A short visit to Brussels

Hello,

This is just a short post, as short as my visit to Brussels in May. I went to Brussels for a meeting with Religions for Peace - European Women of Faith, where I introduced Learning to Live Together, an Intercultural and Interfaith Program for Ethics Education manual on behalf of the Global Network of Religions for Children, GNRC in Europe. The manual was developed by Arigatou International in close cooperation with UNESCO and UNICEF.

The GNRC Youth group in Belgium is interested to develop a closer relationship with Religions for Peace in Belgium and one of the common areas they envision they could work on is intercultural and interfaith education for children and youth. Therefore, the Learning to Live Together manual is a very important tool and framework for educational activities that promote understanding and respect of oneself and others, and empower children and young people to work together to transform situations of discrimination and violation of human rights in their societies.

Nicolas, who is one of the leaders of the GNRC Youth in Belgium and the one who founded it. He is the one who first got in contact with Religions for Peace in Belgium and who arranged the presentation of the manual at their meeting. I have known Nicolas since 2008 in Japan where he was representing the GNRC youth during the GNRC Third Forum, and since then we have worked together in several workshops, met in several countries and become very good friends. Nicolas is not only a very good friend but an inspiration for me. It was great to meet him, work together and spend quality time to talk about things going on in our lives during the last months.

On my second day in Brussels I met Aleja, a Colombia friend who works in Brussels and whom I met in AIESEC many years ago. It was great to see her after more than three years, to catch up, talk about future plans and realize how enriching it is to meet old friends and know that they continue being role models and change agents!

I spent some hours enjoying the open day of the European Organizations. There was music all around, the possibility to enter the European Commission and the Council of the European Union, take a guided tour and visit a fair about youth and development. I took the guided tour around the Council of the European Union, it was very interesting and gave me a different perspective of the work they do.

Building of the European Commission

Just before heading to the airport back to Geneva, I met for a couple of hours with another friend from Colombia studying in Brussels, also from AIESEC. Julian is finishing an MBA in Brussels and the last time I met him was last year in Dubai where he was working. It was great to meet him again, laugh about simple things, walk around some places in Brussels, drink a mojito, catch up and share a bit of everything! Great company just before leaving Brussels.

Me somewhere in a park in Brussels!

Hugs,

Malu

Easter in Dijon

Hello,

This is a post about our trip to Dijon, France during Easter. I am going to walk you through the pictures and tell you a bit about the great time we had there.

I guess most of you have heard of Dijon! Dijon Mustard, Bourgogne (Burgundy) wine, Kir? Exactly, these are some of the things Dijon is famous for. Dijon is located in eastern France and is the capital of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Burgundy region. We went to Dijon for three days and the weather was just perfect between 18 to 24 degrees. We went to several churches, walked around the city, took a tour through the vineyards, visited the Museum of Fine Arts and had great food.

On the first day, we walked around the city exploring the restaurants and the different architectural styles ranging from Gothic, Renaissance and Capetian. The cobble stone streets are full of restaurants, cafes and shops. There are free mini buses taking people to the main touristic places and several information points where it is easy to get advice and brochures on where to go and how to book tours.

Saint-Michel de Dijon is a very nice church in Flamboyant style with a Renaissance touch. Supporting the statue of St. Michel are carvings of David slaying Goliath, the Judgement of Solomon, John the Baptist preaching, Cupid at the toilet of Venus, among many others, which show a rather weird mixture of religious and secular images.

Church of Notre Dame built in the XIII century. Its façade has two main galleries and in between there are many gargoyles. These are said to be fake since they do not take part in the water drainage system. The church is topped by the famous Jacquemart clock tower (1382) with mechanical figures. It is very beautiful, although not so impressive inside.

Me at Place de la Libération - A very big square with cafes and restaurants around. It differs from other squares in the shape, this one is not actually squared but has a circular shape which makes it huge. The museum of fine arts is just in front of it housed inside the Palais des Ducs, which is the former Dukes' Palace. This grand structure shows the power of Burgundy's rulers during the XIV and XV centuries, who created a duchy to threaten the authority of the King of France. Louis XI finally incorporated Burgundy into France in 1489. The square is located at the heart of the old town and was designed by Jules Hardouin Mansart in 1686. He was a very renowned architect that worked on the Palace of Versailles.

Here is Paul at one of the cafes at Place de la Libération drinking a delicious cocktail!

Me in one of the streets!

Next day we went to a truffles and wine tour. It was perhaps the highlight of the trip. We were picked up by the guide who spoke very good English and French and we went on a mini van with a French family on a three-hour trip through the road from Santenay to Dijon, known as the route des Grands Crus, where we could appreciate the vineyards, understand the grapes cultivation process, see beautiful XII century churches and pass by small and traditional villages.

The Burgundy region is home to some of the most expensive wines in the world. The most famous wines produced here - those commonly referred to as Burgundies - are red wines made from Pinot Noir grapes or white wines made from Chardonnay grapes. We learned about the differences between different grapes and wines, the quality control, and some historical facts about the influence of the monasteries in the development of the Burgundy wine.

Vineyards!

We stopped in a place and tried the truffles produced in the area. We had sausages made of truffles and bread with some kind of truffle paste with oil.

All kinds of products made of truffles

At the end we went for a wine tasting!

Me in the cellar!

Paul trying several Burgundy wines!

Explanation about the different wines! The guide also explained to us that it was in Dijon where the famous crème de cassis, or blackcurrant liqueur, mixed with white wine, especially Bourgogne aligoté, gave origin to the delicious drink known as Kir, named after former mayor of Dijon canon Félix Kir.

View of Dijon from the 15th century Tour Philippe-le-Bon - Tower of Phillipe the Good!

View of Place de la Libération from the Philippe Tower

We also visited the famous Dijon Cathedral which is a Roman Catholic cathedral dedicated to Saint Benignus of Dijon. It is a national monument of France and it was built between 1280 and 1325.

Crypt where St. Benignus is buried

Place de la Libération in the evening!

Porte Guillaume (Guillaume Gate) on Darcy Square

Next day we went to the Fine Arts Museum. The museum opened in 1787 and is housed in the Palace of the Dukes of Burgundy in the old town. It has Renaissance works, an Egyptian collection, Roman Art and Modern Art, among many others.

At the Fine Arts Museum with a beautiful cow!

One of the churches!

Me at Place de la Libération

After leaving Dijon we went to a very nice town called Beaune, which is one of the key wine centers in France.

Paul having a delicious crepe!

Museum in Baune!


Paul outside the shop where he bought two more bottles of wine!

After visiting this beautiful town we headed back home, satisfied with three very intense but at the same time very relaxing days. We had time to talk about the future, to reflect about the things that have happened in our lives lately and to enjoy time for ourselves with the nature and discovering French history. I guess, Easter has become for us a special time to disconnect from the routine and take time to connect deeper with each other and with ourselves.

Hugs,

Malu

Thesis field Research - Peace Education Initiatives Popayán, El Tambo and Cajibío

Hello,

Now that I am working on the second chapter of my thesis which is related to the empirical research I did in Colombia, I am taking time to review my experiences in El Cauca and Bogota. Like the one in Medellin, these two experiences, especially the one in El Cauca were eye-opening for me and helped me a lot to understand even more the reality in Colombia and the wonderful projects run by local people.

Let me start with the experience in El Cauca, which is a region in the southwestern part of the country, crossed by the western and central cordilleras and has more than 150 Km of coast in the Pacific coastline, which is a very strategic area for drug trafficking. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, there were nearly 7,500 hectares of coca in Valle del Cauca and Cauca departments combined in 2009. Most importantly, the area is also home to hundreds of drug laboratories, where coca paste is processed into cocaine hydrochloride (HCl) and sent to the Pacific coast departure points to be moved in submarines, go-fast launches, fishing boats, or containers on large shipping vessels.

My first visit was to Tierra de Paz, which is an organization fighting anti-personnel mines and explosive remnants of war, educating the population to protect themselves and promoting solidarity with the victims of the armed conflict. It was very interesting to learn about their work with children and schools, how they work with teachers to create pedagogical materials to be used with children in areas that are highly affected by antipersonnel mines and unexploded munitions.

Did you know that the fabrication of a mine doesn't take more than 10 minutes and it costs around 2 dollars? and that its deactivation takes around 8 hours and it costs around 3500 dollars? Did you know that one victim costs around 100.000 dollars invested in medical attention, indemnification, prosthesis, etc? According to the Presidential Program on Action against Anti-Personnel Mines from 1990 to 2010, 8.539 people stepped on a mine in Colombia. I was very surprised about the information given to me regarding the state of anti-personnel mines in Colombia and about the stories I was told on how children play with munitions they find outside their houses without knowing that they can explode, or how adults and children learn to walk carefully on the valleys where the mines are, or how they take as normal that they have to live risking their lives everyday. According to the Foundation in El Cauca there have been 428 accidents due to anti-personnel mines or abandoned war munitions that have not been exploded yet. Out of that number, 206 were civilians.

It was very interesting to understand how they assess the risk of the areas and construct maps based on the types of munitions and amount of antipersonnel mines, as educational tools for children. It was also very sad to know that this is the reality for thousands of families in Colombia and unfortunately the government is not doing enough to clear the areas.

After this interesting visit in Popayán, I took a bus and went to El Tambo, a town that has been highly affected by the presence of guerrilla and paramilitary groups, poverty, unemployment, cultivation of coca crops and presence of land mines. El Tambo has a population of 52.247 people from which 94% live in rural areas and 97% suffer extreme poverty. It is mainly populated by farmers and indigenous peoples and since the 90s it is a receiver and expeller of displaced people. 27% of the population is children below 12.

I visited a wonderful program called Maestra Vida, which is actually a school that aims at promoting human and agro-ecological development in the region through education and research to generate environmental and intercultural productive alternatives in the peasant community. It is a school where the concept of education is deconstructed, where there are no classrooms but kiosks where children learn together, where children are not graded with numbers but qualitatively, where problems are discussed in mingas, or assemblies that involve not only children and educators but parents and the community. It is a school where peace education is not only part of the content but it is embedded in the structures, where there are horizontal relations, where children nurture their spirituality through indigenous principles and through nature, and where they learn life skills that will allow them to be better equipped professionally and personally.

Maestra Vida founders!

Maestra Vida recreates a peaceful environment with facilities that are close to the nature, and methodologies that encourage reflection, team work and allow critical thinking. I spent almost three hours talking to the founders of Maestra Vida, enriching my perspectives of education and learning from their wisdom. I was touched by the simplicity they do things but how meaningful those are for the learning process of children. In Maestra Vida children learn subjects by doing productive projects and learning agriculture, so for example they learn mathematics by learning how to make bread, or science by exploring the forest. Children graduate with a technical degree in agriculture and additionally a technical degree from el SENA, which is the National Institution that provides technical education in the country. I was very inspired by this innovative school, by their principles and concrete application of peace education methodologies and content not only adapted in some subjects but cross-sectional in the curriculum and in the structures and relationships that formed the school. As a result most of their alumni are now studying in universities, working in companies, or having their own business, and the relations in the community and within families have improved, creating a more peaceful environment for children. It is definitely an example not only for Colombia but for other parts of the world.

One of the main areas of Maestra Vida!

After enjoying a nice lunch in Maestra Vida, I went to the urban center of El Tambo to meet the founders of Casa de la Juventud, Youth House. What a meeting! I spent almost four hours talking to them about more than 10 years of experience working to empower young people in El Tambo despite a strong armed conflict and the daily threats to their lives.

It was very interesting to hear first hand experiences, to try to understand the suffering they and the population of El Tambo has gone through, and all their efforts to bring about hope and create a culture of peace in the midst of so much violence. I was deeply touched by their stories when the paramilitaries took over the place, killed civilians or anyone they thought was collaborating with the guerrillas and the continuous fighting that kept its inhabitants afraid of going out of their houses, perplexed with the impossibility to fight it and hopeless about their future. However, these two young people together with others didn't give up and despite the difficult times they have to bear, they managed to organize activities with the community to stand up against violence and to show that they uphold the principles of peace and respect of life. They organized football matches to rebuild trust in the population and to allow recreational spaces for children. These matches allowed the people to stay out until late sharing with others, in a time when everyone was locked inside their houses after 4 in the afternoon afraid of being killed. They also organized praying meetings for people to come together and join their voices for peace. Casa de la Juventud was a light in the midst of so much darkness and fear.

One of the posters displayed in Casa de la Juventud

After talking about all their educational projects, challenges and all kind of experiences, they told me how they are involved in productive projects to support people economically, promoting sustainable practices. They are now working with an organization called AgroSolidaria which is a community that promotes economic solidarity among small producers, distributors and consumers based on the principles of agro-ecological and just commerce.

The security situation in El Tambo is much better now than what it used to be, however, they still experience fighting between different illegal armed groups, the presence of anti-personnel mines and a lot of poverty. This is the reason why they are now focused on supporting small farmers and producers working together in alternative economic models that do not exploit them but empower them. I was very impressed about the creativity and innovative ways of promoting education for development, environmental education and all kinds of activities in conflict transformation and non-violent resistance. Definitely an example for other towns in Colombia.

View of El Tambo

After spending a great time with them, I was taken around to see the town, the landscapes and to learn more about the history. It was breathtaking and a great experience on a moped!

Obelisco, El Tambo, Cauca
In this place is where armed groups deploy their troops when they are in combat in the area

A view from El Tambo -

After this amazing day full of learning and great experiences I took the bus back to Popayan and I went to bed with a lot of ideas in my head, with tears of pain thinking how much these people have suffered and somehow of happiness to know how resilient they are and how grateful they still are with life. Amazing. I also recall feeling afraid and so powerless, I guess after having so many people telling me to be careful, that it is not safe for a young woman to go to these places, that it is not recommended to talk to anyone, that I shouldn't use the camera, that I shouldn't walk alone, etc, I was feeling strong but at the same time so vulnerable.

The next day I went to another town called Cajibío, also in El Cauca, a town populated by peasants, indigenous people and Afro Colombians where half of the population have their basic needs unmet. It is also a town with a high presence of guerrillas and paramilitaries and continuous fighting between armed groups. Two months before I was there, there was a guerrilla attack in the town and as result you can see military posts around protecting the area. I also perceived a very quiet, distrustful atmosphere around, like people are anxious or afraid.

With the representative of Afranec and Colombia Verde

I visited an organization called Afranec that stands for Fraternal Association for Black Communities of Cajibio. Its objective is to make 30% of the black population that live in the municipal area visible. Black people are some times ignored by the majority of people there and their life conditions are threatened by marginalization and segregation. The association works on the reconstruction of the ethnic identity of black communities and on productive processes that can help improving their economic and social development. They support productive projects, micro credits for small land owners, and sustainable agricultural practices. At the same time they develop pedagogical workshops on human rights, activities for children and youth and cultural activities to promote their cultural identity.

Cajibío main square

Representative of Colombia Verde

Afranec gets the support from Colombia Verde which is a network that helps associated organizations to improve their productive processes making them more sustainable and ecologically friendly, and promotes their commercialization in the local, national and international market. They help the local farmers to benefit economically from their production. Currently the members of Afranec are associated to produce organic coffee, which is commercialized by Colombia Verde. This is a very important activity for the farmers, who now have a profitable activity that can replace the cultivation of coca and provide them with better alternatives for them and their families.

Poster about their cultural activities

Some of the members of Afranec

I had the opportunity to be present in one of the meetings of Afranec, meet some of the members, talk to them about their experience and listen to their ideas. It was very inspiring and helped me better understand the approach of the organization, their challenges and projects. It was a great opportunity to learn how productive projects can promote positive peace and tackle structural violence.

In the afternoon I went back to Popayan where I met the director of Tehillim Foundation. It was a wonderful three-hour meeting, with a wise and very progressive man who is not only committed to education but to the well being of children in Popayan and in the country. It was very inspiring to talk to him, to listen to his views about education, and how in his foundation they use symbolism to transmit meaning and re-signify social relations and space.

Their programs aim at the integral development of children and youth, and the communities around them, creating spaces for cooperation with public and private institutions that share the same objective. Their programs are based on an innovative pedagogical training cycle where voluntary primary school children receive training workshops run by youth from secondary school (from all socio-economic status) and who have been trained by the Foundation. Their training is carried out by university students from a diverse range of educational fields. This approach also promotes the involvement of the entire school community by training community leaders, parents, teachers and directors of schools, to develop an educational process that is recreational and facilitates the social integration of children and youth, and that at the same time serves as a preventive mechanism to join criminal groups, and to encourage youth to use their free time in better ways.

I believe their work clearly contributes to building capacity to reconstruct the social fabric affected by the armed conflict by developing entrepreneurial and citizenship skills, and social leadership in young people. In this way, young people from marginalized areas become change agents that promote social transformations in public and private spaces. The Tehillim Foundation is definitely a leader in educational programs in Colombia and a pioneer of holistic programs that involve several social actors and organizations in sustainable and dialogical ways. It was a great inspiration for me and then I got the chance to see Popayan accompanied by the director of the foundation who explained to me the history of Popayan and shared stories about life there.

On the last day I had a meeting with one of the representatives of Acción Social, which is a presidential agency in charge, as it is written in its objectives, of mobilizing Colombia to overcome extreme poverty and advance in the reconciliation process, and of leading the international cooperation agenda. It was interesting to learn how they work in the field, their strategies and to learn their views on the reality and context. I got many more contacts of organizations working directly with Acción Social and who are in charge of implementing concrete projects to create a culture of peace.

This was the end of my visit to El Cauca, a great experience that not only provided me with a lot of knowledge of the situation and of the work of local organizations but gave me clear insights on the situation in this part of the country. I was deeply touched by all people I talked to and greatly inspired by their determination, wisdom and perseverance.

Peace,

Malu