Meet Arca Luminosa!
A few months back I was in Colombia and I spent a day with Arca Luminosa, a wonderful rescue organization that does a lot for Bogota’s homeless dogs (and people).
Arca Luminosa was founded by Maria Adelaida in 2017. Maria’s job was located by a big, poorly lit road. Every week, she would see dogs getting killed in traffic. And every day, she wondered what she could possibly do to help those doggies. The answer: reflective collars! She wanted to make these dogs visible in traffic. She then spent months perfecting the collar, learning from her mistakes, finding the perfect manufacturer, persisting until Arca Luminosa was born. Since then, her organization has been very active and grown tremendously. They place reflective collars on all the stray dogs they possibly can (over 2,500 so far). The collars are inscribed with the phrase “I am not lost, I am looking for a home”, in order to promote adoption. I think the whole idea is genius, because a collar is such a strong symbol. It’s the symbol that someone cares and loves you. That you belong and are under protection.
The work of Arca Luminosa doesn’t stop at the collars: they feed dogs, rescue, and work in close partnership with local communities, offering sterilization to vulnerable populations.
While Maria was showing me the work they do in the streets of Bogota, we stopped by a small mall. Right outside, there was a young doggie who seemed exhausted and very sleepy! (I thought for a brief second she was dead, because she did not move at all!). We approached her, and Maria placed one of her reflective collars on the sweet, sweet girl.
Later, we proceeded to head to Julio’s compound, a homeless man who lives nearby (more about that on Part 3!). We crawled under a fence, walked some more and hung out with Julio for an hour or so, while I took photos of him and his pack. When we were done, we walked back, crawled under the same fence, and who did we see? That young doggie! She’d followed us and was now waiting outside the fence like a good, smart girl. Julio confirmed he had never seen her before. But here she was, asking: “can I join the pack?” This sweet girl definitively knew good stuff was coming her way! Ha! And just like that, she became a new rescue of Arca Luminosa.
Maria scooped her up, and the doggie was quite happy to be carried around like a baby. She was named Cereza (Cherry). Back in the car, Cereza puked about 15 times. It was quite horrible! hahaha She did great at the vet, and then waited for a home for a few weeks until…. YES! Cereza was adopted! A couple was looking for a companion for their dog Titan. Cereza was a perfect match! She was renamed Tesla and both doggies are now inseparable.
I recently introduced you to Julio Cesar, a homeless man of Bogota who has rescued 50 dogs. Together, we raised lots of money to help make his life better. Julio has been living in the streets and taking care of doggies for 17 years. But with the help of Arca Luminosa, he’s able to get essentials covered (like food for himself and his doggies) and more (a motorized bike so he can do more recycling jobs, which is how he survives). COVID has hindered some of our projects with Julio, but Arca Luminosa has been very busy making sure Julio and his dogs are taken care of. They are currently organizing drives for essentials, and have just been able to deliver 200kg of dog food, blankets, pillow, pots, pans, thermos, water, toiletries and more… for Julio and his dogs. They also started pulling dogs: more than 17 dogs have been pulled from the pack, and adopted or with rescues. Last weekend they pulled 2 more litters (they’ve been sterilizing as many doggies as possible, but some of the moms are very skittish and smart!). Julio still has 27 dogs he is taking care of, on his compound.
If you would like to support Arca Luminosa’s efforts, you can donate via Paypal at arcaluminosa@gmail.com or visit https://en.arcaluminosa.org for more info. US dollars go a LONG way in Colombia, so you can really make a big difference!