our story

A strong education is critical for social and individual progress. However, education levels

in developing countries remain low due poverty, war, lack of access to schooling, and other

barriers. Too many children must leave school and go to work to support their families or

have been drafted into wars to fight as child soldiers, often at as young as ten or eleven

years old. Colombia is no exception; even for those students who complete secondary

school, dropout rates in universities can reach 50%, often due to financial hardship.

In the face of these sobering challenges, in January 2020, Liliana Arroyave and Estefany

Roldan, both Colombians living in the US, formed a long-distance partnership to take an

active role to build Colombian society through supporting Colombian education. Both

themselves products of Colombia’s public universities, they empathized with today’s

students, and decided to form a non-profit to support them. Their goal is to help bright,

motivated, passionate students overcome their financial hurdles so they can stay in school

and achieve their educational and professional goals.

Both Liliana and Estefani overcame major obstacles to pursue their own careers. Estefani,

for example, while attending undergraduate school, spent her nights working in a hospital

to financially support herself and her family; as their sole supporter, she didn’t have many

options. She was fortunate if she slept every thirty-six hours. Finally, after years of

sleepless nights, she achieved her goal and became a nurse. Liliana, fortunate enough to

have a family able to support her through her education, overcame her own challenges to

become an engineer. After a trip to Santiago de Compostela, she returned energized with a

new goal in life: giving back to society. Just as others supported her through her

education, she now wants to support others.

Liliana and Estefani knew that the educational challenges in Colombia were not going to

fix themselves. The government, if it could help at all, would act slowly, and not be able to

support many students. That is why they formed Impact-U – to reach and support more

Colombian students who could, some day, also help others. They enlisted the help of the

Bajocol Foundation to act as their fiscal sponsor as Impact-U gets off the ground.

Everyone in impact-U you share the same goal and are united for the same purposes and

committed to impact positively many lives.