Wednesday. Before returning to Aguablanca that afternoon I headed for a local internet cafe on Roosevelt, I had promised the children paper copies of their photographs and I was determined not to disappoint them. Myself and Joni met up with Geraldo in order to completely our first task, collecting the pilot study questionniares left with the Director of El Diamante. Before leaving Newcastle, Pauline had warned us of the significance of contingency as research programmes simply never go to plan. This was the first opportunity for a director to deliver and needlesstosay he wasnt available. We found his secretary but of course she hadnt been told anything, so we left El Diamante empty handed on this occasion but promised to return before the weekend.
Of course there was plenty to be getting on with in the meantime and having looked over the list of selected schools Geraldo led the grand tour of communa 13. First up was a large private school, Al Poblado (see photo). The school itself was located in a more built up area and as I took some photos the children waved at me from the playground, situated by necessity on the roof. Once again the Director was unavailable, so we simply took the opportunity to leave the introductory letters from Jairo and Sugata (as my mentor) and promised to return in quick time. The next school on the list was a large public school Luz Haydee, the location for the Jefe de Nucleo meeting of the previous week. As seemed to be the way this day, the Director was just leaving as we approached the school, however this time the outcome was to be notably different. This Director of Studies had been present at Jairos meeting and therefore was already aware of our presence and the scope of the study. Whilst he couldnt help us personally, he said that there was a teacher/parent meeting at the school in an hour and that we were more than welcome to question any of the attendees/volunteers. This was an unexpected opportunity not to be wasted however, I only had a digital version of the parents questionnaire on a memory stick. Thinking quickly, Geraldo took us to an internet cafe and we printed out 30 copies of the document and bought 30 pencils to match. Before heading back to Luz Haydee, we returned to Voluntad de Dios to pick up the pilot study documents of the previous day and to drop off copies of the photos. Whilst Rigoberto himself was unavailable he had left the completed teachers questionnaires for me to collect, my first real success. In addition, the class of children I had photographed the previous day were in the same location. Im not sure how the schedule works at this time of day but the class was in total bedlam, even more so when I handed copies of the photos to the class supervisor (who was overseeing rather than teaching the class). She was obviously more experienced than she looked and wisely used the bait to bring the children to heel; sit down quietly or no photo. We thanked the teachers for their cooperation and headed back to Luz Haydee.
On arrival, we met with the Deputy Director who explained that all of the parents and children were currently meeting the teachers in their respective classrooms but that he would be prepared to present the study to each group and ask for volunteers. As it happened his speech to the respective groups was spot on and whilst it was a little uncomfortable to be repeatedly presented a foriegn exhibit, it did the trick and we were able to extract more than 20 willing parents. Once they had completed their meeting with the teachers, our volunteers duly appeared at the Sala de Estudios and quietly completed the questionnaire.
Before departure Joni suggested that we explain to the parents the scope and broader context of our work in Cali, I agreed and volunteered him to start the ball rolling. Whilst I hardly expected to be received as the returning messiah, one or two parents saw our invitation as an opportunity to air a few very personal grievances about the school and the education system in general. A teacher was present but he chose to ignore the conversation and left us to fend for ourselves. Of course, we werent there to represent or defend the school and the subject of a childs education is no less emotive a theme here than anywhere else. All things said and done I think we handled it pretty well, though I suspect positive solutions to many of their issues (particularly school and neighbourhood security) are not going to arrive anytime soon. Happily at least one of parents approached and thanked both of us for at least being there and trying to improve the lives of their children.
It had been a long, dusty, hot afternoon in the Colombian sun, matched by a raft of intense incident and experience. By the time I got home that evening I was completely done in. To finish the day, myself and Camilo (Lucias friend) went onto the street to find a bite to eat. Of course the conversation revolved around my experiences in Aguablanca as neither he nor Lucia have ever visited the district. He indicated that while the situation is very sad, the actions of the government always lag behind those of the inhabitants. He predicted that within 10 years La Florida will have been formally absorbed into the surrounding community, facilites and services will be connected and life will improve. Numerous other new slums will appear in the meantime but thats the nature of things and life for many was little better in the country. Our discussion expanded to include themes such as wealth inequalities and violence in the context of Colombian culture. He mentioned on a number of symbolic moments from history, touchstones in the national psyche and recommended a book that is standard in the national curricula – Las Venas Abiertas de America Latina (The Open Veins of Latin America). Significant contextual material for the thesis me thinks.