Florida Colombia Partners

Kevin Hanson and Matt Morton spent the last two weeks of July visiting Colombia, getting to know Partners of the Americas, and leading youth advocacy workshops and training sessions.

Matt, a recent graduate of Stetson University and a Florida native, has lead successful youth empowerment projects on the local, national, and international level. We are very excited about having Matt an an ally in Colombia and look forward to working with him in the future. CHECK OUT MATT’S WEBSITE!

Kevin Hanson, also a Stetson graduate and Florida native, is a new member of Partners of the Americas. This was his first trip to Latin America but it surely will not be his last.
Here’s an excerpt of what Kevin had to say about his experiences in Colombia (a full report from Kevin and Matt coming soon):

“During my two week in Colombia with Matt Morton, I got to know Partners of the Americas a little more and helped lead youth empowerment and fund raising conferences for local displaced youth and organizations seeking to assist them.
Far from how it is commonly portrayed, Colombia is a wonderful country that is simply misunderstood. Its people are some of the most kind and generous in the world, and while parts of the country are still under guerrilla control, the main cities are very modern and quite safe.
I had an overwhelmingly wonderful experience there and actually plan on going back for a few months. I would love to talk more about my experiences to anyone who is interested, so feel free to contact me at krhanson@stetson.edu…”

President’s Report for 2005-2006

November 2006


Dear Florida Partners and Friends,


The last year has been a busy one for the Florida Partners, and 2007 looks like it will be even busier. The purpose of this letter is to give you some idea of the work the Florida Partners have been doing and to encourage you to get involved in 2007 by contributing your time, expertise, network connections, or money to one of the projects we are supporting. We want you to know that we have been very active and that we need your help. Right now our highest priorities are working with children displaced by the continued violence in Colombia, the development of programs for children with disabilities, and the development of leadership skills in Colombian youth. We also are working with computer education for the unemployed, women’s health programs, and cultural exchanges. In all of these efforts we work directly and collaboratively with our Partners in the Northeastern and Central Colombian Partnership.


In 2005 – 2006 we actively supported and obtained funding of over $3,500 for a displaced children’s nutritional program in Ibague and for an education program in Tena (Formemos). We have also committed several thousand dollars to an environmental program focusing on migratory birds to be developed in 2007 between students at the Blue Lake Elementary School in DeLand, Florida and the Formemos School in Tena, Colombia. This project, originally funded by a grant from the Audubon Foundation to the Florida Partners will be realized in 2007 and will form the basis of continued contact between children in Colombia and the USA. We have also been actively working with the SENSE International Foundation of Bogota, Colombia to develop contacts at the Conklin Center for the Blind and the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind, so that children in Colombia with these disabilities can use materials developed in Florida.


The Florida Partners have also directly supported several youth, women’s, and leadership development programs in Barranquilla, Colombia, and one of our members traveled to Barranquilla to conduct workshops on the development of civic values in the spring of 2006. Earlier, in the spring of 2005, another member of the Florida Partners traveled to both Barranquilla and Bogota to conduct training for women’s groups.


In addition to all of the above, the Florida Partners have hosted five guests from Colombia each staying with us in Miami, Winter Park, Orlando, DeLand, Daytona Beach, and New Smyrna Beach for a total period of two weeks. These guests were representatives of the programs mentioned above and all are volunteers in Partners of the Americas. Finally, one of our new Partners from the USA was hosted in Colombia for over 5 months as she taught English at the Formemos school.


So, you can see we have been very active and that is why we need your help now. Please take a few minutes to fill out the membership application for the Florida Partners and send it with your dues along with a contribution, if you can, for one of our projects. By doing so, you will be put on our mailing list and receive information about volunteer opportunities and our continued work building partnerships between the USA and Colombia.


Thank you,



John K. Schorr, Ph. D.

President, Florida Partners

Professor of Sociology, Stetson University

Florida Partners, Campus Unit 8263, Stetson University, DeLand, Florida 32723

Tel. (386) 822-7246, Fax: (386) 822-7245

E-mail: jschorr@stetson.edu

Read what Alison wrote about her time working with the foundation:

PEACE IN COLOMBIA STARTS HERE

It takes years and years of life experience for most people to start looking outside their own lives and begin to see the bigger picture of the community, the country, or the world around them, and some of us never manage to achieve this greater perspective that allows us to step outside or our own lives and realize that we truly are a part of something bigger. Many of us live so sheltered that it is not until well into adulthood that we accumulate enough life experience that we begin to truly on our role in the world and develop the capacity to distinguish between our own personal situations and the more complex social context that we form part of.
I have spent hours and hours talking to the kids of Foundation Formemos. Most have never been on an airplane and never left the country of Colombia and many are years behind in their schooling and are missing one or both parents, yet despite all that these children have lacked in their lives, they have shown me a maturity and life perspectives that are truly remarkable. When one listens to the frightening things that many of the kids have gone through, one wouldn’t blame them for having become bitter, aggressive, and incompassionate, yet something else has happened instead. Very often, in our conversations, I find myself forgetting that I’m talking to a twelve year old boy and not someone of my age. I talk to them like friends, tell them about my life, and find myself interested in their opinions, provoking in me an openness and confidence that I have never felt with someone so much younger than I. They have lived life experiences that have given them a maturity and perspective that many adults never reach.
One of my favorite stories of the foundation is that of Jaime Rodriguez. Jaime arrived one day to school with a pair of red Nike tennis shoes, instantly converting him self into the talk of the school. Everyone was fascinated by the newest model of shoe, considering that most of the kids had never touched and much less tried on a shoe of such quality and style. Jaime arrived at school every day for a week with the shoes, but after that decided that rather than continue as the center of attention and enjoy the shoes him self, decided to lend the shoes to a different boy every day so that each one that fit the shoes would have a chance to wear them. One might think that the scarcity of resources would breed a protectiveness for material things, but instead, what I have seen in Formemos is a greater joy of sharing and giving than I have seen among more affluent kids. This sense of community responsibility seems to come from a combination of the many difficult situations the kids have gone through, and the careful way that they are educated and values are instilled in them.
Jesus, the director of the Formemos boarding home, tells me that it is very important that the kids understand that the foundation belongs to them. There is a tremendous emphasis placed on the idea that everything in the foundation belongs communally to each and every one of the children. There is an open door policy throughout the foundation and all chores and responsibilities for the maintenance of the grounds are taken on by the children.
Jhon Jairo Arango comes from La Granada Meta. He’s twelve years old now and at the beginning of our conversation he seemed very nervous. I told him he didn’t have to answer any of my questions if he didn’t want to, but he assured me that he did, “es que me da mucha pena…. No quiero que usted piense mal de mí” I told him that under no circumstances would I think anything bad about him, quite the opposite. Slowly he started explaining to me that about ten years ago coffee prices dropped really steeply and his family was left with no choice but to grow Coca. “Most of Colombia lives off of Coca; drugs rule this country,” he told me. The statement seemed rash to me, but the three other boys I was sitting with all nodded their heads in agreement. All of them told me they had come from small coffee farms that had ended up having to grow Coca. It seemed a far cry from the images of narco-traffickers and guerrillas cultivating over 100s of acres, the images we use to justify the millions of dollars we spend fumigating the Coca crop in the country.
“And who did you sell the Coca crop to?” I asked Jhon.
“To the Paras, to the Guerrilla; you see that’s the problem. First we would sell to the guerrilla, but then the Paras arrived and accused of us collaborating with the FARC. They’ll kill entire families. You can’t win. If you sell to the Guerilla, the Paras will kill you, and vice versa. That’s why we had to leave.” Jhon would like to go into the military after he graduates, but explains that he is frustrated because he’s very behind in his studies after losing several years of school moving around because of the violence.
Where Jhon comes from, the problem is poverty. The drug trade and armed groups offer the campesinos a subsistence that the government can’t, but those that are unfortunate enough to find themselves in battle grounds between the various illegal groups are often left with no other choice but to relocate, usually to the cities. Colombia has the fourth largest population of internally displaced people in the world. The problem is that these people that have lived their entire lives as farmers in rural Colombia and have no preparation to find jobs and survive city life. When they arrive to Bogotá for example, they can register as desplazados and they are given three months of government support, barely enough for food and a place to stay, but after those three months are up, they’re on their own. Most try to find jobs cleaning houses or in the construction business, but this labor market is more than saturated and the minimum wage of 440,000 pesos a month (about 200 dollars) is just not enough. The public education system in Colombia is a major part of the problem. Although primary education is supposedly mandatory, it is not free and even those that can scrape up the money for it often are turned down because of a lack of space in the public schools.
Deisy Castro Jimenez is 11 years old and lives in Tena with both her parents. She agrees to let me interview her on the condition that I take a picture of her alone and let her see the image that comes up on the screen of the digital camera. She tells me it’s the first time anyone has ever wanted to take a picture of just her. She started in Formemos four years ago and had never studied in any other school before. Her parents didn’t have the money for it, and she tells me that if they hadn’t found out about Formemos in the hospital, she still wouldn’t be studying. When I ask her what her favorite part of the Foundation is she smiles and says, “pues la educación.” The kids all are in agreement that the education in Formemos is very good, even though some complain that the work is much harder than the schools some of them had studied in before. Deisy tells me that she considers herself to be a very happy and lucky girl and when she grows up she wants to be a nurse, “so that I can help sick people that can’t get to the doctor.” None of the children have ever told me they aspire to be rich, successful businessmen. It doesn’t seem to even occur to them, instead they all dream of leading humble lives in which they can do something to contribute to their country.
Jordan Marcel Guiterrez tells a similar story to that of Jhon, and would also like to go into the military. His father was killed by the Guerrillas when he was five because he was suspected of collaborating with the FARC. I often have to ask him to clarify whether he’s talking about the paramilitary or the guerrilla, because he seldom distinguishes between them. He explains to me that,
“There’s really no difference Alison. It’s not like kids join one group or the other because they’re fighting for a cause. Sometimes it’s for revenge, that’s true. Like a guy will join the paras because the guerrilla killed his father and he thinks getting revenge for his death is the only way to make his life mean anything. But usually it’s because one of the groups arrives and says, you come with us or we kill your family; or maybe the family has nothing to eat and at least they’ll get provided for by joining the AUC or the FARC or the ELN, whatever…”
At twelve years of age, Jordan was able to separate his own horrific experiences and pain from the larger social situation of the country. He didn’t talk about his painful and horrific experiences with anger and bitterness. He didn’t use the fact that he lost his father and had to leave his home as motivation for seeking revenge or hating a certain group of people, but instead he explained to me his own personal loss as secondary to the much greater tragedy that so many Colombians face as a result of the extreme poverty and bloody armed conflict. With so much history of violence, one of the greatest obstacles to peace in Colombia is the cycle of revenge that it has created. Colombian people, in the peace process, are being asked to forgive atrocities that most of us cannot even imagine, yet at twelve years of age, Jordan seems to have already reconciled the issue within himself.
Edison Fabian Sanchez is 13 years old, and has a way about him that is somehow distinct from the other boys. While many of them push and crowd around me, all asking questions at once, Edison always waits, quiet yet inquisitive, waiting for just the right moment when he has my attention to ask questions. He is fascinated by the fact that I’m a vegetarian and tells me he would be one too if the coordinators at the foundation would permit him not to eat everything on his plate. When I ask him if he considers himself a desplazado, he tells me he’s not sure if it counts like the other kids, but that he comes from a town far away and that his parents left him with his grandmother when he was 16 months old and since then he hasn’t known anything of them. His favorite part of the Foundation, like that of many of the children, is the farm because he tells me he wants to be a veterinarian to help all the animals that suffer in Colombia. The farm is an integral part of the institution because, not only do the sales of its products help to sustain the school, the idea is that because all of the children come from families of campesinos, they all learn the basics of taking care of a farm, from collecting eggs, to slaughtering chickens, to cultivating coffee. A large part of the mission of the foundation is to reinforce this farming background so that the kids can re-integrate into the community as responsible citizens. Also central to its mission, is that the foundation is and continues to grow as a part of the larger community. The parents of the kids that live in the area are required to volunteer twice a year doing something to help sustain the school, as well as attend parent-teacher meetings. Many community members also use the foundation as their principal source of eggs, coffee, and poultry.
Each child has a sad story. Several arrived not even speaking Spanish, members of the great number of indigenous people that have been forced to leave their homes because of the violence. There are homes for children in Colombia where you can feel the sadness, just upon entering. The kids are dirty, or sick, or crying, and there is always too much going on for the adults to keep track of. That’s not the feeling one gets from Formemos though. It’s only upon inquiry that one begins to realize what all these kids have been through, because it’s not evident in the general environment. It’s located high up in the mountains, and enjoys a view reminiscent of a high class resort. The grounds are kept impeccable clean and well organized, and each visitor upon arrival is greeted by a band of eager and curious students.
It’s difficult to pinpoint just what it is about Formemos that gives it the environment it has, but without doubt, a big part of it is the coordinated volunteer effort. Within the administrative office in Bogotá, there are a number of people that work as volunteers, fundraising and facilitating the administrative end of the operation, and a great number of others that dedicate almost all of their time traveling back and forth between Bogotá and the foundation. In total there are about 15, and these are not the type of volunteers that spend an hour here and there playing with the kids, but truly devote themselves to the institution; not because they are being paid but out of a personal conviction and sense of service to the children and to Colombia. If the institution had to rely on paid staff for everything, there is no possibility that it would be the foundation that it is.
For as remarkable as Formemos is though, there is still a great deal to be done. One psychologist is responsible for dealing with the emotional problems of two hundred children who come from difficult backgrounds, each day there seems to be a new crisis, the toothpaste has run out, the new student without medical insurance needs to be taken to the hospital, or they can’t keep convince teachers to stay for more than a year traveling an hour and half from Bogotá only to be paid around 400 dollars a month. The school still doesn’t have Internet access and the computers are so old and slow that some are barely worth using. Keeping the foundation a float is not easy, and the demand to accept new children is endless and ever increasing as the foundation gains recognition and notoriety. Perhaps one the most pressing challenges for them is the need to start a boarding home for girls. The current home is available only to boys and there are young girls that literally walk an hour and a half back from school each day because their families can only afford bus fare in one direction. The only meal that many of the commuting students eat a day is the lunch they get at the foundation, and the organization feels it has an obligation not to offer something to the boys that isn’t available to girls, something that happens all to often in developing countries.
The needs of the institution are endless, but so are the possibilities. Colombia was recently ranked by the United Nations as the 8th poorest country in the world, and the 11th most unequal, and on top of this continues to live the violence of a bitter armed conflict. Both the poverty and violence are felt most severely by the rural population that little by little is being forced out of their homelands and into an even more uncertain fate in the cities. Those in rural areas are the ones most difficult to help because of the danger presented by the different armed groups, and for this reason, there are very few organizations, and none as well organized and integrated as Formemos, helping kids in rural areas. Colombia is a complex country, and it’s hard to know what the right thing to do is, but it seems like educating rural kids, giving them enough to eat, and filling their heads with other possibilities than joining the armed conflict is a good place to start. On the wall in Formemos there is a banner that says, “AQUI SE CONSTRUYE LA PAZ DE COLOMBIA” (peace in Colombia is being constructed here). These words always catch my attention, because I really believe that this is what is happening in Formemos. Child by child, each one coming from a truly vulnerable population, is being educated to help make up the next generation of Colombia, a more equitable Colombia that will leave the violence behind as soon as the government and society can provide an alternative.
SEE PICTURES FROM ALISON’S TIME AT FORMEMOS

LEARN MORE ABOUT FORMEMOS… VISIT THEIR WEBSITE!

READ ALISON’S ARTICLE “A SEMESTER IN COLOMBIA” WRITTEN FOR THE REPORTER, STETSON UNIVERSITY’S STUDENT PAPER:

A Semester in Colombia

During the last five months, I have had the pleasure of living in Bogotá Colombia working with various non-governmental organizations. Ever since traveling to El Salvador my senior year in high school, Latin America and the struggle of the exploited and marginalized people in the region has become a true passion for me, yet I felt limited and frustrated by Stetson for not offering a single semester long study abroad program in Central or South America. In fact, while Stetson offers a great number of programs in Europe, the lack of representation in the developing world is embarrassing. At first it seemed like I didn’t have any options, yet when I learned that I could withdraw from Stetson for a semester, participate in a different program, and return with the full benefits of my scholarship, I realized that my options were really quite infinite. Through the work that I had done with Partners of the Americas and my contact with Sociology professor Dr. John Schorr, I was given the opportunity to work with kids that have been displaced by the civil conflict about an hour and a half outside of Bogotá. I accepted without hesitation. Yet when I began to tell my family and some of my friends that I planned on going to Colombia, I might as well have told them I signed up for a semester in Iraq. The conceptions that most people have of Colombia and how they anticipated my time here were varied but almost always unrealistic. Some thought I would be offered cocaine in the streets, others that I would be ducking bullets and running from kidnappers, and still others applauded me for my willingness to give up all conveniences of modern life. I must say that in Colombia I have never seen and much less been offered cocaine, quite unlike the Stetson campus, and although the a civil conflict surely exists in certain parts of the country, in Bogotá I have yet to see any evidence of it, and I must admit that I don’t live with a dirt floor or a lack of running water, yet in fact the apartment is in walking distance of four malls as nice as any I have seen in the United States.

Today, I am actually grateful that Stetson didn’t offer any programs in South America because coming here by myself has given me the unique opportunity of being totally immersed in Colombian culture. I had to make new friends, learn to navigate the city, and experience the day to day workings of non governmental organizations all without the help of an exchange program office or other Americans. I thought this process would be stressful and overwhelming, and that I’d feel completely alone. Nothing has been more from the truth. The Colombian people have been so open, welcoming, and eager to show me their country that making friends has been in fact easier than here in my own country.

My time here is divided between teaching English in a foundation for displaced children and working for an organization called Sense International that defends the rights of deafblind and multiply disabled people around the world. I am reminded everyday, not only of just how fortunate I have been but also just great my failure has been to take advantage of it. The people I have met throughout this experience have shown me that we seldom realize what we are capable of because we allow ourselves to be confined by minor inconveniences and personal insecurities.

Before coming to Colombia, the idea of being both deaf and blind had barely even occurred to me. I know that even coming from a family and a country that could provide me all the necessary medical care and special education, I’m not sure I would have the determination to rise above it. Yet consider how much more difficult the situation becomes in a country where more than half the population lives in poverty and almost no laws or government support exists to help ease the burden. Those that find themselves in a situation of deafblindness are disproportionately from the poorest social classes because they often don’t have access to the medical treatment that can prevent it, or are victims of the armed conflict the brunt of which is also felt by rural and marginalized populations. I have met people that have spent years tied to beds in dark rooms, or forced to live tranquilized because they haven’t learned any system of communication and become aggressive. Ten years ago in Colombia, there were no institutions to help deafblind people unless they had extraordinary economic resources. Today, through the work of Sense International, a British based organization, people in Bogotá have a place to go to make friends, receive treatment, and learn new systems of communication. Because the organization is British, they have to translate almost everything in between English and Spanish and when foreigners come to Colombia to visit the programs, they often had to pay translators. Through my volunteer work as a translator, I have had the chance to meet people from all over Latin America and the world that work or live with deafblindness. Perhaps the man that most impressed me was a Brazilian name Juan Carlos whom, although profoundly deafblind is happily married and gives motivational speeches all around Latin America through an interpretive guide. The sense of peace, happiness, and true enthusiasm for life that radiates from Juan Carlos is unlike that of any person I have known without any disability. The organization, even with the truly limited resources it has, has developed a committed volunteer group and wide reaching social campaign that has literally taken people from living in misery to leading happy, productive lives. I can only imagine what they would be able to do with the kinds of resources we have in the United States. They always thank me profusely for all the help I have given them translating and organizing, but I never know what to say, because the experience of working with these people and sharing a small part of their lives is something that has been so enriching, I will never be able to thank them enough.

Colombia has a natural beauty to a degree that I didn’t know existed. There is everything here. Any climate you can imagine, beaches on both coasts, three mountain ranges, fruits and vegetables one has never even heard of in the US, and cities that are modern and alive with an unparalleled energy and youthfulness. Working with the Foundation Formemos that cares for and educates displaced children has also shown me though that Colombia is also a country of extremes. In the wealthy parts of all the cities, one sees a level of wealth and modernity that would lead you never to suspect that the country is the 8th poorest in the world, the 11th most unequal in terms of distribution of wealth, and has been entangled in a bitter civil for the past forty years. I teach English to 200 boys and girls that have all in one way or another had to live the poverty and violence that has resulted from the conflict. Their stories are all unique, but they all share a deep love for their country and a desire to make it better, and share with those more fortunate in all the things Colombia has to offer. The foundation gives them a place to live, teaches them to grow coffee, care for a farm, and educates them through 11th grade, hoping to show them an alternative to joining one of the armed groups. The excitement that these children have for life and the joy they have given me during my time here has taught me not only to profoundly appreciate the opportunities that I have been given, but more than that, has shown me that giving my time to help others has nothing to do with a sense of obligation or self sacrifice, because from the moment I arrived, what they have given me in return has made every day a pleasure.

I have had the opportunity to travel a great deal, but never have I fallen so in love with a country than with the warmth, liveliness, diversity and sheer beauty of Colombia. There is no better decision I could have made than to take a semester to really learn something about what I am studying in school. We so often don’t realize all of the possibilities that exist. I would be happy to help anyone interested in visiting Colombia or volunteering here. You can contact me at alisonmckellar@gmail.com