Wednesday. Its 6.00am and its pouring with rain but we have an appointment at the Humberto Public school and a further opportunity to take advantage of a parent/teacher meeting. By 7.15am myself and Joni are in Poblado2 and cradling cups of hot coffee waiting for our Geraldo who is coming on his scooter. Were not delayed for long but the poor guy is completely soaked. Hes been a real trooper thus far and the least I can do is offer him my condolences and a coffee. Not long after, we have arrived at Humberto and are talking to the DoS, a welcoming lady who remembers Joni from his own research period. Whilst we had already introduced ourselves to the school 2 days previously, her somewhat grumpy deputy hadnt passed on any information. We went through the routine once again and were quickly escorted to the first group of parents. Whilst we found our 5 volunteers, it was soon apparent that there were a few of literacy problems in this group so I chose to stay and help whilst Joni and Geraldo would continue the tour of the remaining classrooms. For most of the time I was assisting this big fella; thick set and tough looking character (in a Lawrence Fishburne kind of way). However, you should never judge people by their appearance as the big man was reduced to the level of a nervous child by his inability to read. I would ask him a question and he would then smile meekly as if he had no right to express his own point of view. It left me wondering how many other parents are hamstrung by illiteracy with neither the confidence nor the language to express their rights and concerns to higher authorities. Despite his apparent uncertainly however we had a laugh and he thanked us all for our efforts.

Whilst we waited for the parents to complete the questionnaires, I went on a quick tour of the building to chat to the ever inquisitive children and have a look at the facilities. As with all public institutions to date, the classrooms are clean and functional with tables, chairs and a blackboard. Can one expect anymore in such as environment? Maybe not but compared to Voluntad de Dios, these institutions look tired, old and a little sad, what could be acheived with a lick of paint and a few pictures on the walls, particularly in schools which are always brimming with artistic potential. In the overall scheme, it may seem like a trivial point but my investigations relate precisely to these issues of climate and too date at least, the private institutions appear far more welcoming and energetic.

As if to confirm the point, we visited Sur Oriental (mid size private) and its notably energetic DoS, Fernando. We chatted and he gave us a tour of the school. It had the feel and dimensions of a large home and whilst the classrooms were cramped, they were also bright and welcoming. The climate was viscerally more upbeat and positive than any public institutions, no matter how effective the DoS. We left Oriental with questionnaires for the DoS and his teachers and arranged to return on the 15th May for a scheduled parents meeting. We finished the day off with an introduction to the Pedro Morales Pino private institution. Once again the DoS was welcoming and helpful, though on this occasion the school did appear somewhat dark and on first impressions a little forbidding. To be fair to the school, the blinds were drawn to keep the place cool, so I will look forward to a future visit before making any judgments. One positive feature that I noted before leaving was a bank of computers provided for the children, a facility conspicuously absent in many of the other schools (private and public) in the comuna. Whilst there was the possibility of visiting Santa Rosa (private) later that afternoon, I am very conscious of the fact that Geraldo is working for me in his free time and I do not want to consume more of it than is absolutely necessary. So rather than hang around on the off chance of further progress, we agreed to call it a day and would get together again the following Monday.

For most of what remained of Wednesday and for the whole of Thursday, I sat at the computer and entered all the data we had received for the week which was dominated by the opinions of the parents. I have now acquired nearly 100 questionnaires from 3 public schools alone which pleases me no end and makes the task of data entry that little more bearable.

I have to be honest and admit that I was not very much looking forward to Friday and the second of the comuna 13 meetings on violence. This of course is no reflection on the theme itself which in terms of its social effects takes prominence over all others in Aguablanca, however the first meeting had been for the most part, a very dry political debate and the second was scheduled to last nearly 9 hours. Even before the meeting started Joni and myself had agreed to bail out at lunch time. Fortunately, someone had obviously thought very careful about the real purpose of the meeting and whilst the day was indeed long, we all had a lot of fun. Although I had met many of the participants at the previous meeting, there were a number of new faces, principal among them Diego a management consultant who would drive the proceedings. He was very entertaining character and had prepared a whole tranche of activities to help us get to know each other and build a coherent team, this included having to stand up and state precisely what skills or knowledge you think you bring to the party. Given the context this exercise in public relations is not easy to fulfil, even allowing for my Spanish which at this level is no more than passable, it is these people (qualifications or not) who are the experts, it is they that have the knowledge, the experience and the expertise at ground level. By comparison Im no more than a humble beginner who is here to learn. Add this humility to my teaching experience and an alternative point of view and I may have delivered an acceptable case. Fortunately, Colombians are nothing if not generous and if they were unconvinced by my monologue they certainly didnt show it.

Most of the day was spent playing games which included untying knots and building bridges, quite literally in this case. We would then have to describe the experience and extract the lessons in the context of the team, fairly standard stuff but it was lot of fun and I got to meet a lot of the important players in the comuna. The last few hours were the most tiring as we discussed the final version of the constitution and made arrangements for a very public signing ceremony which to my great disappointment will be performed a week after I return home. The meeting over, I headed in the direction of Roosevelt and 39th with Jorge, an environmentalist working in the comuna. As a consequence of the weather, we were forced to take shelter in a shopping centre and 4 hours later we were still talking. He was well travelled and totally committed to his work in poor communities, to the point where a few years back he very nearly entered the holy order as a priest. What changed his mind? He was based in Medellin, home to the most beautiful women in Latin America. Who could blame him, it would surely test the fortitude of a saint.