7 minute read
"Que chimba parce, esto es Medellín" with Daniel Santos
Daniel Santos, jeKnowledge Alumni member, was in Colombia for a month and a half, where he did volunteering and some activities. In order to support local associations and encourage their development, jeKnowledge is developing a pro-bono website for the “Fundación Solidaria Padre Alberto Ramirez”. This is a non-proft organization whose social purpose is to serve the community in everything related to education, promotion and development of marginalized people and groups of society, helping them to restore the social fabric.
Daniel Santos
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Que chimba parce, esto es Medellín
I went to Colombia for a month and a half. What I lived in there was stunning.
These are some of the opinions that I heard. But I didn’t really hear. I chose not to pay attention to the stories they show on TV and go get mine. To actually see how Medellín is — the city that was considered the most violent city in the world in 1991, and the most innovative in 2013.
How did they do that? What happened?
Execution is what I fnd the most interesting in people. I like people who execute, who do. And these people transformed a city in 22 years.
I arrived at the airport and Naily, a girl from AIESEC, was waiting for me. She welcomed me with a hug and a smile from ear to ear. I found it weird, but later I understood.
She paid for the bus and the local Uber and took me home. It was past midnight, and lady in pajamas and a sleepy face opened the door. She indicated where my bed was and asked if I needed anything. “It’s a small house, but with a lot of love”, said the youngest daughter, Salomé, a few days before on WhatsApp. My bed was right next to the main door, and at 5am someone leaves. Weird. In the morning the lady did my breakfast — arepa with scrambled eggs and some veggies.
“You can cook whenever you want!”. So good that she was making my breakfast on the frst day. Little I knew it would not be only on the frst day. Inés was a housewife. Whenever she heard me going to take a shower, she would get up and make me breakfast. When I got out of the shower, breakfast was on the table. Arepa, a natural juice and avocado sometimes.
I met other volunteers and a guy from AIESEC explained us how everything would be. But just like in Morocco, the actual volunteering project was not the most memorable part. It was the people. The Colombian people. My volunteering project was managing social media for a foundation called Famicove. Famicove supports people with international protection necessities by providing guidance on migration, education, health and others, so that people and their families can better adapt do the society in Medellín. They provide professional health care, mainly in paediatrics, general medicine, paediatric ophthalmology, sexual and reproductive health counseling and prenatal control.
The amount of Venezuelan migrants in Colombia is impressive. I had the opportunity to read the messages that these people would send to facebook and instagram, and to have a frsthand understanding about the problems that these people carry when they travel looking for minimal living conditions. The Venezuelan currency devalued so much that people made crafts with bills. I met the other people working there in the foundation: they were happy, simple, friendly. Always welcoming and minding the other.
I went out to take a walk in the city to have a frst impression of how Medellín was. And it was Medellín. So much life. Everyone was working. Everyone was moving. People cleaning trees, cleaning the foor. The city was fowing. A lot of cars, bikes and buses. And then the meter across the city. The meter was similar to the one in Singapore. Only hotter and slower. But it was always clean. I kept seeing people sweeping the foor and there was policemen on every station. Buying tickets was fast and easy (except during rush hour). Is it safe? During the frst week my computer stayed home.
Actually, with my European eyes, some people looked suspicious. But inside the metro everyone was using their cell phones. So I started doing the same. For 5 weeks I walked in the street carrying my phone, computer and camera in the backpack, and nothing bad happed. I met Camila in the mall, after meeting her for the frst time in Morocco. I don’t really know how to describe it. It was good. “I want to do this, this and this. We have to record a video like this, this and that. I have to show you A and B.” And listening to this was music to my ears.
But I was already disappointed when she, once again, canceled a meeting with me to go to another meeting. But this time she was going to a meeting about the Amazon. I got interested, and asked to go with her. I got stunned. A group of people came together to save the world. They came together to create a movement for the preservation of the Amazon Rainforest. What is this? Who are this people? What’s going on? There I met Jeisson, over 30 years old. After recording the meeting that the group had, Jeisson came to me, saying thank you with a hug and a trembling voice, as I had just done the best act in the world. And I kept saying to myself “but I just recorded you guys talking”. But I was in love with this. These people discussed strategies to revert the situation in the Amazon like they were developing a business plan to make millions. But they were just trying to save the planet. Jeisson was the most inspiring person I’ve ever met. He didn’t start a business. He’s not rich. He’s not a big time athlete. He’s happy. Really.
I would wait for him next to the meter station, and suddenly hear someone singing. I would look back, and see him arriving, dancing, with his headphones. Jeisson cleans apartments to make some money, and tries to save the planet during his free time. During the day he goes to the street talking to people, singing, warning people about the problem in the Amazon. Two years ago he was close to commit suicide. Now he has a life story worth listening.
And then he helped me talking with some dancers that I could fnd in the streets, practicing. I would just literally say “Hey can I make a video of you dancing?” And they said yes. I met Niito. And all of this made me fall in love with the city, by the people of Medellín.Here I made an important step in my life.
I never enjoyed going out at night, going to the club, having dinners until sunrise with drinks on messy tables. “You have to have fun! You’re going now? Drink a beer!”. I always tried. I went out some times during University, I went to some dinners, but only to really understand that, no matter the people that I am with, no matter the situation, I could only think about going home, to my computer as I am now. Leaving a dinner at 11pm, saying that I was going to wake up very early the next day, only to go home to work until 4 am and wake up after noon. Making videos, editing photos, whatever. And in Colombia I would also hear “aren’t you going to visit A and B?”.
No. I wanted to stay in Medellín, to really know the city, to make videos, to make episodes for the podcast. And that’s when I started to be sure of what I really like to do, and how I can help the people that I meet along the way. People in Colombia are purely lovely. They treated me as a big friend, and not as the stranger that I was. It’s phenomenal. It’s an example for everyone.
This is in El Santuario, a small town 1 hour away from Medellín. Thank you AIESEC for the experience. I fell in love. I’m coming back, hopefully in 2021. Que chimba.
https://medium.com/@ danielsantos_99032/que-chimbaparce-esto-es-medell%C3%ADn-en80c8c8745552
