Half a century of armed conflict left many Colombians without basic services. Jenifer Colpas, CNN heroine, is delivering water, energy and sanitation to those who need it most

(CNN) – Jenifer Colpas grew up in Barranquilla, where she was mostly protected from poverty outside her door.

It wasn’t until after college, when he moved to India to work in information technology, that he was able to see clearly the huge social inequalities that people suffer.

“Something inside of me (was) saying, ‘You have to do something about it,'” Colpas said, which is why he changed his career path.

She returned to Colombia, settled in Cartagena, and volunteered for community organizations that helped people living in poverty.

“It made me very sad to see that people lived without the most basic things,” he said. “People don’t have clean drinking water, plumbing in their houses, electricity.”

I wanted to do more to help bring these essentials to the communities most in need.

In 2015, with the help of friends, Colpas co-founded Tierra Grata. Today, the nonprofit organization provides access to clean water, solar-powered lights, and electricity, along with eco-friendly toilets and showers for remote rural communities throughout Colombia.

“We didn’t know anything at first, but we had all the determination,” Colpas said.

Colpas, now 31, and his team of other like-minded young counterparts currently serve 35 communities and their services have helped improve the quality of life for more than 10,000 people.

CNN’s Laura Klairmont spoke with Colpas about her efforts. Below is an edited version of their conversation.

CNN: Who does your organization help?

Jenifer Colpas: The communities where we are working are very diverse. You can find indigenous people, farmers and most of the places where we are working now are displaced population.

More than 50 years of war have made Colombia the country with the largest population of internally displaced persons in the world. These rural communities were taken over by the FARC and other paramilitary groups. Due to all the years that these communities were in a conflict zone, they were totally forgotten. They have been invisible to the government and to many Colombians.

They are the hardest to reach and least likely to have access to some basic service. These areas are so remote that there are no roads to get there. Nobody goes there. But we go there to provide access to basic services.

CNN: Why was it especially important for you and your team to place local women in leadership positions to help with projects?

Colpas: We work with women because, for us, it is very important to empower them and redefine their role within the community. So, they will not only be social leaders, but also problem solvers.

Leaders have different roles. One is that they are our main partners within the community. They are the first contact in case we have to fix something. If something happens with any of the families, they are our main contact. They are the ones who are working on long-term solutions.

They help us organize the logistics before any installation. They help us understand how to reach the community, which is the best way we can organize the team to go there and do the installation process. So we train them and share our knowledge.

CNN: What are you bringing to these communities on a deeper level?

Colpas: We cover their basic needs so they start dreaming. My biggest dream for them is that they can wake up not only to survive, but that they can take another step and begin to fulfill their dreams.

Their stories, their inner power to carry on even in a really bad situation, through all that they are suffering, is what inspires me. They are very resistant. Every time I talk to them, they really motivate me, they inspire me to go further. Because despite all the problems they face, they never give up.

Do you want to get involved? Visit the website of Grata Land and see how to help.

To donate to Tierra Grate through GoFundMe, Click here