Colombia 2009

As our bus drove down the beach, just 50 feet from the ocean's waves lapping on the shore, I was baffled at where we were. I knew we were on our way to spend the day at a school called Villa Gloria, but as we neared little shacks and houses on the beach, right near the water, I could not understand why their village was situated there. By then we were not quite as close to the water as we had been, but as we got off the bus I realized that the ground was still a muddy sand, big puddles of water filled with garbage were all over. All of a sudden I noticed that only 200 feet away, two men standing in a dug-out canoe pushed their way through the water with sticks. This community was in the middle of a mangrove-type environment. The whole thing made no sense to me. Why would anyone decide to live in an environment like this? Horrible for growing any kind of food and possibly even worse for building a shelter to live in because the ground is so wet. But it all made sense once I realized that this was once a community formed by escaped slaves, a Palenque. When Cartagena was considered one of the most well protected Spanish trading centers in South America, it became a stop for the slave trading boats, with many ships flowing into its port from Africa. Few slaves being traded were able to escape from their capturers, but when they did flee, they settled communities near Cartagena and all along the Caribbean and Pacific coasts of Colombia. Once I was able to make this connection, it all made sense. The people living in this little area are the descendants of escaped slaves that came to hide in the mangroves from the slave traders. Through the years, communities such as this were created. When I told my friends about this community and their story, one of them asked, well why don't they leave that horrible environment and move somewhere that they can have more opportunity? It is not as easy as that. They are already living off so little that they cannot afford to pick up and leave. They also have all their family and friends and have established a life in their community. Some people in the community are more lucky than others. The community we visited is blessed to have their community leader, Gloria, that set up this school for the children. Gloria wants to give these children an education in hopes that in the future, maybe they can be the ones that leave this community and go on to better things such as secondary school, or getting a job.
This community and its relationship with the rich history of Cartagena is a perfect example of what I am trying to show through this research component of my workshop credit. Upon first glance, you would never think that these people are living in this horrible location because their ancestors fled there to escape their slave owners. When the slaves escaped there, they had absolutely nothing and still today this community has close to absolutely nothing. It is in situations like this that the economic disparities are so evident. This area has slightly improved itself over the years due to the hard work of the inhabitants but other than that, it has not received any help at all-- none from the other citizens of Cartagena or Colombia or from the government. How is a community such as this one supposed to improve and get better without any resources or help? Will communities such as this one just stay like this forever? Can they continue to survive or at some point will they all be forced to leave to search for opportunity in a harsh and competitive city? It is so hard for people from this community to get jobs because even if they are qualified and dedicated, that job will probably be given to an equally qualified person who is not from an area such as this one. If a person's hard work and determination do not pay off time and time again, what more does that person have to try for if they fail every time? This is a question that so many of the people from communities like this face. It is so hard to still believe in yourself when you face such hardships and feel like you are destined to fail.
However, Gloria has the right idea because the first step to overcoming these economic disparities is overcoming the educational disparities. Getting an education is the most important step and so it is great that it is the focus of so many of the communities we visited.