My final week in Colombia has arrived surprisingly quickly. After six weeks of living and volunteering in Medellín, this week has been full of final presentations, goodbyes, and reflection on everything we have experienced and achieved. It feels strange to be leaving behind the routines that have become part of everyday life, as well as the friendships I have formed with fellow scholars, local volunteers, and the people at Fundación SORA.

This week also began rather unexpectedly, with an earthquake! Waking up to the room shaking was certainly a scary experience and not quite how I imagined starting my final few days in Colombia. Thankfully, everyone was safe, and the week soon turned towards wrapping up our final projects and reflecting on the past six weeks.

One of the biggest moments of our final week was presenting our work to Fundación SORA. We worked hard to bring together everything we had achieved over the six weeks and reflect on our recommendations for the organisation. Presenting in Spanish was particularly challenging for me and pushed me outside of my comfort zone, but I was proud that I was able to communicate our work and ideas. It was especially rewarding to see the presentation so well received by the SORA team. After six weeks of working closely with the organisation, the presentation felt like a meaningful way to bring our project to a close and share the progress we had made together.

As part of our final week, I also had the opportunity to attend the final presentations of my fellow scholars at their partner organisations across Medellín. It was incredibly rewarding to see everything the different teams had achieved over the past six weeks and the impact their projects had made within their organisations. Although we had been working with different organisations and communities across the city, it was wonderful to come together at the end and celebrate what everyone had accomplished.

Reflecting on my own experience, I have also learnt much personally. Working with my partner organisation in a real community environment taught me that plans do not always happen exactly as expected. Workshops often had to change depending on attendance, the children’s ages, available resources, and their level of engagement. As a result, I have become more comfortable adapting plans at short notice and responding to challenges as they arise rather than expecting everything to follow a set plan.

Collaborating with local volunteers and working within an international team further challenged me to communicate across cultural and language barriers. Over the six weeks, I became increasingly confident in adapting how I communicated, asking questions when I did not understand something and changing my approach when something was not working. These experiences have shown me how important flexibility, patience, and open communication are when working with people from different backgrounds.

Beyond the project itself, simply experiencing everyday life in Medellín has been an equally important part of my time here. From learning about the history and transformation of the city to experiencing Colombian traditions, food, and celebrations, I have gained a much deeper appreciation of a place and culture that I knew very little about before arriving.

Finally, a huge thank you to Sam and Dani from the make_sense Americas team for making this experience possible and looking out for us throughout the past six weeks. Thank you to my fellow scholars for making the experience so memorable, to the local volunteers who worked alongside us, and to everyone at Fundación SORA for welcoming us so warmly into your organisation. Six weeks ago, I arrived in Medellin not entirely knowing what to expect. Now, I leave with new friendships, new perspectives, and countless memories.

Thank you, Medellín!