Juan Carlos is the elder of 3 siblings living with their parents in a tiny finca at 2000m altitude in the Cauca Valley, Colombia. His father had a hard life yet together with his wife managed to make ends meet and raise 3 fine children. In a small clearing in the jungle his father grows bananas, lemons and flowers which he sells to a local community store. They have no luxuries except a small tv set and a fridge - if you can call them luxuries in a country that is often at 36 degrees celsius with high humidity.

I met Juan Carlos when he rescued me from the jungle near his home. I had been flying the mountains there and a poor judgement resulted in me landing in a small clearing in thick jungle at around 1850m. As I was contemplating which direction to go in the hope of finding a track to a road Juan Carlos appeared from nowhere. He had seen me land and was worried for my safety. I was fine, but utterly lost and a little dehydrated. Having no English he helped me pack my glider and carried it 300m up the hill to where he left his small Honda motorcycle - crucial transport in this difficult terrain. With me and the glider on the back he took me to his small and very humble family finca where I met his mum, dad and siblings. For an hour we managed to communicate with what little Spanish I had at the time.

His mum cooked me lunch of eggs, chips, potato soup and made fruit tea after which Juan Carlos took me the 1.5 hour motorbike ride down the mountain to the town of Roldanillo where I was staying. I took out my wallet to pay him but no matter how much I insisted he would not accept one peso. He was just pleased I was ok. I stayed in touch via WhatsApp as I was keen to learn more about such a poor, yet generous family. How did they live, day to day? What were the prospects for each of the siblings? How did they spend their time? I am just curious this way, especially when I experience such selfless generosity.

Juan Carlos is 27 and has 4 years of national service in the army behind him. He has managed to get onto a free community course in technical agriculture which lasts 20 months. However, he isn't able to commute up and down the mountain every day, his little motorbike wouldn't last long, and he hasn't the money for fuel. Anyway, his dad needs the bike to take his produce to the community store some 6km away. He has only the most basic mobile plan with very little data so he has no access to internet - just enough to send/receive short text messages over WhatsApp. Buying second hand clothes is a luxury. So I want to redress the balance and put some resources his way by paying for an apartment in town, getting him a good internet data plan and helping repair the family's other motorcycle as he will need transport in town. £400 would go a long way to add to the small savings he has from working in the family garden.

I have started by giving him enough money for a deposit on a small apartment, and an internet data plan but as this area is very popular with paragliding pilots most of the apartments are rented out at a price he can't afford. He will wait until March when most visiting pilots have gone home and maybe then he can find a place close to where he will be studying. The money raised will support him over the 20 months and help to repair the other motorcycle. It's unfortunate that the money flowing into Roldanillo from pilots doesn't get to the poorest people in the region.

So I am asking for small donations from pilots who fly here, both local and from overseas, and non-pilots who are able to contribute. Just £5 or £10 will go a long way to securing Juan Carlos a brighter future. It's a way of giving to those that don't receive anything from us, and yet would not think twice about coming to the aid of any pilot or hiker in distress. And unlike giving to big charities we are able to make a direct impact with the small donations we make. Juan Carlos doesn't know about this initiative so the funds collected will be an amazing and life-changing surprise for him.