The work of the Foundation was documented during an episode on the Colombian television channel RCN, in the programm "Mision Impacto". See the complete episode below (Spanish), where actor Gregorio Pernía saw first hand how Lida Paternina represents the hope for many of Cartagena´s youth who were involved in local gangs but have since rehabilitated and reintegrated thanks to the work of the Foundation. The challenge now is to reach a peace agreement between two rivalling gangs:

The Foundation Renovación y Esperanza (Renovation and Hope), is a non profit NGO, legally established in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia. Our main objective is to improve to quality of life of the lower social classes in our city.

We started our work in January of 1997 with the most vulnerable communities of the city of Cartagena de Indias, with programs to teach the young a skilled labour, fight against hunger and hygiene campaigns. In the year 2002 we started our prevention program and fight against juvenile drug addiction in the historic locality of our city, which not only has a positive effect on the community but also on the city of Cartagena as a whole.

At present we are working at a program of rehabilitation for the young with behavioural problems and/or who live in an area of risk, concerning the presence of gangs and violence in the city of Cartagena de Indias, Colombia. Furthermore we work at preventing the kids from the consumption of drugs; we support the young with social and psychological attention, helping them get a basic secondary education and receive training at a work level and directing them towards a peaceful coexistence in society so that they are able to generate their own income in an honest way and be useful to their family and society.  

Thanks to the support of several public as well as private institutions (see agreements) and the incredible effort of a group of specialists and volunteers, we have been able to link the youth to a formal basic education. Furthermore we have implemented a program to capacitate the youth through the teaching of labour skills, as well as a program to form them as independent individuals and teaching them social skills. With financial and technical resources it has been possible to support the creation of micro businesses with the youth. All this has resulted in an ending of hostilities in our community of San Pedro y Libertad and a more liveable and tranquil community.