With Gerardo having to work for his NGO on Thursdays and Fridays, I have a couple of days free from the intensity of Aguablanca to work on other things. Being as Ive spent so much of the last year in one bedroom or another (not quite as glamourous as it sounds), its good to escape these confines periodically and change the study environment. To my great disappointment, Cali doesnt have a thriving coffee bar scene despite producing some of the worlds best beans. Rather than a quaint collection of independent bars, you have to go to one of the superficial shopping centres and even then youre forced to buy from the national equivalent of Starbucks (in this case Juan Valdez). I ended up at the Los Palmettos Mall purchased my 2 hour coffee and continued reviewing and updating my Philanthropy paper.
Whilst preparing my contextual description, I have focussed on what makes Aguablanca a slum; principally violence and social instabililty. The statistics speak for themselves and those of a nervous disposition should probably turn away now (that means you Mum and you to Pauline). According to UN statistics (2003), the average number of urban homicides (globally) stood at 7 per 100,000 inhabitants. Colombia Im afraid to say, is at the top of the list with a shocking 80 homocides/100,000. Now before you dispatch the marines, these figures must be placed in some kind of context. There is no doubt that compared to the average Colombia is a dangerous place, however these dangers are localised to very specific areas and invariably involve gang/drug related incidents. Beyond these neighbourhoods, people are getting on with their lives as they do everywhere else, in fact one of the principle local complaints is the absence of any good news stories from the international headlines.
Not withstanding the psychological impact of violence (particularly on the children), there remains one particular conundrun that no-one has answered to my complete satifaction; why is it that Colombia suffers out of all proportion to its neighbours, all of whom have similar histories and resources while many have far worse economic and/or social problems .i.e. Bolivia, Paraguay, Peru etc. Gerardo, a qualified psychologist himself has suggested that Colombians are fundamentally more volatile and less law abiding when compared to other South American countries. Whilst Gerardo may have a point, I have acquired a copy of Las Venas Abiertas de America Latina in order to provide a different perspective. Although the symptoms are clear, the seeds of such behaviour are lodged deep in the national psyche and its going to require a PhD style study to clearly define the problem and develop a strategy/educational pedagogy to affect this national tragedy. By the time Im finished for the day, darkness has fallen and whilst my flat is no great distance from Los Palmettos, Im carrying my laptop on my shoulder and a number of disturbing statistics in my head so I choose to take a taxi home rather than invite any trouble.

Saturday and Im up at 4.45am once again for another visit to the Fundacion Autonoma and this time Joni has decided to tag along. Leonor is very clear about rules/norms and consistency and the day passed off much as it had done the previous week though no less enjoyable. Having discussed the work of the foundation with my landlady, Ana Lucia and her friend from the bank, Lydia both are very keen to visit next week, neither having been to Aguablanca before and both wanting something constructive to do once they retire next year. Fortunately, Leonor was very positive about the idea and it will be an interesting to measure their reaction.
After the children had gone and Leonor had conducted 3 hours of review with the young maestros, it was time to head home myself. It turned out to be quite an eventful journey; firstly, a couple of motorbikes crashed right in front of our vehicle. Fortunately, both riders appeared to be OK however it was symbolic of another Colombian trait, road chaos. As Gerardo suggested Colombians are volatile and have absolutely no patience or lane discipline, in contraction to convention the horn is used as a warning to other road users that the driver is about to do something really stupid. Ive always considered myself a confident driver but theres no way on earth Id get behind the wheel on these roads, its a total lottery. Secondly and far more surprising than the RTA to our left, a game of rugby was in progress on our right. Naturally my interest was sparked and I asked Leonor to drop me off so I could take a closer look.

After a conversation with one of the reserve players, it turns out that I was witnessing a local tournament between four university teams and whilst I saw nothing that would convince me to dig out my gumshield and jockstrap, there is an apparent shortage of qualified referees. The official for this event actually had to be shipped in from Medellin and Ill admit that a part of me was hoping hed suffer a little injury and I could have a go. One of the teams present had been trained by a couple of French immigrants working in Cali and as a roast beef, I couldnt resist a harmless little dig in light of a resounding English victory over Les Bleus in the recent Six Nations. The standard was actually better than expected and its nice to know that if I do return to Colombia, my rugby experience wont go rotten on the vine. The French guys kindly invited me for the customary night out but after a full day at the foundation Id seen enough childlike behaviour for one day and so politely declined. There will be other opportunities and in the meantime it was good to see Colombian volatility being expressed in a more positive way than is usually associated with this paradoxically welcoming yet tragic country.
Looking at the plan for next week, we only have to introduce ourselves to one more school. We regards to the others, we are either returning to pick up DoS and teacher questionnaires and/or performing a parental study. If all goes well the data collection process could be 2/3 complete by Wednesday so at the risk of tempting fate, heres hoping for another successful week.