Episode 1 – How it all began
In a moment of madness, I decided to come and live with my family in Colombia to work at a social project in the coffee-growing area of the Andes.
To be fair, when I made the decision, it had not seemed like madness. La Fundación Amanecer (FA), a member project of SDIA, is a long-running and successful affair, with a school which has been functioning for 10 years and a child care centre for underprivileged under-fives for 16 years. It has worked with indigenous communities, and won a prize for being
Amanecer
“the best neighbour in the Quindío” after the earthquake in 1999 when it provided psychosocial care to 120 families for one and a half years. It has received volunteers and held successful congresses.
I had visited twice before and, like many people, had fallen in love with Amanecer, a community set in a beautiful location, safe enough to come and live with the kids. I knew they would love it.
The Fundación had just won a contract with the Education Ministry to help implement an early education programme for children of disadvantaged rural families and their care givers. The programme is relatively new and innovative, formulated with the help of UNICEF and based on the Convention on the Rights of the Child. It sounded fantastic, and when I heard my offer to go and support the programme and the Fundación’s other projects had been accepted, I was delighted.
This seemed like the opportunity I had been looking for …
This seemed like the opportunity I had been looking for, to work in the field and stretch my knowledge and experience about child rights and child protection, and development work in general. I had been working with the office team of SDIA for around one and half years, and had also done a fair stint as board member of Susila Dharma France, so it seemed interesting to come and see what life was really like on the other side of the donor-project paradigm. In short, it seemed like a good idea at the time.
Of course alarm bells should have rung when I heard that the entire board of directors had resigned due to statutory obligation, shortly before we were due to move. What I really did not expect, however, was that the legal representative, who was largely responsible for having hooked the contract and was the person who knew most about the programme, knew all the key people and sources of information and had followed the process from start to finish, would also resign a few weeks after my arrival. And not only resign, but go and live in Bogotá! Leaving me, newly arrived, with everything to organize domestically (find a house, move in, find furniture and so on …) in charge of the programme.
For a few vertiginous days, I was under the impression that I would be running the school and child care centre too, as well as being responsible for providing vast amounts of archive information about things I knew nothing about to the new team. However, the new board soon met and a new legal representative was chosen, and my relief knew no bounds!
I’m doing things for the first time and learning, learning, learning.
Three months later, I’m well stuck in. Sometimes I wish time stretched and money duplicated itself, but I’m still here, and God willing, here for the duration. Every week has its share of problems solved and happy surprises as well as new obstacles and disappointments; every day brings moments of natural beauty and human warmth as well as frustrations and dilemmas.
Solen enjoying a hug
I’m doing things for the first time and learning, learning, learning.
But I’ll tell you more about all that next time!
Solen Lees
Great work Solen, eager to read other instalments of the Field Notes…
Regards, Gopi