Luz Dari Lasso Manrique (left), introduces the Hands & Words Project and the Purple Hands Pledge® to children and families at the Cultural Week Event.

“This event was very interesting and in my school, there is already less violence with words and hands.”
– Luz Dari Lasso Manrique

♥ Luz Dari Lasso Manrique, an English Teacher at Francisco de Paula Santander, in the municipality of El Tambo department of Cauca in Colombia first learned about the Hands & Words Are Not For Hurting Project® in 2019 when Caye Poe and John Francis of Yamhill County, Oregon introduced the Purple Hands Pledge® to students, teachers, and administrators while doing humanitarian work in Colombia.

♥ Luz jumped at the opportunity to implement our Purple Hands program in her region, as violence was a prevailing issue.

♥ At her school, Francisco de Paula Santander, 750 children from ages 5 to 19 attended school and were introduced to the Purple Hands Pledge®.

♥ Luz’s 8th-grade class of 35 students took on the Pledge and were eager to teach their neighboring schools about the Purple Hands Pledge® during their Cultural Week Event in August.

♥ Students chose this week specifically because many students, children, and families were expected to visit. This was the perfect opportunity to spread our message!