We just got a note from the folks at CRAN, the adoption agency in Bogotá that we are working with. CRAN stands for Centro para la Rehabilitación y Adopción para del Niño, but no one ever really says all that. They are having their 25th anniversary and are having a conference in Bogotá in September. It looks like it would be fun, so we are probably going to cash in some miles and go down there.
We're #6 on this list right now, as far as we know..
To see their animated presentation, click on the following link..
CRAN Invitation
Click on "Continue Reading" to see the entire text from the CRAN folks.
To All CRAN Families:
As most of you probably have heard by now this year CRAN celebrates its 25th anniversary. This is just a perfect excuse to see you again and share with you and your family our present and our future.
We hope then that you are able to join us in Bogotá-Colombia on Sept. 24th-27th 2003.
For each day starting on the 24th we have a special event that has been carefully though out:
* 24th September: Knowing CRAN: this will be a day where you will
have the opportunity to be at CRAN with Colombian CRAN families, CRAN staff and Representatives from the International Adoption Agencies. We will share with you our vision for the coming years, our achievements to the present day including those products and services aimed at strengthening our bonds with our families abroad and most important we will have testimonies from adopted children, adoptive parents as well as biological mothers as to how their encounter with CRAN had an impact in their lives.
* 25th September: Academic Forum: it will have the participation
of both international and national well-known "practitioners" in the area of Strategic Alliances between NGO's, State and Private Sector which address the problem of abandoned children. It is a "Best Practice Sharing" type of forum, which has as its main objective to create additional awareness as to how to address the problem of children at risk. Local policy makers as well as Infancy State Institutions and representatives from the private sector will be the public attending the forum in addition to you.
* 26th September: CRAN Family Day: Colombian families will "adopt"
for the day our families from abroad taking them for a tourist trip outside Bogotá which includes a typical lunch. The day is intended to provide national and international families with a space to get to know each other better, allow international families to further understand and discover our culture through the eyes of an adoptive Colombian family and strengthen bonds which in the long run will be useful to all. We hope is a fun day for all.
* 27th September: 25th Anniversary Celebration: this will take
place at CRAN, we will inaugurate our new buildings which have been constructed with the generous donations made by CRAN parents and which will allow us to attend more needed children, we will award recognitions to those people whose every day work make possible CRAN's high quality services to our beneficiaries: our Staff and overall we will be together lunching and toasting for the next 25 years to come.
We are enclosing the official electronic invitation hoping you can read it (when it asks you with what program to open it and it gives you various options, click the icon that has a computer which is called "explorer").
If you are coming we recommend that you get in touch with the representative of your international adoption agency in Colombia. Below we are providing their name and email address for you to get in touch with them. They have been very kind in helping us organize the logistics for this event.
Again we sincerely hope to see you then,
Warm regards,
XIMENA LLERAS PUGA
FUNDACION CRAN
