On our first day in Bucaramanga, these beautiful Colombian school children asked us questions. What is the temperature in Canada like? What sports do you play? We turned the tables and asked them some questions back. What do you want to be when you grow up, we challenged them. Many soccer players, teachers and policewomen here.
This school in Bucaramanga was unique. It was located perilously high, we thought. Until we ended up at the next school atop an even higher mountain. This school took place behind heavy locked gate and barbed wire fence. A security guard kept watch at the gate. This space, where Colombian school children learned math and English and science, was located in an area so poor that the building of the school itself was a tremendous challenge. Not only was it at the top of a hill, the school was broken into nightly as it was being built and everything that was being constructed and added during the day was taken away overnight. Security changed that. Now the school is a safe place where learning and hope prevail.
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More in this series later this week.