Finishing in the Field, for Now...
Chapter 40 - 5 Years in Colombia - How I Reeducated Myself on the Streets of Laughter
After finding out the most effective way to work in Aguablanca, our days started becoming quite intense. From early morning, we would start by going to a neighborhood coffee shop for breakfast. A couple of days a week, we managed to fit in a workout at a local gym before this. Ivan was the great spirit, who motivated us to join him for an energized start of the days. At the coffee shop, while enjoying the beautiful, sunny mornings that never seized to impress me, we’d gather our thoughts for the day and go through the routs that we had mapped out the day before. After breakfast, we’d take a taxi to one of the youth houses, where we’d meet up with our street educators, safety escorts and/or guides for the day.
Together, we’d go through the map indicating the names of the schools that we had planned to visit and trusted our guide to plan how to get to them and in which order. Our entire target area to work through was one of twelve square kilometers large, consisting of three large Comunas, separated by invisible but thick borders that by unwritten rules of the streets hindered the local inhabitants to cross safely.
In the field, the entire morning would then consist of intense walking from school to school, visiting and interviewing principals and head teachers. We’d both have an initial introduction with the principal and make a superficial observation of the school, before splitting up into two teams for deeper analysis. Patrik would join a teacher or assistant, who could show him around in the school to observe its infrastructure and the availability of various material inputs, while checking off our list of aspects to study as well as taking notes of various observations. In the meanwhile, I’d have a survey interview with the principal to learn about administrative and school management aspects. Most importantly, I’d check a number aspects regarding amount of pupils, amount of teachers, salaries, fees, school ownership type and date of formal registration.
At the end of the fieldwork, we’d summarize our work, log the school visit details and note which schools we had to go back to. Finally, before calling it a day and start planning our social agendas, we’d outline the next day’s route. Usually we’d decide before parting with our guide when and where to meet up the next day. When we had to change guides, we’d contact the new guide a couple of day in advance to confirm the availability of a safety escort around the schools’ locations for the planned routes.
In the beginning, when we still had lots of planning to do in the afternoons, and due to safety reasons, we only worked in the field until noon. We’d finish the school visits with a longer break enjoying a lunch with the field team. The mornings were intense, since we wanted to visit as many schools as possible each day to cover the area completely. As we got more acquainted with how to move around in Aguablanca, we extended our workdays to include another field session in the afternoons as well. Sometimes, the afternoon sessions extended into nightfall, which really wasn’t good at all.
Naturally, we also got better at planning our routes so as to include as many schools as possible as effectively as possible. Schools that for some reason couldn’t give us data had to be revisited. The various sizes of the schools also incurred differences in how much time each school visit required, which was difficult to know in advance. By and large, the planned routes were fundamental and very good starting points that gave us a stable ground, as well as enabled a productive pace of the field work.
Quite importantly, in the end it turned out we never needed to recruit any university students as field workers to do the fieldwork for us. We managed, thanks to our fantastic new friends, work us through the entire District of Aguablanca and gather all primary data ourselves. Dora and Gerardo with colleagues from Juan Bosco were perfect guides and escorts with precisely the knowledge about all street corners and edges of the neighborhoods in Aguablanca that was needed to be able to move around there without stepping on anyone’s toes. For our work, this had at least two major advantages. First of all, we were able to ensure that all data was collected in a uniform manner, and thus free from errors other than our own. In addition, we had the opportunity to experience a unique reality in depth by visiting approximately 200 schools on foot, completely surveying 130, in one of the most complicated slums in Colombia.
The following became our official thanks in our master's thesis:
“Our greatest debt is to the people who worked with us for the longest time and in the hardest of circumstances, the ones who for several weeks helped us find our way in the streets and alleys of Aguablanca. Dora Inés Mosquera, Gerardo Alexander Saavedra Ocampo, Adela, Gloria, Eduardo Sánchez, Angélica Gúzman, Kike, Jhon Jota Ullóa, Maicol, JJ and Leidy all made sure that our work proceeded smoothly, safely and in constant good spirit. Accessing the many schools would have been much more difficult had it not been for the support and interest from the Jefes de núcleo, the local heads of the municipal department of education: Adiela Ríos in Comuna 15, Lucy Elena Álvarez in Comuna 14 and Jairo Anzola in Comuna 13. To find all these helpful and kind individuals we are in turn grateful for the introductions and suggestions that people concerned with education in Aguablanca gave us. Among these we especially want to thank Karol and her aunt Sandra Muñós, Waldor Botero and Prof. Fernando Urrea, Don Jaime Perea, Don William Rodriguez, Maria Andrea Salamanca Jaramillo, Dr. Julio César, Don Carlos, Vladimir Angulo and “El Señor de los Milagros” Father Welker. Obviously, nothing in this thesis would have been possible without the generous willingness of numerous principals, school owners and teachers to welcome us into their schools and enthusiastically assist in our inquiries.
No mentioning of people in Cali would be complete without acknowledging the support provided to us by our host family and our friends: Jairo Ivan Serna Guevara, Doña Nidia, Don Jairo, Leticia Acuña Marín and María José Méndez. Outside of Colombia we have also benefited from many people’s assistances. We are especially grateful for the great support and guidance provided by Dr. Pauline Dixon and for the inspiration that her and Prof. James Tooley’s work constitutes. Our own tutor, professor Mats Lundahl, has provided concise and concrete advice and comments. A big thank you is also directed to the Swedish International Development Agency, for providing the means which made the field work of this thesis possible. Last but not least we are immensely grateful for the understanding and patience from our families who have in many ways also been part of the journey that this thesis has entailed. We hope that no one has been forgotten, but to all who have helped we are grateful from the bottom of our hearts. Of course, any errors or omissions in the thesis are the sole responsibility of the authors.”
The above is an excerpt from the upcoming book “5 Years in Colombia - How I Reeducated Myself on the Streets of Laughter”. It’s the first book in a 15-year memoir trilogy, highlighting the educational adventures from the author's final years as a disillusioned top student to becoming a young professional with a purpose far beyond what he could have imagined. For more information, please reach out to the author directly.
Author: Joni AlWindi
Published by: Joni AlWindi
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