This week I learnt the importance of hearing stories, both from people reflecting on their life experiences and from organisations on their purpose and journey to respond to the social issues they identify.

This week I learnt about the story behind the organisation I am working with: Todos Podemos. In the first meeting, we learnt about the stories of the people within the organisation, why they felt a need for the work they do with social entrepreneurs and why they joined this organisation. The most impactful part of the meeting was when we met a social entrepreneur trained by the organisation and has since been able to develop a successful and sustainable business, transforming her life and a network of women around her. This convinced me not only of the purpose and need for the organisation's work but also that it does have an impact. The project we are collaborating on is to find sponsors for 25 female entrepreneurs so they can create a sustainable business when otherwise they wouldn't have the resources and opportunity to do so. Knowing the work of the organisation can change lives motivated me from that point on; as with any challenges we faced, I could remember why we were doing this work and was motivated to keep going, to give others the chance to create innovative businesses, propelling transformative change in their lives and subsequently their community.

At the end of the week, we went to Museo Casa de la Memoria (memory house museum). This museum was unlike any I had visited before. It walked you through different people's stories and relationships to the conflict in Medellín in different formats, from hearing people's narratives, to having statistics visually represented, and beautiful, but painful poetry read. This experience allows every person who walks in to be welcomed into the stories which are too easily lost and forgotten and allows you to understand at a deeper level a bit of what people have actually gone through in Colombia. The most impactful, and for me emotional part was at the beginning of the museum, when I didn't know what to expect. Here there was a collection of narratives under the title absences. Here you could hear the stories of people reminiscing about their homes and communities and what had been lost and taken away. I have never seen an exhibit like it. Upon reflection, I think that in society, we don't acknowledge enough the absences in our own lives, even though the feeling of loss is universal in some capacity. 

Overall this week, I learnt that one of the best ways to engage other people, and yourself, in work is through stories. Behind every organisation, there is a collection of people who each have a story. By sharing stories the individuals can be united in a story of an organisation with a purpose, with the journey of successes and failures only adding to that story, bringing people closer together and strengthening communities.