As you will by now have noted dear reader, life in Aguablanca is arduous and often very dangerous. Allowing for pockets of tranquility, the atmosphere here is a reflection of a collective psyche that seems forever dominated the very real fear of attack. Consequently, Joni and I are very much indebted to Gerardo, a local NGO worker who has given up much of his free time to guide us safely between the schools and the various neighbours in comuna 13. Without his support this particular investigation would have required 6 months rather than 2 and an inordinate number of taxi rides, assuming you could find a cabbie willing to entre Poblado2 et al. I hope that I am able to return his generosity sometime in the not to distant future.
Monday, and just as I was taking his presence for granted, Gerardo was unable to find the time to take us to the next selection of schools (mid-size private). In order to avoid any lost time, I went round to Jonis to plan the week and print off all the questionnaires for the remaining research period. If all are completed, I will have in excess of 200 questionnaires from assorted teachers, parents and DoS. This would have been beyond my greatest expectations before arrival and would represent a very large debt of gratitude to both Gerardo and Joni. It a bit of load though so I wonder if theyd mind taking it all back to Newcastle for me.
On Tuesday, Joni was busy for the entire morning so for the first time it would be just myself and Gerardo doing the work. I arrived early for our morning appointment at the Santa Rosa Private school in the neighbourhood of El Pondaje. As is the routine, the taxi driver asked me who I was and why I wanted to go to Aguablanca of all places and not for the first time I raised my camera and pretended to be an American tourist looking for a pretty wife. Disconcertingly, the drivers seem more interested in my taste in women than my personal safety. Still, if some stupid gringo is intent on looking for trouble, why should my cabbie ignore a half decent fare.
Its 8am and Im waiting for Geraldo in a cafe at the entrance to the El Pondaje neghbourhood. Whilst Im enjoying the coffee (Colombia is famous for it afterall), Im undeniably tense. The plan is to introduce myself and the research topic to 6 untested private schools today and without the support of Joni Im gonna have to concentrate really hard. Gerardo arrives at 8.30 and we take the short trip to Santa Rosa, a school we have previously visited although the DoS was too busy to entertain us at the time. Once again she greeted us warmly and thanks to Gerardos latin charm, agreed to give us a few minutes of her time. Fortunately, Maria is just one more example of the many friendly and totally comitted DoSs that I have had the pleasure to meet. We discussed the scope of the research, the broader work of Newcastle University and my first impressions of Colombia. She accepted the questionnaires without hesistation and invited us to return at 11.30am the following day to interview the parents as they collected their children. This was the opening round of an intense day of introductions, explanations, discussions and scheduling as we trekked around the communa in the midday sun between the various schools. Whilst I am of course a totally impartial investigator, what struck me most about these private institutions was the viseral feeling of positivity they exude, the precise phenomena my instruments are designed to measure. Most of these schools are colourful, light and airy places when compared to the somewhat forlorn appearance of the public equivilent; cinderellas to the big, ugly sisters if you will. However, it remains to be seen if the opinions of the teachers and the parents confirm this perception. We had completed the round by mid-afternoon, leaving questionnaires and/or making future appointments at each of the institutions, I even have at least 1 parents meeting at 6.30am for goodness sake. Isnt sleep every bit as important as education! Apart from that its been another successful day and only 5 schools remain outstanding from an original list of 20. None of this would realistically have been possible without the totally voluntary and invaluable assistance of Gerardo and I dedicate this entry to him.