A new planet discovered
A new planet discovered
In May 2018, a group of high school students from Fresno, a small town in the mountains of Colombia, visited the city of Medellín for the first time. They traveled 7 hours by bus to participate in a 3 days event to share experiences and ideas with a group of young women that are interested in sovereignty, technologies, and gender.
Arriving at Medellín
A group of people is showing to the camera a box full of fruits and groceries.
All the details were ready for this great encounter between two generations of young people with very different contexts and backgrounds. The venue for this event was the house of Platohedro, a very special place where art and technologies are the bases to create collaborative and experimental projects.
The group of young women from Medellín has a project named “Motivando a la Gyal” (M.A.G)*. A women-led platform that runs a Festival every year. M.A.G group was nervous because this was the first time they prepare an activity like this, an activity for a group of young people that came from the countryside. They wanted to offer an amazing agenda to the boys and girls from Fresno, so they can feel comfortable, safe and happy. And that was exactly what happened.
Gender workshop
A group of people is listening to a person that is talking to them.
During 3 days they realized that all of them want it to take care of the environment and that they are working on that though their projects in the school and with the Festival.
Orchards
A group of people is surrounding an orchard
They visited the Manga Libre and other community orchards in Medellín and share knowledge about plants, herbs and about products like “panela” that are produced from sugarcane. The young girls from M.A.G were surprised about all the knowledge that the students from Fresno have about the work on the farms. For the students, the idea of having an orchard in the middle of the city was surprising as well because they are used to living in large extensions of land in a very rich and fertile territory.
Panela
A woman and a young woman talked about why panela has different tones.
During 3 days the participants of the event to share ideas about inclusiveness, gender, care, seeds, environment and learn a lot about the differences and the struggles that the people that live in the cities and those who live in the countryside have in common.
Enjoying Medellín
A group of people, mostly young people are playing around a water fountain.
A new planet was discovered during those 3 days. A planet of sharing, listening and exchanging. A planet that is a school.
*slang for “girl”.