Elodia Nieves Balanta (pictured) runs the Paz y Bien foundation in the Aguablanca district of the Colombian city of Cali, a poor district with 1 million people and a large Afro population. terre des hommes schweiz supports the charitable work of Paz y Bien in Aguablanca. 200 young people from 140 families are supported here so that they can take a different path to violence and drugs. Interview with the director of our Colombian partner organization.
Elodia Nieves Balanta, what is so special about Paz y Bien?
We are an organization that is rooted in the community. Like me, most of our employees are women who live here. We are moved by affection and love for the people of Aguablanca. We forge social bonds, especially with the help of women. The majority of mothers in Aguablanca are single parents. Our approach is to look after the whole family and not just the young people. Human rights are an important issue. There are many conflicts here. We have to learn to resolve them peacefully. We want to build a culture of peace and a fair legal system for everyone (justicia comunitaria, editor’s note).
There is a lot of violence in Aguablanca. How does that affect your work?
When we started working with young people over 30 years ago, there were a lot of gangs. For example, there were conflicts because someone had stolen shoes or because of girlfriends. Now drug gangs are active here. If someone was caught stealing, people would say: he deserves to be killed. There were many acts of revenge. We had to start a process to repair the damage done and make it possible for people to live together without violence. We are still working on this today. When young people come out of prison, we listen to them, motivate and support them so that they can settle back into their familiar environment and are not rejected by the community.
How do the young people come to you?
As I said, the foundation has been around for over three decades and we are very well recognized in Aguablanca. The young people now come to us of their own accord because people in the communities refer them to us and appreciate our work. Or their mothers drop by with the young people. This happens when their children start taking drugs and they are worried about it. Or they think that their children can’t do anything with their free time and therefore want to join a group that is taking them down the wrong path.
How would you describe the young people you work with?
They are young people with dreams and ideals. Many lack the chance to realize their goals. Their rights have been violated. They come from dysfunctional families with unclear rules that confuse them and harm them as a result. They need a lot of love. When you listen to them and hug them, they say: Nobody does that at home. They often lack affection. Sometimes a young person will say: My mother has forgotten my birthday. That’s why gestures and rituals are important, such as celebrating birthdays together – activities that make young people feel important and allow them to share their dreams and ideals.
Many young people are very intelligent. There is so much artistic talent in them, which we support at Paz y Bien. There are talented singers among them, composers, dancers and much more. At first, they are usually very demanding and difficult. But after the program, they don’t return to robbery and crime. Those who have completed a program with Paz y Bien go on to study, work in a supermarket, have a paid job and a family. And if they lose their job, we help them to find a new one.
What is the Colombian state doing for these young people in Cali?
Not much. Here in Aguablanca, there is virtually no support from the city council. The non-profit organizations that are active here all receive money from abroad. The new mayor of Cali took office in January. A new contract had to be negotiated so that the city would continue to fund the Paz y Bien youth centers that are not supported by terre des hommes schweiz and where we support 250 children and young people. However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the city has cut social spending and has not renewed the funding. The new administration is also more interested in infrastructure construction projects and less in social issues. We had to close five youth centers and have only been able to continue running the four centers at terre des hommes schweiz since then.
The first case of Covid-19 in Colombia became known in March. As a result, one of the world’s longest quarantines began, which only turned into the so-called “new normality“ went over. How has the pandemic changed your work?
There have been drastic changes, for better and for worse. The pandemic has welded some families together and shattered others. For many women, it was problematic to suddenly have their aggressor at home all day. This has increased violence against women, including feminicides (murder of women, editor’s note). All of this has also had consequences for our young people. Working and learning virtually was stressful for the young people at the beginning because we were not prepared for it. Health education was also an important part of our work. We are proud of the fact that none of our young people have been infected so far.
In Colombia, the violence in Cali has recently attracted a great deal of attention. The massacre of five Afro boys in Llano Verde, a neighborhood in Aguablanca, was particularly poignant. How do you assess the current situation?
There is no end to the massacres, especially of young people. In addition, there are feminicides and the murders of social leaders (líderes and líderesas sociales, who are politically active in the community and committed to the environment, human rights and peace; editor’s note). The organized mafia groups have come to the city from the countryside. Not much is missing and we are back in a situation similar to that of the 180s, when the drug war raged in Cali.
How do you deal with this new form of violence?
We know the young people who are involved in these criminal structures, but not their bosses. When they were still gangs, we were able to talk to them and their families. Today the situation is much more difficult. They are armed groups. The leaders don’t live here, but in more elegant neighborhoods. The groups want to sell drugs and turn the young people into drug users and dealers. They also want to recruit young people for their armed groups. They entice them with money, weapons and motorcycles.
Are you and your team at Paz y Bien under threat?
No. We are not in the front line. But we are working to ensure that the empowerment and self-determination of young people grows and that they say no when the armed groups approach them. We are respected in the neighborhoods. The young people protect us.
Finally: What does success mean to you?
For Paz y Bien, success is when families can live together peacefully and resolve conflicts peacefully. Success is when young people who were not clear about their life project deal with life differently after our program. And thirdly, success is when alumni of the Paz y Bien program become tutors for other young people. All of this means success for me and our charitable work in Aguablanca.
Who Hillary Hidalgo Nuñez Hidalgo (16) and Hermes Alexander Aranda (24) are and what they say about Paz y Bien: The portraits in the magazine of terre des hommes schweiz, No. 4 December 2020, page 4-7
Interview: Katharina Wojczenko, Latin America correspondent in Bogotá for terre des hommes schweiz
Photos: Jaír F. Coll, Cali
