The Update

Everything seemed to come together at the last minute.

We found a house for rent that would serve as the ideal space for Voces de Mompox to continue as an after school program. With a large living room (that’s PART of the living room, in the photo above–to be repurposed as a computer/multi-media room), three bedrooms (to be converted into a library, study room, and possible bedroom for future volunteers), a kitchen, two patios, and a couple of other nice details (three bathrooms, hooks ready for hammocks to be hung, and a nice work room), this house in the center of town, offered at a totally fair price by the owners who are enthusiastic about Voces de Mompox, it’s hard to imagine finding anything better.

We also interviewed and are prepared to hire a young woman who is motivated and totally qualified to facilitate Voces de Mompox on-site. Not only would she be an ideal director, the job would provide her with much needed income and the pride of being able to support her family.

By the end of our time in Mompox, most of the parents and family members of the kids had come by to introduce themselves, to thank us for caring about their loved ones, and to express their support for the Voces project. We feel a huge obligation and commitment to seeing this project through, and with all the infrastructural pieces in place, there’s just one more thing we need: funding!

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The Dollar Challenge

Since the Voces de Mompox project started, more than 4,000 people have visited CollazoProjects and read the kids’ articles and viewed their photography. The kids have been psyched to check our analytics and see how many people have seen their work and to learn where the visitors are from, and your support has been an incredible motivator for them.

In addition to your kind comments, your thoughtful personalized e-mails, donations to the ChipIn fund, and offers to help with everything from website development to grant-writing have been deeply appreciated.

The fact that 4,000 people have visited the site got us thinking: If every single person who read a Voces de Mompox article contributed just one dollar to the ChipIn fund, that would be $4,000! And $4,000 goes a long way in Colombia. In fact, $4,000 would secure the rental of the site for one full year, would pay the facilitator’s salary, and would provide some seed money for equipment.

Thus, we’re announcing The Dollar Challenge!

We challenge every visitor who hasn’t yet contributed to the Voces de Mompox fund to donate at least one dollar in support of the program being developed for the ninth graders of Mompox that will help them continue developing their writing, computing, multi-media, and communication skills, all in preparation for better opportunities for college and future careers. You’ll know how we’re using the money because updates will be posted at least once a week on the website and the kids themselves will be detailing what services they’re receiving and what work they’re creating on the ground in Mompox.

Are you ready to take on the challenge?! GREAT!

Just go to our home page and click on the ChipIn icon in the top right portion of the sidebar. This action will redirect you to a secure server where your transaction will be conducted via PayPal. If you have a PayPal account already, fantastic! If not, you can sign up for one–it’s quick, easy, and free.

Tomorrow, we’ll be posting 10 more ways you and your friends, family, and network can support Mompox to become the better community it’s capable of being. And stay tuned– there are lots more stories from the kids and from us about Mompox!

Thanks for your support,

Francisco & Julie

As we scrambled to finish projects with the kids, leave them some lasting skills, and explore the possibilities of creating a permanent space for the Voces de Mompox project, getting articles on the website fell to the wayside.

This week and next, we’ll be catching up on stories collected in Mompox… some written and produced by the kids, and others written and produced by Francisco and Julie.

We’ll also be updating readers about the status of the Voces de Mompox project and letting you know what you can do to help the kids and their community.

Until then, here are a few of our favorite photos from our month in Mompox…

Photo by Julie Schwietert Collazo

Photo by Julie Schwietert Collazo

Photo by Hernando Sanchez Villalba

Photo by Francisco Collazo

Photo by Julie Schwietert Collazo

Photo by Hernando Sanchez Villalba

[Spanish version; please scroll down for English version]

Me parece una ciudad muy bonita, llenas de muchas cualidades. Es un lugar relajante y muy tranquilo. Tiene 4 calles: la Calle Cuarta, la Calle del Medio, la Calle de Atras, y Albarrada. Ademas tiene la carretera y muchas casas coloniales las cuales son muy bellas.

Tiene un gran rio esplendoroso, el cual en determinado tiempo sale playa. Tiene buenos colegios y la gente son muy amable. En temporadas llegan muchos turistas, personas de otros paises que vienen a disfrutar de este lugar y de sus bellas iglesias.

A pesar de ser un pueblo tan bonito, le falta muchas cosas. Los colegios les faltan una buena dotacion de computadoras. Nos falta una buena biblioteca publica con libros actualizados ya que la que tenemos aqui no nos facilita la informacion necesaria para actualizarnos. Mompox tambien tiene muy poco comercio y le falta lugares recreativos como sala de juegos, parques, heladerias, entre otras cosas.

Las vias de comunicacion que tenemos son por agua o por tierra. Para poder salir del pueblo es obligatorio cruzar el rio para aceso a Magangue y otras ciudades.

Ojala tuvieramos la oportunidad de tener mas cosas para salir adelante. Algo muy importante que le falta a Mompox son unas universidades formales. Los alumnos tenemos que desplazarnos a otros lugares o ciudades para seguir con nuestros estudios ya que los sedes que tenemos no son muy viables. Ojala contaramos con el apoyo de entidades o personas que quieran apdarinar o ayudar nuestro pueblo para que crezca, y sobre todo, para que nos ayude a tener una mejor educacion y asi no tuvieramos que salir de aqui para lograrlo.

Acuerdense que Mompox es patrimonio historico de la humanidad. Ayudanos a seguir adelante y no ayudes a destruir la comunidad porque ella vale mucho. Mompox es un tesoro en bruto que hay de sacar a relucir. Ayudanos a ser un mejor lugar.

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Mompox is a beautiful city, full of positive qualities. It’s a place that’s calm and relaxed. It has four streets: 4th Street, Main Street, Back Street, and Albarrada. In addition, it has a highway and many colonial houses that are very beautiful.

It has a beautiful river, which in certain times recedes and produces a beach. It has good schools and the people are very friendly. At times, lots of tourists come here from other countries to enjoy this place and its beautiful churches.

In spite of being such a beautiful city, it lacks a lot of things, beginning with a shortage of computers in schools. We lack a good public library with adequate resources; the one we have doesn’t provide the information we need to move ahead. Mompox also has very little commerce and it lacks recreational spaces like arcades, parks, ice cream shops, and other things.

The means of communication we have are by water or land. To leave Mompox, it’s necessary to cross the river to access Magangue and other cities.

I wish we had the opportunity to have these things so that we could progress. Something very important that Mompox lacks are formal universities. Students have to displace themselves and go to other cities to continue their studies. I wish that we could count on the support of institutions or individuals who could sponsor or help our community to grow and, above all, to help us have a better education so that we don’t have to leave here to get ahead.

Remember that Mompox is a world cultural heritage site. Help us to move ahead and avoid destroying the community because she is worth a lot. Mompox is a diamond in the rough that has to be extracted and polished in order to shine. Help us to become a better place.

By: Edwin Yurduni Ferrierra Correa
Ninth grader, Escuela Normal Superior

Editor’s Note: We’ve been offline for the past few days due to dial-up difficulties and some exciting projects with the kids that have been keeping us busy. Now that we’re back online, we’re looking forward to sharing more of their projects with you. Be sure to check in over the weekend and throughout next week… there’s a big bull fight here in Mompox and the kids will be producing videos, photos, and articles about the event, which is a cherished tradition here!

Today’s article is by Kenny Samir Angarita Davila, a sixth grader at the Escuela Normal Superior de Mompox. In his article, Kenny shares details about a normal school day in Colombia.
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[Spanish version; please scroll down for English version]

Hola. Yo me llamo Kenny Samir Angarita Davila. He vivido toda mi vida en Mompox, Bolivar. Tengo 13 anos. Estudio en la Institucion Educativa Normal Superior de Mompox.

Para ir a la escuela, tengo que levantarme a las 4 de la manana. Tengo que banarme, me cambio, y desayuno para ir al colegio a las 6:00 AM y salgo a las 12:30 PM para venirme a la casa y almuerzo. Me acuesto, me pongo hacer las tareas, jugar, ver TV, y muchas cosas mas en la noche, y despues me acuesto para el dia siguiente.

En el colegio, nos ensenan muchas cosas como: aprender sobre las reglas antiguas, los mapas, la politica, y hablamos sobre los monos sapiens.

En matematicas: Aprendemos sumas, restas, multiplicacion, division, raiz cuadrada, y las propiedades asociativas, distributivas, y conmutativas.

En biologia: Hablamos sobre la naturaleza, las celulas, las pluricelulares, algas, virus del cuerpo humano, y la picologia.

En artes plasticas: Nos ensenan hacer figuras con barro, yeso, dibujo, y figuras.

En informatica: Nos ensenan a manejar la computadora, las partes como el maus, impresora, teclado espanol, y respeto para usar bien el vocabulario y cumplir con las leyes del salon y del colegio.

Nos ensenan a hacer aseo dentro del plantel y fuera de este.

El ano escolar termina en octubre.

Me gustaria saber mas sobre la sistema educativa en el extranjero. Si me puede enviar un mensaje sobre las cosas que aprendan en su escuela y como es el ano y dia escolar, estare muy contento.

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Hello. My name is Kenny Samir Angarita Davila. I have lived my whole life in Mompox, Bolivar. I am 13 years old. I am a student at the Normal Superior School in Mompox.

To get ready for school, I have to get up at 4 in the morning, bathe, change, and have breakfast to leave for college at 6 AM. I get out of school at 12:30 PM and go home, have lunch, take a nap, do my homework, play, watch TV, and do many other things at night. Then I go to bed and get ready for the next day.

In school, we learn a lot of things like old laws, maps, politics, and we talk about human beings.

In math, we learn to add, subtract, multiply, divide, calculate square roots, and learn about the associative, distributive, and commutative properties.

In biology, we talk about nature, cells, algae, and viruses.

In art, we learn how to make figures out of clay, work with gesso, and draw.

In informatics, we learn how to use the computer, learn about parts such as the mouse, the printer, and the Spanish keyboard, how to use words correctly, and how to respect the rules of the classroom and the school.

The school year ends in October.

I would like to learn more about the school system outside Colombia. If you could tell me about the things you learn in school and the way the school day and school year are in your country, I would be very happy.

*Editor’s Note: In 1995, the town of Mompox was declared a World Heritage Site (Patrimonio Cultural de la Humanidad) by UNESCO. Although the declaration has had many benefits and has certainly increased Mompox’s profile as a city designed, as UNESCO indicated, “in the [style of a] Spanish colonial city,” the charm implied both by the description and the recognition itself makes it easy to gloss over some of the difficulties of residents, including, especially, the kids whose work is appearing on this website.

Today, Sindy Paola writes about poverty and education. Her original article, written in Spanish, is presented first. Please scroll down to the bottom of the entry for the English translation.
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Yo soy Sindy Paola y vivo en la ciudad de Mompox. Este articulo que voy a escribir es con el proposito de mejorar la calidad de vida de las personas que viven en la pobreza, no solo en Mompox, sino tambien en toda Colombia. Ademas quisiera compartir con ustedes la problematica en cuanto a las oportunidades de estudio de ninos de baja clase social.

Bueno, primero que todo acerca de las personas pobres quiero decirles que muchas personas al ver las necesidades por las que ellos pasan la discriminacion y hacen de cuenta que no existen. Los rechazan en cuanto al trabajo y al estudio en vez de ayudarlos a salir adelante con esta problematica, brindandoles trabajo e oportunidades de vida.

Les quiero decir que en Colombia a diario mueren muchos ninos por causa de este fenomeno. Ahora quiero decirles acerca de las oportunidades de estudio son muy escasas. Bueno no que no halla, sino que en los colegios ingresan alumnos que no valoran a las oportunidades que les brinda el gobierno.

Les pido que piensen acerca de lo que he escrito en este articulo y me ayuden buscar pronta solucion en toda esta problematica que tanto afrontamos todas las personas que queremos el bien para nuestro patrimonio.

Les agradezco por leer todos los articulos que hemos escrito para mejorar lo nuestro y cuidar todo lo que esta el nuestro alrededor.
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I am Sindy Paola and I live in the city of Mompox, Colombia. The purpose of this article is to improve the quality of life of the people who live in poverty, not only in Mompox, but in all of Colombia. In addition, I’d like to share with you about the educational problems that affect children of the lower social class.

First, regarding poor people, I’d like to tell you that many people in this situation are discriminated against with respect to schooling and work opportunities. They are treated as if they don’t exist instead of helping them move forward by giving them work or other life opportunities. I’d like you to know that in Colombia, many children die every day because of this phenomenon.

Now I’d like to tell you that the opportunities to study are very scarce. It’s not that they don’t exist, but rather that the schools accept students who don’t value the opportunities that are given to them by the government.

I’d like to ask that you think about all that I’ve written in this article and think about how you can help to look for a solution for all these problems that we face every day, we the people who want the best for our patrimony.

Thank you for reading all of the articles that we have written with the intention of improving our community and taking better care of what surrounds us.

Written by: Sindy Paola,
Ninth grade, Institucion Educativa Normal Superior, Mompox
Photos by: Hernando Sanchez Villalba