breaking the ice

Part of the visit to Medellín was site visits to local empowerment projects. We passed by Moravia, the highest populated area in Medellín with 42 000 inhabitants and only 0,37 square meters of space per person. It is an illegal settlement built on top of a dumpster. Moravia is now one of the main development priorities of the municipality; the main investment is made for reallocation of 4426 homes, entrepreneurship and the quality enhancement of education.
We also went with a gondola to Santo Domingo, a beautiful but poor area in Medellín, where we met young girls involved in a leadership development project which uses art to reach out to as many young people as possible. In the framework of the “Library Park Project” Santo Domingo is getting one of 5 great knowledge centres, devoted to culture and civic encounter.
It is fascinating to get to know the city a bit, to have the opportunity to learn about concrete local projects and how the municipality together with NGOs is trying to combat poverty and violence. One more note about the breakfast, the group moved hotel, and now the breakfast pergola is next to a river and in the middle of tropical greenery. There is just an awesome fresh fruit selection every day; I love countries where “5 a day” can be done already by breakfast.

And as I was asked, why I have this unique opportunity to be in Columbian sun and rain whilst half of Europe is undoubtedly heading towards winter. I am here for the International Coordination Meeting of Youth Organisations (ICMYO), which was established in 2004 as an initiative of the major global youth NGOs and regional youth platform to strengthen and develop global and regional youth cooperation.
And a special thanks needs to be made public to our translators, who had a very tuff job throughout the meeting, first and foremost Pablo, but also Paola and Arturo. Thank you.