As a result of the Corona outbreak, some GCS staff members were not able to return home and had to quarantine in-country. Senior Technical Advisor Paulo Dias stayed on in Colombia - offering a helping hand to those most impacted by the crises.

The travel restrictions and quarantine measures that were put in place as a result of the pandemic saw some of our GCS staff members having to remain on the ground it the countries where they were operating at the time. One of these employees is Senior Technical Advisor Paulo Dias, from Portugal. Paulo was working on a project in Colombia, where GCS has been engaged for many years, when the lockdown measures came into place. Paulo was providing technical training and support as part of a humanitarian mission with our partners HI, to rid the country of landmine and IED contamination.

During his quarantine in Bogota, Paulo came across the reputable work of the foundation Sembradores de Paz y Reclectores de Experanza (https://sereza.org). The foundation is composed of internally displaced people, mainly rural workers from Cesar, in the North-East of Colombia, an area that has known many conflicts.

Handing over GCS’s contribution to the initiative

During the pandemic, the foundation is running a local community kitchen in Bogota (with a population of more than 9 million), where volunteers work tirelessly to provide hot meals to the homeless and those displaced by war. Impressed by the professionalism and transparency of the project, Paulo decided to offer a helping hand in the kitchen. Hearing Paulo’s accounts from the ground, GCS contributed to the initiative and donated a weeks’ worth of meals to the kitchen.

We want to take this opportunity to say a heartfelt ‘thank you’ to Paulo (who is away from his family in Portugal), and to the team at Sembradores de Paz y Reclectores de Experanza for the selfless work that they are doing in alleviating the suffering of those most affected in the community during these very challenging times.