The fourth week in Medellín went by faster than any other: less adventures, more working hard to sort out the logistics of the event (convite) happening next week in El Faro. The city, however, was in the midst of its ‘holy week’: the Feria de las Flores ('flowers festival') is the most famous celebration in Medellín and Antioquia, celebrating traditional craftsmanship, regional culture and connection to the natural environment. As such, the first word characterising this week is flores, followed by sostenibilidad (sustainability) and participación (participation), with the last two words guiding my reflections on personal growth and leadership from the past days. 

What went well?

A month ago, I arrived in Colombia with a big suitcase and some rudiments of Spanish in my bag to help me navigate the almost English-less streets of Medellín. Four weeks and many grammar mistakes after, I am surprised of how fast my listening and speaking skills improved. The similarities that Spanish shares with Italian - my native language - contributed hugely to my understanding, as much as the Spanish classes organised by makesense did (shoutout to our amazing teacher and professor at UPB, Jorge!!). However, my daily interactions with staff at the hotel and university, conversations with volunteers and organisations, and a constant exposure to the language were the true secret behind my quick learning. In our group, I was one of the few people who could more or less express themselves and understand others, which pushed me to step up in the role of translator for my fellow scholars. Likewise in the context of the project with the community of El Faro and El Derecho a No Obedecer, I was in charge of communications between the different stakeholders, as only one of our collaborators spoke English. Besides being extremely proud for how well i can order food in Spanish now, I also want to celebrate the fact that I could deliver a presentation in Spanish during a seminar at UPB to recruit volunteers for our project. When David and Santiago, two members of the study group in question, invited us to the class, I really did not expect to be put ‘on stage’ in front of in-person and online students to present our work in El Faro in a language that I have learnt independently (largely disregarding the grammar aspect of it). Thankfully, that morning there was no time for insecurities and the professors and students were an incredible support that gave me more confidence; this experience made me understand how powerful human communication can be regardless of language barriers, when the people involved share common (academic) interests or values.

What could have been done differently?

Once again, I need to remind myself of the importance of being careful and safe in public spaces. During the Feria de las Flores, it is well known how the pickpocketing rate increases, due to the large amount of locals and tourists that flood the streets of the city every day during the week-long festival. As a matter of fact, another scholar got their phone stolen during a concert that we were all attending. The occurrence made me reflect on how I should be more aware of my surroundings, and always be ‘street-smart’ (definitely something I am still working on!).

What did I learn about myself when working with others?

My fellow scholars have heard me multiple times saying that ‘I have learnt more about practices of sustainable development in these past weeks in Colombia than in three years studying the subject’. While this might be an overstatement, as my education is what enabled me to read these experiences through the lens of sustainability, I stand by the fact that I have never seen such concrete expressions of the concepts I have been learning at university. In my studies, I focus on the grassroots social and political dimension of sustainability, particularly looking at the role played by local communities in promoting sustainable change on a larger scale. During my time in Medellín, I had the chance to engage with many examples of community action and understand the values and purpose guiding their work. This week, I complemented this practice-based knowledge with a more academic perspective, offered by a UPB professor who Je Ho, Hannah and I met in the context of our work with the community in El Faro. Professor Roca-Servat carried out extensive research on the political ecology of water justice in the city, looking at El Faro as one of their case studies. The meeting with this faculty member sparked an even stronger passion for my subject and the field of political ecology, inspiring me to work towards fostering collaborations between academia, communities and social movements in the discourse around sustainability theory and practices.

What did I learn about leadership?

Connecting back to the paragraph on my weekly achievements, I would say that the leadership attribute that I practiced the most was being an effective communicator. In the El Faro Project, the group and I invested a significant amount of time and energies on (1) facilitating connections and collaboration between communities in Medellín and (2) promoting participation amongst the student community at UPB. One of the main objectives of our project was to contribute to closing the urban-rural divide that characterises the city. Most of the student volunteers we worked with come from a privilege background and have never visited the less wealthy and mountainous barrios like El Faro, also due to a perceived danger that they associate to those areas in the city. By bringing the volunteers to the barrio for the convite on August 13th, we hope they will be as inspired as we were by the strong sense of community, collaboration and openness that in reality characterises the people in El Faro, and ideally come back in the future with El Derecho a No Obedecer to keep working on the project we started together. The importance of promoting long-lasting participation of the student volunteers also lies in some next steps that should be concretised after our departure. In fact, Je Ho, Hannah and I facilitated another important collaboration between the community of El Faro and Daniel & Daniela, a couple of agricultural engineers that we met in week 1 when helping them with the installation of an irrigation system in another community garden in Villa Hermosa. Next Saturday, we will visit the agroforesta and huerta comunitaria in El Faro with Daniel and Daniela, to introduce them to the community leaders and assess the feasibility of installing irrigation systems for the two spaces. This is, to me, the best expression of leadership: being able to bring people together in a way that is closer to community-building rather than to the idea of ‘networking’ for ones personal gains as seen at times in business environments. As one of the community leaders in El Faro said when he was informed of this potential collaboration with Daniel and Daniela, “It’s better having friends than money” to bring ideas like the one of the agroforesta to life: having access to funds is almost useless for the community, if they are lacking the connections with people with the technical expertise needed for their projects.

What do I want to develop or focus on next?

In the upcoming week, many of the teams in our broader group and their volunteers will host the concluding events of their projects. I really want to make an effort to attend them, and get to know more about the social realities and people they were exposed to while working on their own re_action for impact.