Week 1

My first week in Medellín has been an exciting and interesting start to this leadership-in-action project. Despite only being here a week, I feel as if I have been here for a long time already, feeling both comfortable and content with my surroundings and the people I am sharing this experience with. Medellín is a vibrant, colourful city that is full of noise and things to do, and the local people have been nothing but friendly, even with my below-average Spanish skills.

Daniela and Samantha, our co-ordinators from the make_sense team, are amazing, welcoming hosts. Throughout this first week, they have delivered sessions to us about what to expect from the coming weeks and key ideologies that we should carry forward with us into the projects. The main concept has been the design thinking methodology that focuses on human-centered, sustainable social designs. The stages include empathise, define, ideate, prototype and evaluate, each of which we have discussed in depth and started to apply to the projects that will be executed over the coming weeks. The sessions were engaging and insightful, and granted us the opportunity to get to know each other and feel comfortable working towards our shared goal.

Alongside these sessions, Dani and Sam coordinated impactful experiences to enhance our understanding of the city and its culture, and the overarching theme of the program, peace and social resilience. We visited Comuna 13, a neighbourhood that has long been subjected to displacement and violence but has transformed into a vibrant, strong community full of art and transformative adjustments, such as the outdoor escalators to improve accessibility. Our guide lead us around the area, providing an interesting, engaging dialogue about the community and its vast changes, as well as exhibiting local dancers and artists and an authentic Colombian coffee and chocolate tasting (which went down extremely well).

We also visited Picacho, a neighbourhood in the city, twice this week as it is where we will be executing our projects. On Friday, we went to Cerro El Picacho and met two representatives from the collaborating organisation 'Picacho Con Futuro'. Here, we learnt about the geography of the city and why it is significant, as well as hearing about Picacho and the organisations key initiatives and aims. On Saturday, we had the opportunity to engage with local people that are the heart of 'Picacho con Futuro' by visiting their bazaar and meeting some of the children that attend the organisation’s daycare. It was very enjoyable to interact and hear from the local people, and debate football teams and players with the children!

Beyond the project, my fellow scholars and I have had the chance to explore this vibrant city, soaking in the culture and beautiful landscapes. We have explored the streets of Laureles and El Poblado, taken the cable cars across the city to Parque Arvi and tried as many different foods and drinks that we could find. It is a privilege to be in such a captivating, stunning city and I look forward to continue to absorb as much as I can over the coming weeks.