With its performance of the Christmas Oratorio, the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne not only enriched the pre-Christmas season for its audience musically. A portion of the concert proceeds and donations from the audience and participating artists will go to an institution that has been supporting young people growing up in difficult social and personal circumstances for many years: Casa Hogar. The donation of €45,000 will enable projects for girls, women and marginalised groups in the Chocó region of Colombia, the poorest region in the country.
Since 2017, the non-profit association Casa Hogar has been working to help the poorest of the poor in a region characterised by structural exclusion and territorial conflicts between illegal groups. Almost 40 per cent of the people living there live in extreme poverty and only one in three Chocoans can read. Girls and women are particularly affected. Chocó has one of the highest rates of teenage pregnancy in the country. Domestic violence and sexual exploitation, including forced prostitution, are also widespread.
Casa Hogar is committed to helping these girls and women lead self-determined lives. Under the motto ‘Educate a girl and you change society,’ Casa Hogar works with local partners to provide safe spaces for those affected and enable them to attend school, university and further education.
‘This concert impressively demonstrated what music can achieve: it touches, connects and inspires people to spread hope. I am extremely grateful that this special concert by the Gürzenich Orchestra with CASA HOGAR cultural ambassador Anna Lucia Richter and other fantastic soloists has also resulted in a record amount of donations,’ said Dr Theodor Rüber, founder and 1st chairman of Casa Hogar Deutschland e.V.
During the concert, the audience had the opportunity to learn about the various projects and make donations. The Gürzenich Orchestra is overwhelmed by the audience's generosity.
Stefan Englert, director of the Gürzenich Orchestra: "I would like to thank our audience for attending the concert and making donations, which will enable us to support a special social project. The Gürzenich Orchestra sees it as its duty to bring music to all people and to move them with sound. Music connects people, regardless of social and personal status, regardless of the culture and place that shapes our lives. We want to reach out to those who are not on the sunny side of life with the power of music and enrich their lives."
The donations will primarily be used to expand the Casa Hogar Niña María boarding school for disadvantaged girls from rural areas. Here, indigenous and Afro-Colombian girls from remote areas and extremely poor backgrounds find a safe and happy home. A scholarship enables them to attend school and take part in subject-specific educational programmes that they can use in the long term for themselves, their home communities and the Chocó region. Thanks to pedagogically supported self-administration, the young residents actively participate in shaping their (communal) life from the very beginning. Currently, there is only room for 15 girls. With the donations, this residential home can be expanded to accommodate 48 girls in the future.
In addition to the school home, Casa Hogar's two other main projects are the ‘Casa Hogar La Paz’ student residence, which enables destitute women to study, and the ‘Casa Hogar de La Mujer’ women's shelter, which provides a place of refuge with legal advice and psychosocial support.
The Gürzenich Orchestra and Casa Hogar would like to thank everyone for their generous donations, which make these important projects possible and thus create a future for girls and women in the Chocó region.
