Yino Diaz

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My name is Yino Diaz, born and raised in the Netherlands. Growing up with my mom and sister we had some difficult times keeping our head above water. As a child I struggled a lot with authorities, and it always got me involved in a lot of trouble. At the age of 15 I became a rebellious teenager and dropped out of high school. I always felt “different” in the Dutch society, and that turned into a lot of misunderstanding throughout life. 

I always involved in social projects as a teenager and loved to be part of positive organization, like playing as we call in the Netherlands football aka soccer. The foundations that helped me as a kid made a good impact. One of the main reasons I started “Niños Del Futuro” is because I can identify myself in the youth I work with day to day. I feel their pain and struggles and I understand the perspective on how they see society. That is the main reason why I really connect with our participants, we try to search for solutions in a compassionate way to bring motivation to the “forgotten” children to inspire them to be the best version of themselves. 

In 2019 after some small vacations to Medellín, I decided to follow my soul and get closer to my roots, without a good plan I decided to move over and start a “new” life. It was difficult, because in the beginning I was working for only 280 euros a month, I had to adapt to the Colombian living conditions in the comunas, for example living with no warm water. I lived in the slums hills of Medellin, but ironically it brought a big change to my life. I started to find comfort in my discomfort. The positive energy of the weather, the people, and the music you hear in the streets made me smile every day. All of sudden while adjusting to my new comfort the pandemic hit and we had the longest lockdown on earth. Eight months of total isolation, people were starving because they couldn’t go out to earn their daily bread. I also lost my job and start to live from my savings. After some months I was able to get an online job and work myself throughout the pandemic, although my neighbors where struggling every day. I knew I had to do something about it, I began to help people with one of the social leaders in the neighborhood, until he said I had to film it and share it with people from the Netherlands. I had to show the world this misfortune to bring awareness to the cause. I didn’t even have social media and I didn’t know if that was even a good plan. He convinced me, so I began to reach out to some contacts from the Netherlands to organize awareness to the cause and the rest was history. When the media in Holland noticed I was doing this project they started reaching out, and for me it was more motivation to keep going and doing what I really love to do, serve others.

One of the most beautiful things I was able to do, was on December 2020. I walked from Manizales to Medellin to get attention for the refugees in the world that was leaving their country for a better way of life. That adventure took me seven days to walk.  It brought a lot of attention that evidently came with great donations, and it allowed me to reach more people. I think it’s important to show the people on the other side of the world the problems that are going on over here. “Niños Del Futuro” is a lifestyle for me. To serve and make an impact while God permits it.

“Quien no vive para servir no sirve para vivir”