Can you help my Colombian Kids?

2010-12-13T13:30:00.000-08:00

A long overdue update......

A long long time ago there was an email sent around to friends of a young (at heart) girl who, fresh from her years travel, decided to let everyone know she was still alive by asking for money. You may remember this money was not to help prop her up as she came back to NZ with just her backpack, but in fact a request to help the small community in which she had worked with in the Colombian Jungle (see 'older post' below if you need to jog your memory as to what you contributed to!). The idea was, that by asking friends for donations of whatever they could spare, they could in some corner of the world, make a difference.

Well I am very happy to let you know, that you have in fact made a difference. Whilst this girl regrets it has taken this long to get this update out to you kind and generous people (who perhaps secretly were thinking she had run away with the cash), there are a few viable reasons for the delay in doing so. These namely being the difficulties encountered with the logistics involved in working from a desk in Wellington, NZ to organising the purchase of a computer in Colombia to the then safe delivery of this plus other educational resources, to an area with no cellphone coverage, email, or transport that has any other power other than two or four legs. These reasons also being why it has taken this long to get images back as proof that it did actually get there!

So huge apologies for the delay in sending out this communication but I (as I get tired of speaking in the third person) had lunch with a friend a few weeks ago who was able to hand me footage of her visiting the school a few months ago.

I hereby can provide a list of all the items that were brought with the money you donated and also below some other good news....so keep on reading if you can....

Items sent to Escuela Teyuna:

1 x Dell Inspiron Intel Dual-Core T4500 2.3GHZ 17in Laptop Computer (2GB/250GB) @ 2.3GHz,DVD Burner, Windows 7, 4 cell battery, Integrated webcam, (purchased online via Exito in Santa Marta, Colombia)

1 x extra keyboard (to allow for wear and tear of the original laptop keyboard from 20 boisterous kids!)

1 x set of USB speakers
1 x mouse
2 x 1GB USB
1 x waterproof laptop bag
1 x Microsoft Office Package including Word, Excel and Powerpoint
1 x 'Learn to read with Pipo' CD-Rom for ages 4 to 8
1 x 'Memory and Logic' CD-Rom for ages 5 to 9
1 x 'Maths' CD-Rom for ages 5 to 8
1 x 'Thinking' CD-Rom for ages 5 to 9
1 x 'Play and think' CD-Rom
1 x 'Letters and numbers' CD-Rom for ages 4 to 7
1 x 'Adding and Subtracting' CD-Rom for ages 6+
1 x 'The Planet Earth with Pipo' CD-Rom
1 x 'The Little Explorers in the Ciudad Perdida'
1 x BBC Muzzy English Language Course I - Vocabulary DVDs Parts 1 & 2, and Story DVDs Parts 1 to 6
1 x BBC Muzzy English Language Course II - Vocabulary DVDs Parts 1 & 2, and Story DVDs Parts 1 to 6
A variety of school items such as English/Spanish Dictionary, Times table charts, compasses, writing materials etc etc.

I am delighted to say that these items (with the exception of the laptop which was purchased using online credit I was able to organise from here and which was picked up in Colombia), were safely packed up by DHL here in Wellington and arrived in Santa Marta a few days later. They were then delivered to the school by way of being transported by mini-bus for two hours, then transferred to the back of a motorbike for an hour and a half and then strapped to the back of a mule for another four hours. It safely arrived to the community who were naturally over the moon to receive its surprise and more to the point come to the realisation that people in countries all around the world cared about their education.

For the next couple of months this laptop was charged at a nearby farm at the end of each school day and then transported back up to the school for use each morning. I only have one photo of good enough quality to show you of the laptop being used by some of the kids plus some backpackers who decided to jump in the back of the shot.

If you focus on the back of the room, just to the right of the door you will notice the poster I made of a collage of all the faces of the people who donated to this cause. A number of backpackers often pop their heads into this classroom as they trek back from the 'Lost City' and in fact one person who saw this poster then decided to stay on and teach English, just as I did, for several weeks. The aim of this poster was not only for the kids to be able to see the kind faces of those who donated, but also promote the fact that anyone's time and/or resources to furthering the education of these kids is always welcome. So far it seems to be working!

This reads:

This laptop computer and educational resources have been donated to the 'Nueva Teyuna' School by my friends you see in this poster. Our wish is that this donation be used to further the education of all students at this school. Enjoy! Stephanie

And here comes the even better news........

The community really was astounded by the generosity of these people that did not know them and probably would not ever get the chance to. The neighbouring village, where I had also volunteered taking English classes with some of the kids and also some adults who had lost their homes due to the violence experienced at the hands of the Paramilitary, was equally impressed. This school has a lot more help from the Government (due to it's slightly closer proximity to better infrastructure) and had received help a few years earlier with electricity, computers and the internet.

The teacher who I had helped out by volunteering my time there, took it upon herself to help our little project a little further and found four more desktop computers that would be donated to the school. These however, were of no use with no electicity in the vicinity so with some of the money received through your donations we were able to build a pretty simple energy plant up at the school which powers the computers for two hours each day. Our little project of one laptop has now grown to include four others!

Please click on the video below to see them in action. This was taken during the weekend so there were only a handful of kids there. The CD-roms have proved to be a great hit and they are learning interactively how to do sums, read in Spanish and English, improve their listening, memory and logic skills, not to mention their computer literacy has improved ten-fold. So in a matter of days their classroom learning had gone from copying from a blackboard to a piece of paper in pencil to writing up stories with Microsoft Word, using clip-art to illustrate their stories and saving them to a USB key!

I spoke with the teacher last week and he asked me to personally say 'MUCHAS GRACIAS' for all your kind donations and for helping these kids have a little more of a step up in life.

Feel free to feel good for making a difference!

Merry Christmas everyone and may you have a very happy and healthy 2011.

Love from Steph xxx

2009-01-16T14:03:00.000-08:00

Feliz 2009 a Todos!

So I'm hoping that in amongst those many New Years Resolutions you have made, perhaps even between the 'drink less' and 'exercise more', you have made a mental note 'to do something for a good cause'. Many of you no doubt make great contributions already in a wide variety of ways and may be many have always had it on the list of things to do, so whatever your position, I hope to convey to you a great cause that whatever contribution made will, in a corner of the world, make a difference.

Now some of you may/may not be aware that I have recently come back from a little jaunt through Latin America, well a year to be exact, that saw me as far south as Patagonia and as far north as Cuba and Mexico. An absolutely incredible experience, not just for the beautiful spots I visited but more for the fantastic people met along the way.

Some of you may also have seen some of my photos on facebook and will know that during this experience away I was fortunate enough to live with a small community in the Sierra Nevada of Colombia, a village in the jungle and a good 4 hour hard trek to the nearest cold beverage.

I braved big scorpions crawling down my bedroom wall, showered with furry fat spiders the size of my hand, and shared the jungle with poisonous snakes and all manner of other creepy crawlies (including the lice I discovered on my 30th birthday), had daily cold bucket showers, had no electricity or cell phone coverage, and a 45 minute exhausting climb up to school and back down again every day.....and I loved it! (head lice excluded of course).

Why on earth would I do this do you ask???

Now the reason for me doing all this was to help out this small community by teaching the local farmers kids a bit of English. You are also probably wondering what use they would have for English so far from anywhere but this area is very popular amongst tourists for the Ciudad Perdida or 'Lost City' (see new post) found another days trek away. So now there is a small group of kids in this jungle that if asked how they are (hopefully) will manage to respond in English and (even better) with a broad kiwi accent.

The community here have very simple housing, some with plastic sheets for walls, most with dirt floors and without electricity and don't receive a peso of help from their Government. Yet their generosity shown to me was so incredible that I was simply overwhelmed that people with so little could give me so much. On many occasions I had to decline their offer of killing their prize chicken when they invited me around for a meal!

So finally I am getting closer to my point and hopefully I have set the scene for you to understand why it is that this community needs your help. The school itself receives very little help from the government and consists of four walls, a board, chairs and desks. The standard of their education is very poor and the one teacher tries to keep up to 25 or so kids entertained at any one time. Once these kids reach the age of 15, some stay on the farms for lack of opportunity and some head to the city to try and find work but with very few skills to help them with the transition into the work force and it is at this point here where I want to make a difference.

How can we help???

I discussed ways with the teacher in which I could continue to help the school from a far and we decided that some computer equipment would be ideal to introduce the kids to computing and familiarise themselves with a computer before getting into the big bad world. However, the school is perched in the middle of nowhere and there is no electricity to arrange a desktop. We therefore talked about a laptop which can be recharged at a farm nearby which uses the river for energy. There is also a school about 4 hours walk away that does have an IT teacher that can help with any problems.

So......basically this post is a call to locate a bit of IT equipment that would be useful for the school such as:

A couple of second hand laptops that have decent battery power. There is no internet up there so no need to have wireless applications obviously. Just the most basic of laptop with a few microsoft packages so they can learn how to type, use a mouse, turn it on and off etc.
Very handy would be a CD rom to view CDs so welcome would be any copies of things such as Encarta Encylopedia in Spanish, Learning English DVDs, anything fun and interactive that they would learn from (would have to be in Spanish).
A couple of smallish second hand speakers you have lying around that aren't being used anymore
A couple of working mouses (or do you use the plural in this sense?!)
Any copies of programs you might have that could be added.
A couple of second hand Laptop bags that are relatively lightweight

So raid your cupboards for your old stuff that you have lying around to put on ebay/trademe but haven't got around to, chat to your IT departments at work to see if they are getting rid of any equipment not used anymore or failing that, if you know you don't have or won't get around to donating items then a cash donation would be much appreciated. I have spare accounts in the UK and NZ that if your kind heart wanted to donate a bit so that I can get buying some second hand equipment (should I not track any down via this) and to organise postage to Colombia. I have friends who are guides in the city that are able to cart this all up on their mules so just need to get it to Santa Marta on the coast.

If you are in the UK or Europe and wish to donate it may be easier to make either a cash donation or to send me small equipment (eg CD Roms etc) to avoid major postage costs as the main consignment will come from NZ.

Rest assured that anything you donate will reach this lovely little community and the photos on the next post will I hope, show you the smiles that these kids will be giving once they get to have their first go on a computer that they have never used before.

Plus if you ever get a chance to visit this extraordinary part of the world (see other posts for why you must visit Colombia), imagine how great it would be to walk past the school on your way to the lost city and say that you helped get that here : )

So if you think you can help in whatever way big or small via equipment or even a $10/£10 or more donation (special thanks to my brother Nick for pledging the first donation!) then please send me a message on stephmorison@hotmail.com or facebook and we can discuss your donation of equipment to assess what is needed, to work out delivery of item and my bank details should you want them!

A big thank you for reading this far and considering a donation on behalf of 25 beautiful kids, their parents and the community of Honduras in the Sierra Nevada, Colombia.

Photos

2009-01-12T16:21:00.000-08:00

With the girls and the house where I stayed in the background

With Ana going back to visit the family

With Alicia and her family

Saying my farewell to the school

With the family

At the breakfast table. This meal was always an interesting affair and I can't say that spaghetti and Yuca at 6am is one of my favourite meals.

The teacher Elvis and his family who were so wonderful to me and had me to stay during my 2 month time in the jungle

With Jenifer

With Mileidis

With Elibardo

Dallanah's grandma preparing the armadillo for dinner.

The women have it tough having to work in these sort of kitchens. No hot points or dishwashers around here!

Mileidis and Luisa with their Mum Mayoris in front of my mosquito net protected bed.

Trying to keep the class entertained

Teaching English to the soldiers and guides on Fridays

Elibardo's house - like most in the area

Luis and Elibardo

The 45 minute climb up to school in the mud with my gumboots everyday....

With some of the kids celebrating my 30th birthday...not a drop of alcohol in sight : (

"El Profe' Elvis with his kids

Completing my task of plucking the chicken

Luisa, Mileidis and Jenifer

Armadillo - we didn't eat this one but I did have the unpleasant of eating it's relative.

Alicia

The main terraces

One of many river crossings

A Kogui Village

Nothing but green jungle

Frog playing peek-a-boo

Luisa with the flea and worm ridden Coronel

History of the Area

2009-01-01T16:40:00.000-08:00

I spent nearly 2 months living with this community in an area called Honduras in the Sierra Nevada in northern Colombia. Indicated above in red.

My guide Luis, having spent most of his life in the area, was a fountain of knowledge in terms of introducing me to the history and way of life of this fascinating part of the world. They believe that people have been living in this part of Colombia for thousands of years, with their predecessors having slowly pushed their way south after the initial migration of humans over the Baring Strait from Asia.

A number of indigenous tribes settled in this small corner of the Sierra Nevada, building stone structures that served as their settlements often perched up on high hill or mountain tops for defence with stone stairways that led up from the coast or rivers to the village entrances. These huge stone staircases served not only as the entry passage to their villages but also as a form of defence by the clever arrangement of loose stones that would make a sound and therefore raise the alarm should intruders, who did not know the steps to avoid, choose to invade.

The entrance to the Ciudad Perdida

The main reason that brings tourists to this area are the ruins of ‘La Ciudad Perdida’ or ‘The Lost City’, the largest settlement found so far. Anthropological and archaeological research shows that the city was built between 700-800 AD (about 650 years older than Machu Picchu) and was a major urban centre among the 250 Indigenous settlements discovered so far in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. They estimate the population to have ranged between 1,400 and 3,000 inhabitants.

La Ciudad Perdida

The city was made up of over 250 terraces, each of which was a space for living, working and performing religious celebrations. The various sections of the city were joined by a network of cobbled paths and stairs located on the slopes. Roads and stairs also joined the cultivation fields. Reed houses were built on tiered terraces made from stones that formed rings and served also as the resting places of their inhabitants once they passed into the next world. Like many indigenous inhabitants throughout the Americas (and the world), this was a common belief and people would be buried with a number of artefacts that were thought to be useful in the afterlife. In this area many artefacts were made of gold making it a hot spot for treasure hunters in later centuries.

Part of the success of this settlement was that it was designed to prevent the heavy rain falls from eroding the land and instead was channelled off the slopes meaning that to this day one can still see the terraces in their entirety and the amazingly sophisticated architecture of this advanced tribe.

The arrival of the Spanish….

In 1525, nearby Santa Marta was the first Spanish Settlement in South America and with this arrival brought devastation to the Indigenous populations along the coast of Colombia (and ultimately all of North, Central and South America). Numbers diminished rapidly with the introduction of new diseases, battles and slavery and their ways of life were changed forever. Fortunately, due to the remote location of the Ciudad Perdida, the Spanish never found this settlement in the hilltops of the Sierra Nevada, despite its relatively close proximity to the city. However, the population living there did not escape from the devastation happening along the coast as indigenous people fled to this apparent safe haven taking with them the new diseases that they just did not have the immune systems for. Slowly but surely these diseases were passed onto the local inhabitants and they estimate that within about 60 years the entire population died out and so did the knowledge that this city existed. Well for a few centuries at least…..

It wasn’t until 1973, that a local Santa Marta man (who I happened to meet one day) with the rumours of this ancient city not far away decided to go looking for it. I have no idea how long he searched for but it must have been awhile when one day he found a stone staircase, well covered by the vines of the jungle, which kept going up and up. 1,200 steps later they reached the base of the city and over the next couple of years, he any many others managed to loot many of the treasures buried with their long deceased owners. It wasn’t until 1975, after artefacts were turning up on the black market, that the Colombian Government revealed the site to the public and declared it a national heritage site and that is when the tourists started coming….

Slowly but surely, farmers from the rest of the country were drawn to this area and started growing crops that contributed to the drug trade, namely marijuana and coca used to make cocaine which was then shipped to the western world. Paramilitary groups and guerrilla groups in the area, funded themselves with the profits from this trade and controlled these farmers to the point that many did not have much choice in what they used their farms for.

Stumbling across an old Coca plantation and being shown how to harvest it!

Due to the dense jungle surrounding the City and throughout the Sierra Nevada, it was an ideal place to hide for these left wing guerrilla groups such as the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) and the National Liberation Army (ELN). Much fighting went on in this area between these guerrilla groups, the right-wing paramilitary groups and the Colombian National Army making it a rather dangerous area for the areas inhabitants and for tourists that travelled through. In 2003, 8 tourists were kidnapped but released unharmed 3 months later.

With some very bored young soldiers!

With more bored soldiers in the classroom. They were quite keen to learn English so every Friday I would teach them. This photo always makes me laugh when I see it as I just managed to cut off the guns that the soliders had resting up against the wall!

Today, the Colombian National Army protects this area heavily meaning that it is a relatively safe place for the people that live there and for the adventure driven visiting tourists. Many groups are positioned along the trek keeping an eye on everything but most I met were bored out of their brains for lack of anything to do and therefore always keen for a chat. They told me that the now small guerrilla groups are at least a 2 day trek away! The locals are now working with tourism and where possible trying to make ends meet growing namely banana and coffee crops. A very tough existence considering to get their crops to the market they are faced with an all day and expensive journey to get it there. The government has yet to come up with viable ways to help these small communities but in the meantime they are struggling along doing what they can in order to make an honest living. The people I met there were the most kind hearted and generous people, offering me what little they had which is why I am in a small way hoping to repay their kindness by helping their children with their education.

Trek to La Ciudad Perdida

2009-01-01T16:39:00.000-08:00

When I first heard about this ‘Lost City’ hidden away in the northern corner of Colombia, I was immediately drawn to its air of mystery and knew that I must visit it on my trip through Latin America.

I was making my way north to Colombia from Argentina in order to attend my good friends Karen and Rafa’s wedding in Bogota and after hitchhiking aboard their honeymoon to the Caribbean Coast, waved goodbye and found myself at the foot of the Sierra Nevada Mountain range and ready to embark on possibly the highlight of my years travel.

I organised myself with a guide Luis who grew up in the area close to the Lost City and suspected I was being introduced to someone who, despite his very different past, would become a good friend of mine. Two lovely English boys, John and Paul, were also part of our little tour as was Luis’ 11 year old son Nelson employed as assistant cook, so with the group then complete, we set out on our 6 day adventure….

Luis, Nelson, Paul and John - my great companions.

The following are some excerpts I have copied from my diary...

Day I

Leaving Santa Marta meant we were leaving behind civilisation and armed with a small backpack where one could only fit in limited amounts of insect repellent, I was more than a little worried that I was going to be eaten alive in the depths of the jungle where we were about to enter into. We piled into the back of a small and incredibly uncomfortable van for the 2 hour journey to the bottom of the mountain range, where we then had to pile out and unpack the contents of our packs in front of the military that do the routine searches of everyone coming in and out of this area. What they were looking for I’m not 100% sure but suspect they were probably looking for weapons that could be taken to supply the guerrilla groups that I was told are thought to be in the jungle a few days walk from there (I made sure this was not in our direction however!). We then had an hours horrendous drive up the muddy and rocky mountain pass to reach Machete, a village that would be the last point at which a refrigerated beverage could be purchased and bizarrely a place which has the most amount of pool tables per capita I think I have ever seen. I think I counted about 13 pool tables in the 3 bars for a population of 50 people!

Having our bags searched upon entering the Sierra Nevada

The mule was packed up with our food and hammocks and away we started on our trek, only for the accident prone Steph to slip on a rock on one of the first of many river crossings and bang her knee causing swelling and thus a limp for the next six days of trekking. Typical!

It was therefore a long 5 hour trek that involved a horrendous hill climb, a harsh descent and a couple more river crossings (in the dark) before reaching our first nights accommodation at La Casa de Alfredo. No electricity here meant we were to bed by about 7.30pm after the typical Colombian fare for dinner – Rice, beans, avocado, chicken and my favourite; Patacons which is Plantain, fried, flattened and then fried some more. Yum!

Day II

My sleep in the hammock was surprisingly comfortable but not so comfortable was trying to bend the knee with it having stiffened up considerably during the night. Still, a bit of magic massage from the local medicine man Elibardo had me at least able to walk on it for the day and after a hearty breakfast of arepa con huevo with enough calories in it to get an army over the hill, off we went. This was a great days trek and not too difficult in retrospect even if at the time I felt like my heart was going to explode out of my chest!

Today’s part of the trek took us past a large Kogui (descendents of the Tyrona) settlement with about 10 huts scattered in this part of the jungle. A few kids were scattered around wearing their white (well quite a grubby grey really) tunics and occupying themselves whilst their parents were out tending the crops. We made it to our camp by mid afternoon in order to have a siesta in our hammocks, dinner by candlelight and another 7pm bedtime in order to be up early for the gruelling next day ahead of us.

Rosita peeping out of her hut

Day III

Am starting to find these hammock sleeps rather comfortable and love the safety that the mosquito net gives against the thought of mosquitos and other creepy crawlies lurking outside given that we are sleeping under wooden structures which consist of only a roof.

After another hearty breakfast we left the camp knowing that by the end of the day we would be reaching our goal of finding the Lost City. And boy was it tough. No sooner had we left the camp, we were boulder climbing, facing precarious drops, crossing rivers up to our waists (and this is the dry period!) not once but about 7 times until Luis indicated to us that we had reached the bottom of the couple of thousand steps to the top!

John and Paul with the first river crossing of the day

It was really quite exciting catching the first glimpse of the first step and one can understand why it remained ‘lost’ up until about 40 years ago. Having only been uncovered back then and with over 400 years more or less for the jungle to reclaim it, it is still very much ‘lost’. The steps up to the entrance, some 1,200 steps alone are very mossy and in places very slippery so the walking stick I had acquired was vital and breaks pretty regular.

After the exhausting climb up, we reached the first terraces and it felt like we were entering an enchanted kingdom where one would expect all sorts of phantasmal creatures to emerge. So green and so remote. There were a handful of other tourists around but the area is so big that it was easy to forget their presence and enter your own world imagining just what this place was like going back 500 years to before the Spaniards arrived.

The main terraces where the Chief and Sacerdotes were thought to have lived

We kept heading up, climbing up over terrace after terrace until we got to the terraces of the chief and sacerdote. I was really quite surprised to see how many soldiers there were protecting the area...rather a boring job I would imagine but still I could think of worse places to have to spend 2 months at a time.

The cabana where we were to sleep was to the left of the great city in amongst the bush but again up some pretty precarious stairwells and thus completing the 3,180 steps to our beds that day. Some of the soldiers joined us post dinner which was quite amusing with the Israelis in another group dismantling their guns and putting them back together as they use the same guns apparently and from my understanding supplied the Colombian army with these whilst helping in the training of their troops. Clearly these soldiers were missing the presence of women up here as they were more than a little persistent in trying to get us girls to go for little walks. With the pitch blackness, the threat of walking off a terrace to my death and of course the danger of being with a sex starved young soldier meant I did stay put however!

Day IV

It was quite an incredible experience awakening in the Lost City and whilst I didn’t have the pleasure of having the sun wake us up, it was fantastic to step out of the cabana to the view of the top terraces right in front of us.

Another of the guides took us on a tour of pretty much the whole uncovered part of the city which first had us climbing further up to get the typical panoramic shot of the city and to get an impression of just how big yet remote and hidden this place is. The guide was able to fill us in on a few interesting facts along the way but what most interested me was the living situation of the original inhabitants. The men would all sleep in one hut and the women in another and when they want to sleep together they have to head to the caves! Apparently the bat is the symbol of love for them so when bats fly out of caves it means they have been disturbed!

Another interesting fact I found was the manner in which women give birth. Once they feel the onset of labour they will literally leave the safety of the village and head into the jungle by themselves to give birth. They will generally rest a few hours before heading back with the new baby in tow. Once girls have their first period they are ‘given’ to a boy who has just turned 18 and undertaken his manhood rituals. Therefore a girl can often start reproducing from as young as 12 or 13. I met one indigenous woman who wasn’t sure of her age as they don’t keep count, however we thought she would have been around 25 and with her 7th child on the way...pretty tough going!

So we had a really interesting few hours wandering up and down over and above many different terraces and getting a feel of what this place was like all those centuries ago. There are loads of remnants such as maize grinders just lying about as through the people just disappeared really quite suddenly.

What amazes me is the thought that there may be many more cities that are similar that exist in the Sierra Nevada. At the entrance to the city there is a huge stone and on it are carved hundreds of lines which are supposed to represent the mountains, rivers and maybe the settlements in the area. The mamo (chief) of the indigenous in the area is said to know what these lines mean but only 2 have been revealed by the old mamo to President Betancourt when the city was discovered back in the seventies. It’s amazing to think what might be out there to be discovered at a later date.

Tyronian map of the Sierra Nevada

Before leaving the city (in truth I could have stayed up there so much longer as it really feels like such a magical place), we found the pool where the chiefs wife would bathe when they needed to pray for something such as rain, fertility, good harvests etc. We took a dip ourselves in the freezing water and then descended the thousands of steps once more to retrace our steps back to the cabana where we had our second night. We were absolutely shattered by the time we got back so it didn’t take much of a second thought to climb back into our hammocks once we had eaten.

Day V

I awoke this morning more than a little depressed at the thought that the trek was winding down and that we were on the downward side of our 6 day adventure. I really did feel quite deflated and couldn’t quite work it out until I figured that I really didn’t want to return to civilisation and leave this magical countryside. Maybe this was why my legs felt like lead in the climb up.

A bit of excitement was felt however as we were packing up when John reached to get his pants that had been drying from the rafters above us. On closer inspection a baby scorpion had nestled in so John was rather grateful he checked before putting those on!

The baby scorpion found in John's pants.

We passed a couple of indigenous settlements including one who were quite friendly with Luis. We chatted for awhile as they were building a small hut next to their larger family one. We thought they were building this for their ever expanding family (the wife was onto her 6th child) and was most disappointed to find out it was to be a small shop so they could sell coke, beer and other snacks to the tourists as they walk past. Very sad that up until 30 years ago these people had no idea that any other world other than their own existed and now all of a sudden they are cottoning on to commercialisation and the need to make a buck or two!

Shop Ciudad Perdida going up ready to sell Coca Cola and lollipops

However, in general it is good to see that they have still maintained pretty much their way of life and all their traditions that have been practiced for thousands of years. One does wonder though for how long this will last considering the amount of contact they now have with the outside world. >

The girls selling me a couple of necklaces they had made

The next village was pretty deserted but there were a few signs of life and upon getting closer I saw the cutest little face peer out of one of the doorways of the huts. I managed to get a great photo upon presentation of a small chocolate bar which he then proceeded to get all over his face. I am just so fascinated by these people and they certainly are a beautiful race.

That night we returned to Alfredo’s cabana knowing that the next day we’d be out of there so the ambience was a bit sombre. I had really become great friends with Luis over the course of this trek and found chatting to him so fascinating with his wealth of knowledge of the area. It was also great practice for my Spanish so we would chat for hours and hours and I came away learning so much of the life here, in Colombia in general and its fascinating history.

Day VI

So our last day in the Sierra Nevada and I was most upset, almost dragging my feet up the hill over to Machete. I really felt as though I was leaving such a special place and really wanted to prolong the trip as much as possible.

At the top of the horrendous last hill climb, we walked past what looked like a school. Suddenly a thought came into my mind and completely on a whim I asked Luis if by chance the school would like an English teacher for a month or two. He thought it was a great idea so on the descent back to Machete we were chatting about how this could be made possible and little did I know that I would be back up there in a week and really embarking on probably one of the most incredible experiences of my life.

Upon getting to Machete we had the most refreshingly cold bottle of Coke and took part in a local day that the Army were putting on for the local kids. It was a great atmosphere so we joined in and got our t-shirts and faces painted with the Colombian flag. I now will never forget what the colours stand for – yellow for the natural wealth of the country, blue for the two seas that surround Colombia and red for the blood spilt by those fighting for its independence. There was a photographer from the local newspaper snapping away so we may just be famous in El Districto de Magdalena.

Getting amongst the clown and facepainting action for the kids day that the Colombian Army put on.

We hitched a ride down in a far more comfortable fashion than the ride up, had our bags searched to make sure we weren’t removing anything from the city and then hopped back on the bus to Santa Marta. One adventure over but another soon to begin......

The Kids

2009-01-01T16:38:00.000-08:00

'El Profe' Elvis with some of the kids on the trip to the river for my 30th birthday.

Teacher Elvis has been teaching the children in this area for about 12 years. The current class role is 25 with the kids ranging in age from 4 to 14. On any one day between about 15 and 20 will be in attendance depending on what work there is to be done at home on the day of school and sadly their schooling does not seem to be of prime importance. Those that do regularly turn up however are eager to learn but Elvis is faced with trying to educate a wide range of ages all by himself and you will see from some of these faces the little characters he is faced with....

My favorite Luisa, 6 years old. A beautfiful little girl with an hysterical laugh. The smell of singed hair was with Luisa whenever she went as she used to do her homework by candlelight and always leaned in too far!

Iduvis (pronounced E-do-vis), 12 years old and the really sporty one

Nehemiah (prounced Ne-he-me-a), 12 years old, a real rascal and would terrorise the girls at break time.

David, 9 years old. A bit of a terror and always getting into trouble with his Dad the teacher.

Youlannis (pronounced you-lainey), 10 years old and Yourainnis (pronounced you-rainy), 8 years old. These girls were sisters and got the award for the strangest names. Clearly the parents did not want too many name variations in the family.

Melfur with the ring on his head, 7 years old and his brother Hernan far right, 4 years old.

Suleima (pronounced sue-lay-ma), 13 years old. Wants to move to the city and become a nurse when she is a bit older. Their older brother Moises (pronounced moi (as Kath and Kim would) - say)is 14 years old and the eldest student. He often helped his Dad out with guiding tourists.

Mileidis (named after My Lady Diana!), 7 years old. Also has a bit of a trouble making streak but often quite a help in the classroom.

Isaia (pronounced e-sai-e-ah), 10 years old, brother to Moises, Yeiner and Suleima and has a very competitive streak!

Jenifer, 3 years old. Daughter of the teacher but not quite in school yet. She wasn't actually even talking properly when I left but had to include her as she is just such a beatuiful wee girl.

Dallanah (as in Diana), 6 years old (far left). Helped me with making the exercises colourful with her excellent artwork. She put my attempts to absolute shame. Dani, 9 years old, to her right is a fantastic dancer.

Pachito (real name Walter), 12 years old. He is the class clown and climbed trees to bring me avocados, mangos and guavas at school.

Yeiner (pronounced jay-ner), 7 years old, was my little English star. His pronunciation of my kiwi words was quite remarkable.

Sitting with some of the kids during break.
Trying to keep them interested enough to learn the days of the week

How you can help

2008-12-02T16:59:00.000-08:00

You can help by donating:

A couple of second hand laptops that have decent battery power. There is no internet up there so no need to have wireless applications obviously. Just the most basic of laptop with a few microsoft packages so they can learn how to type, use a mouse, turn it on and off etc.
Very handy would be a CD rom to view CDs so welcome would be any copies of things such as Encarta Encylopedia in Spanish, Learning English DVDs, anything fun and interactive that they would learn from (would have to be in Spanish).
A couple of smallish second hand speakers you have lying around that aren't being used anymore
A couple of working mouses (or do you use the plural in this sense?!)
Any copies of programs you might have that could be added.
A couple of second hand Laptop bags that are relatively lightweight

A big thank you for reading this far and considering a donation on behalf of 25 beautiful kids, their parents and the community of Honduras in the Sierra Nevada, Colombia.

Contact Me

2008-12-01T17:04:00.000-08:00

If you think you can help in whatever way big or small via equipment or even a $10/£10 or more donation, then please send me a message on stephmorison@hotmail.com or facebook and we can discuss your donation of equipment to assess what is needed, to work out delivery of item and my bank details should you want them!

Also if you are thinking of planning a trip to Colombia (or South America for that matter) then I would love to help you with any tips I may have so please feel free to get in touch.