Week 3 of our journey was where we got to engage with our organizations and develop our strategy for the project. This was expected to be one of the most instrumental weeks of our projects and where we make first impressions. Though, as in life, unexpected challenges came up; and, my hurdle to overcome was the flu. I had to miss most of Week 3 and I owe all of that to trying to battle the influenza virus for most of the week. Although the flu had done some hindering to my project work, I was still communicating with my team and trying to get some meaningful work accomplished. Rachel and Jani---my teammates----relayed all the info back to me from the meetings. I learned that I would be responsible for coordinating the dialogue between the expat and local communities. 

I had now my challenge set out for me and began to think of ways I could approach organizing more dialogue between both of the communities. One of the main goals of our project was to connect the expat and local communities because of the gentrification that was occurring in Medellin. With an increase of digital nomads and USD incomes, locals were finding it hard to keep up with increasing prices. This was especially true for social entrepreneurs. These business owners who were trying to make a change in their community were finding it very hard to buy supplies for a low cost. They saw that American and European expats were starting businesses and were out-competing them because of their increased purchasing power. The government had done little to solve it, and the entrepreneur community in Medellin believes the best way to address the issue is to cerate dialogue with expats. 

I started brainstorming on the ways I could address the issue and I looked to culture and values of Medellin. I had learned in my past 2 weeks that most expats and Colombians living in Medellin preferred in person meetings and informal events. After planning with Rachel, we came up with two events that would try to create dialogue between expats and entrepreneurs. The events would also work to increase fundraising and awareness of the Todos Podemos organization. Our goal was to have a networking space where expats and entrepreneurs would learn more about the other and benefit from continued long-term partnerships.