaragoza, and Bitaco settlement.
There, the heart beats with the foundation’s teachers, who inspire students of all levels with their environment. They prepare them in Systems, Music, Sports, and Environmental Education, supporting them in their ecological projects to plant knowledge and harvest dreams that contribute to their personal growth and to society. As a result, the school is now one of the six A-grade schools in Valle del Cauca.
As a loyal ally of the institution, we have developed a sustained program focused on education, infrastructure, and quality, and we work together on formulating and implementing its Cross-Cutting Environmental Project
Joining in means helping shape a future through knowledge. At Fundación Agrícola Himalaya, we do this through the ‘Marichú de Llano’ Higher Education Scholarship Fund, created to provide our youth with access to higher education. This fund supports a rotating group of 25 students from the Municipality of La Cumbre, who receive assistance for their tuition and maintenance, enabling them to complete their university or higher education studies.
The scholarship recipients are pursuing degrees in fields such as Electrical Engineering, Business Administration, Occupational Therapy, Public Accounting, Preschool Education, Medicine, Law, Foreign Languages, Chemistry, Business Administration, and others. They have also chosen various technology areas, particularly at SENA.
For this program, we have some of our suppliers and individual supporters as allies.
You can help us increase the scholarship fund capacity. All graduates are employed. With your donation, we can award another scholarship. Your contribution is invaluable; you can change lives and open doors. Meet the scholarship recipients.
If you want to apply for one of our scholarships, review the requirements, download the application form, and send it fully completed to the email: fundacionagricolahimalaya@agricolahimalaya.com
In the early 1990s, Marichú de Llano and Eduardo Uribe started several cultural and artistic programs at the Santa María del Camino church in Chicoral. These initiatives aimed to provide a variety of activities for children and young people during their vacation periods and to promote the good use of free time among them and their mothers.
Over time, participants showed a preference for music, leading to the establishment of the first music education center, which gave rise to Musicoral. Approximately 80 children and young people are trained during Saturday sessions at our foundation’s headquarters in Chicoral.
The Solitario Andino event, a competition for vocal and instrumental performers, had its most recent edition in June 2024.
In 2017, teacher Francy Acosta started the parallel Plastic Arts School, which also includes adults training in drawing, painting, anime (with teacher Christian Camilo), recycled paper, and other techniques.
Currently, an average of 25 students of all ages participate in the Saturday sessions.
Under the direction of Diego Trullo, a department league instructor, children, youth, and adults are trained in values and techniques of Taekwondo in the Chicoral chapel classroom. Year after year, they participate in tournaments and promotions with Professor Froylan.
Currently, there are 20 students, and three black belts have been awarded.
We support this sport as loyal sponsors of the established Club Deportivo Independiente Bitaco, affiliated with the department league. The brothers Joaqui and Professor Harold are the dedicated instructors and motivators on the field at the Bitaco settlement. Approximately 100 children and young people participate in all categories. Harold is also the swimming instructor at IELL.
Together, we will continue to improve the quality of life for many families.
Joining in means understanding the value of water sources as life-givers; that’s why this resource is central to the programs developed by FAH, which promotes Bitaco as an Environmental Gem.
Co-financed by the German NGO MISEREOR, this project focused on several main areas: empowering Community Action Boards as leaders of their territory; managing discharges in the upper and middle basins of the Bitaco River; planting native trees; working on providing potable water for residents; and comprehensive solid waste management. The goal is to contribute to the comprehensive management of the territory and achieve sustainability levels.
With the support of the CVC’s Participatory Environmental Action Fund and the active participation of the Community Action Boards (JAC), we train families in source separation, eco-gardens, composting, and effective use of recyclable materials. The six villages have Classification and Storage Spaces for waste and are starting their businesses. This system, which we have implemented by combining technical, economic, and human efforts, benefits 425 families from six rural communities within the district.
Weaving the Future focuses on three areas: daily care through projects benefiting water sources, planting, proper waste management, improving rural aqueducts, and general environmental education campaigns to build a better environment. Secondly, though equally important, we work to help Bitaco residents start new rural businesses or consolidate and expand their existing sources of income. As a cross-cutting theme, we continue to support the strengthening of leaders, Community Action Boards, and other social organizations
This project developed the directory IN BITACO WE HAVE IT, which lists products and services available in the area.
In citizen participation, we are taking the next step in democracy towards the digital field, with citizen oversight and active youth involvement. The 8 legally recognized Community Action Boards (JAC) in the district are developing projects of common interest to secure their own resources through state entities.
In entrepreneurship, we will continue to improve family incomes and build productive linkage models for the region. Entrepreneurs will assess their progress towards farms that implement sustainable practices.
The school will expand its product portfolio at La Libertad to include new lines: in addition to Coffee and Honey, La Libertad will offer dairy and meat products. An Ecological Trail will also be established.
In the environmental area, improvements and renovations of rural aqueducts will be managed to increase the percentage of the population with access to potable water. We are currently at 86%!
We continue with the planting of native trees. We have contributed to the planting of 85,000 trees and are enhancing our nursery, with an average annual production of 15,000.
