I remember the first night at Casa Mosaiko, after a 2+10h flight from Milan to Madrid to Medellin, as a confused medley of English, Spanish and - occasionally - Italian words. Evelyn, the programme leader, proposed a game that would accompany us for the following couple of days: along with introducing ourselves, each one of us had to mention their favourite Spanish word of the day. Sharing the word became a way to share the story and funny daily occurrences related to it; similarly, for my weekly logs, I decided to associate the most meaningful learning experiences to a Spanish word that could help me summarise them and capture the message they convey. 

The three words representing this week and guiding my reflection are equilibrio (balance), compartir (sharing), and confianza (trust). 

What went well?

The progress I made; what was achieved and done

During this LiA experience, I aim to work on my personal leadership goal (being more compassionate in practicing self-leadership), along with discovering different dimensions of leaderships in a community setting in the specifics of Medellin, Colombia. During this first week, I was able to work simultaneously on these two goals, learning a lot about myself in a context that is separate from my day-to-day environments (University, home) which allowed me to be exposed to others’ drastically different life experiences.

What could have been done differently?

Things that did not get done and/or could be changed

Confianza: while this word has generally a positive connotation (the ability to trust one another in a community setting). Whilst here in Medellin I have been exposed to many inspiring and trustworthy people, I have also been struggling with understanding when and to what extend I can trust others in a city that is bigger and relatively more dangerous than any other place I have lived in. Often, I have felt unsafe due to scarce knowledge of my surroundings and misunderstanding of situations: whilst the constant support of the programme leaders has significantly mitigated my safety concerns, I also acknowledged the need to ‘keeping my eyes open’ a bit more and developing more awareness to inform my decision-making independently.

What did I learn about myself when working with others?

Contributions, behaviours and values I exhibited

During this first week, the activities we have been working on involved (1) an introduction to the history of the Colombian conflict and the design thinking method for the development of our projects, and (2) the visit to two neighbourhoods of Medellin - Comuna 13 and Villa Hermosa - to learn about their history, and social and cultural dynamics. Thinking about the values I practiced during the past days, two stand out particularly:

Curious: having the privilege to hear the stories of local communities and being able to communicate them in Spanish made me realise how much I have to learn from others, and how important it is for me to make the most of this experience also from an academic point of view. The theoretical study of sustainable development that has characterised the past 3 years of my education is slowly acquiring a more concrete dimension: being exposed to the practice of community practices like communitarian gardens (hortas comunitarias) to promote food sovereignty in rural communities of Medellin and at the same time create a sense of belonging to the territory made me understand the intersection between social-environmental-economic pillars of sustainability better than any academic writing on the topic. Being curious towards the practice-centred and place-based approach to sustainability that different communities in Medellin apply intrinsically to their daily life has allowed me to read the academic discourse of the human-nature relationship through the lenses of promoting positive socio-environmental impact.

Fast: this is the second value which I have been practicing in the past week when interacting with the various actors involved. The intense schedule and the large amount of information conveyed to us through guest lectures, on-site visits to communities, and design thinking trainings required us to process material quickly and efficiently. The tools I employed to do so, inspired by research methodology, were field journaling and visual (photographic/video) documentation of the various experiences and exchanges of opinions with others, which will be precious resources to for writing my final reflective essay.

What did I learn about leadership?

Leadership attributes and insights I developed

Equilibrio - Self-knowledge and awareness

This word and leadership attribute are descriptive of the first steps on the path to personal growth that I started taking during this first week. I approached this LiA experience as an opportunity to practice a healthy balance between work time and personal time, between ‘professional’ success and personal wellbeing. In this regard, along with some fellow scholars, I made an effort to attend some yoga classes and perform self-care in the form of physical exercise (e.g. signing up to the gym at our workspace, the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana or UPB). At the same time, I realised that when working in a close-knitted community it is really important to make space for some alone-time in order to increase the quality of my time with others and my ability to proactively listen to them.

Compartir - Social and cultural intelligence and awareness

During the visits to two neighbourhoods of Medellin, Comuna 13 and Villa Hermosa, I was amazed by the eagerness of people to share their stories and the history of their country/community with us. At the same time, I noticed a lot of curiosity towards our international and widely diverse group: the sharing experience became a mutual one, allowing us to form ‘multilateral’ bonds with the host communities (I particularly enjoyed playing the part of translator, using my broken Spanish to translate the thousands of questions and requests for pictures by the kids we encountered on the way). This sharing experience was particularly meaningful in the context of Medellin, a city that was for so long and relatively recently characterised by violence. After years of silence, people want to tell their version of the story and share their experience of the conflict always reinforcing the importance of promoting dialogue and peace in their day-to-day practices, being it leading a horta comunitaria (Villa Hermosa) or organising tours for tourist in one of the formerly most dangerous places in the country (Comuna 13).