The Story of Latidos
Latidos began in Venezuela in February 2015, by the initiative of the Medical Mission Sisters community of Barquisimeto, Venezuela. At this time the neighborhood of the Carucieña experienced rampant violence, poverty and despair which especially affected the children and youth of the area. This organization was born out of the necessity to transform the violence into hope. The Medical Mission Sisters, whose charism looks to “heal the wounded world” motivated 3 women to reflect on the situation in the country at the time, and brainstorm possible proposals to serve the most vulnerable population. These three women were two Venezuelans, Medical Mission Sister, Maigualida Riera, music teacher, Sujey Caldera, and a young musician from the US, Teresa Murphy. All are musicians with the desire to contribute to a better Venezuela, especially for children and youth, as one of the most vulnerable populations. The political and economic situation was very bad in 2015, and has since worsened. Then as now, there were scarcities of all basic and essential things for daily life, and this led to hunger, despair, and violence, many times organized by gangs. Out of this came Latidos as a proposal to promote life and peace, through music and arts for children ages 3 through 17, in the midst of such a complex situation as they lived at the time. After two years of functioning as a project, Latidos became certified a non-profit foundation of Venezuela. Latidos now has over 800 students, and has expanded to 5 surrounding neighborhoods, besides the Carucieña. The organization continues to use music and the arts to promote and protect life and peace for our children and youth.
What does Latidos mean?
Latidos in English means “Beats” or “Heartbeats”. The three founders saw the heart and life as two important images as this dream began. The heart stood for the sacred place of our body, which reminds us with each beat that we are alive, that there is a life which we must care for, protect, and defend. This is how we chose the name Latidos for this project, which would aim to promote a culture of life, dreaming about a life of greater dignity and quality, a life which would continue to beat in spite of difficulty.
Our vision and mission is to accompany children and youth in their process of discovering themselves as potential promoters of life and peace, putting their talents to this service.
“A creative education has the power to catapult children into a lifetime of curiosity.”
