Despite successful government efforts to increase security in Colombia, the image of the country still is stained by reports of its violent past and many foreigners still have a distorted view about what the country is really like. For this reason I organized a trip to Colombia for ten foreigners from five nationalities in order to show them the real Colombia.
I asked these foreigners to document their experience so that rest of the world could see what Colombia really is like.
Don’t get me wrong; of course the country faces many serious problems such as human rights violations, inequality, and injustice, but sometimes foreigners can’t go beyond this picture and see that behind all of this, Colombia is comprised of a majority of well-intentioned hardworking individuals. In order to get a correct view of Colombia, it is important to learn what solutions worked and what didn't.
Consider for example a rare article published in Business 2.0 magazine about an ecovilllage called Gaviotas located in one of the globe's least hospitable climates: “built from scratch in a treeless corner of the country, this community of scientists, tinkerers, and refugees - now numbering more than 200 - has created a verdant rainforest where once there was nothing but scrub grass. It has also devised and deployed dozens of inventions with a frequency and success rate that puts some of America's most storied technology companies to shame.”
Seldom do Colombians and, to a greater extend, do foreigners learn about these inspiring stories: the stories that provide hope and allows us to glimpse into Colombia’s future, rather than its past.
Throughout the trip I was very fascinated to see how each participant would experience and perceive Colombia based on there own cultural ties. For example, the Brits, being proud of their history, were somewhat disappointed to see that in Cartagena Sir Francis Drake was not celebrated as a hero but rather was remembered as a pirate.
On the other hand, the participant from United Arabs Emirate was surprised to find that our family focus and hospitality was similar to her culture.
We also had a participant from the northeast of the United States who needed a lot of convincing to come on this trip due to security concerns. At the end of the journey he had this to say: “As far as safety goes, a person can get into trouble anywhere in the world. I found it ironic that after all the concern I received from my family and friends that after spending two” weeks in Colombia, the least safe I felt was at a gas station near the airport here in the U.S.
Since our interest was to close the gap between perception and reality of Colombia we took the foreigners to four different regions and gave them the chance to meet with different charities, politicians, academics and businessmen. We provided them a space to learn not only about the good things about Colombia but also place a context around our problems. In Bogota, for example, the foreigners met with former Senator Luis Eladio Perez who was kidnapped for seven years. This allowed them to hear from a direct source who are the guerrillas, what their agenda is and why are they able to recruit teenagers.
During a visit to a shanty town, participants got to witness poverty firsthand but more importantly, and to their surprise, learned that wealth is by no means an indicator of happiness.
So what did the foreigners learn after all this? Well they did confirm we have a wide array of problems but beyond seeing Colombia as a failed state they also found that Colombia is a country that has a great potential and which future is being shaped by innovative Colombians that are rebuilding our society one step at a time.
Alan Wagenberg is a sustainable consultant and will be releasing a documentary based on the trip described in this article. For additional information you can visit shootingcolombia.com
