1. A new place revisited

Last week, a new President of Colombia was officially sworn into office, representing a significant shift in the political future of the country. This week, a tragic 7.4 magnitude earthquake (the first I have experienced in my life, coming from England) shook the nation in a more literal way. These recent events have reminded me that, even a month into this trip, there is so much unfamiliar to me about this country. Each day, new people and places that I interact with prove this to me in a more subtle way: there is so much to learn, and I can never stop thinking critically about the everyday if I want to understand how best to work in this environment and, better yet, serve it.

2. The last ventures

Now so close to the conclusion of our project, the Picacho team spent some time this week meeting with the final important stakeholders, including Panorámica: Comunicación y Periferias, another group under the Picacho Corporation. We also visited our final cultural cafe: Café Loma. Although late in the development of our design, meeting with these partners was important in helping us finalise decisions about Barrio Mio. For example, the leadership at Café Loma gave us a detailed introduction to coffee making, and how it is an important craft, especially in Colombia, which is known for this kind of production. Through this, I realised how important it was for Picacho to centre the UN Sustainable Development Goal 12, Responsible Consumption and Production, in its cafe. To focus on local ingredients, recipes, and flavours was to focus on local people and culture. We have learned through speaking with the groups under the Picacho organisation and especially from Adrian, its leader, that incorporating traditional foods is vital for the development of an inclusive and welcoming space for locals. Therefore, in our final overview of the menu and plans for sourcing ingredients and recipes, we will ensure that we consider the full impact of our choices: economically, environmentally, and culturally.

3. The final stretch

Next week is our final week working on this project, and on August 14 I will be on a plane back to London. Before I go, however, it is important to ensure that I have addressed all of the deliverables that were asked of the Picacho team at the beginning of the experience to ensure that we do not leave any loose ends that may cause inconvenience for our organisation after we leave. To ensure this, we plan to use some time over the next week to record any important information that may be useful to Picacho in the future that we may not have communicated already. We will ensure that this information is accessible and in a central location. We have also decided that as a part of making sure that Picacho is best equipped with the task of the cultural cafe into the future, and that our work is best utilised, we will deliver our final presentation entirely in Spanish. While this introduces a challenge due to a lack of fluent language skills, we believe that with the supplementary materials such as the presentation slides and pamphlet, alongside any interpretation work that the make_sense staff could provide, this approach will best communicate our ideas in a clear manner.