austraLasia #2807
Communication ... from Cambodia to Colombia
by Albeiro Rodas sdb (Salesian missionary in Cambodia now on holidays at home in Medellin)
MEDELLIN (Colombia) 19 February 2011 --Last November, Laura Villadiego, a reporter from EFE (Spanish language News Agency, equivalent to Reuters, or API in English), visited the Social Communication and Journalism Section of Don Bosco Technical School in Sihanoukville. The resulting article, Periodismo joven en el corazón de Camboya (Youthful journalism in the heart of Cambodia) was reproduced by newspapers in Spain, Colombia and Mexico, such as El Mundo and El Tiempo. The Spanish media was amazed at how Don Bosco Tech had managed to open a school of journalism and communication in a country with not a few difficulties in freedom of expression and at how young people from vulnerable communities were able to access technologies and information.
The attention of the press attracted the attention of the radio and I received some calls from Colombian radio stations wanting to know about the project. Before returning on holidays to Medellín (a journey that took some 50 hours from Phnom Penh, through Bangkok, Frankfurt and Bogotá), I was contacted by Medellín City Mayor. 'Could you offer some workshops in communication to our Fuerza Joven programme?' My answer, as a Salesian, was of course 'yes'.
'Fuerza Joven' (Youth Force) is a program set up by Medellín's Mayor for young people from the poorest quarters of the city, victims of urban violence or vulnerable youth who might otherwise end up in gangs.
Don Bosco Parce
I called my experience with Fuerza Joven, Don Bosco Parce. 'Parce' is Colombian Spanish slang for 'friend' in Medellín. Every morning a car from the municipality with some program leaders pick me up from the family home in Barrio Castilla and bring me to another barrio in the city to meet a group of youths involved in a re-socialisation program. I asked however that the groups be small, between 15 and 20 each so the youngsters could better profit from the experience.
I begin with a cultural exposition about Cambodia and our communication training program for young people like them. These Medellín youth from the poorest barrios - portrayed very often by the media as violent and the inspiration of several movies on urban violence - are obviously quite curious about this 'newcomer'. Then the stories of young people like them, living precisely on the other side of the planet (Cambodia is 12 hours time difference from Colombia), gradually draw their attention. Many of them have more than one tattoo on their bodies and now they want their names in Khmer!
After the cultural section on Cambodia and many questions from my 'parces', we come to the communication workshop. I explain to them that we cannot not communicate. Everything in our society means communication and every community develops its own codes of information.
Then I explain what I manage in Cambodia in our social communication and journalism section: What must we communicate? On which bases do we develop our communication in a country like Cambodia or Colombia, in cities like Medellín and Sihanoukville?
What must we, as young people, communicate?
There are four elements we, as young people, must communicate in order to improve our standard of life, make peace and exchange our gangs for video cameras, Internet, etc.
1. Hope: In contemporary society our movies, radio, press and information rarely offer us hope. Medellín, for example, has been a victim of an international portrayal by the media as a violent city, ignoring the many hopeful things we have and our talents. We should communicate hope for our society with our values and talents. We should show our cities, as young habitants of it, to the world.
2. Development: We talk about improving our standard of life as a right for everybody. Development is a responsibility of governments, but it must also be everybody's commitment. We young people contribute to the development of our community, city and country when we dedicate time to be a good young man or woman. We are a good citizen when we study, when we have good ambitions and grow with ideals.
3. Tenderness: This might sound a little odd for Latin American culture. In Asia, tenderness is a natural element in society. A Cambodian man, for example, is able to appreciate beauty without compromising his manhood. Tenderness means beauty and aesthetics. The transformation of Medellín is a good example over the last two decades. We have built great parks, libraries and tourist compounds in poor and marginal places that made the city more attractive and international. For this reason, Medellín was selected as a world model of social inclusion by the UN Habitat Agency in Shanghai last October. When you visit a beautiful place, your attitude changes. You become peaceful and kind. Dostoievski said that beauty will save us.
4. Tolerance: We should communicate tolerance. It is respect for the other as he or she is. We give importance to humanity. We love everybody because every person is a son or daughter of God, so everybody is my brother and my sister. People can think differently, but it might not be a limit to friendship and living together.
A video showing both sides of the planet: images of Don Bosco and Dominic Savio at Moore Street, downtown Medellín.
To end the workshop, we create a video. The Parceros of Medellín send messages and questions to their Cambodian peers in Sihanoukville. They talk about their city and their own traditions. In April, once I cross three continents once more, back to Cambodia, I will film the Cambodian youth answering and sharing with their Medellín friends. The purpose is to produce a video that we are going to publish on Youtube and Facebook.
We hope that these experiences of communication with young people will bring good results to our societies. I offered the municipality of Medellín the possibility of a youth program like this, also with something else in mind. The social communication and journalism section's aim is to create leaders in communication to multiply the experience. It would be a dream to create a Don Bosco Parce social communication section in Medellín if we get the required support. Don Bosco dreams all the time... all the time...
_________________
AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For queries please contact admin@bosconet.aust.com . RSS feeds - just go to Bosconet, click on austraLasia 2011 in the sidebar. You will see the RSS orange icon in your browser address bar - add it from there. Or be interactive with the EAO blog Cetera Tolle. Avail yourself of the Salesian Digital Library at http://sdl.sdb.org
Communication ... from Cambodia to Colombia
by Albeiro Rodas sdb (Salesian missionary in Cambodia now on holidays at home in Medellin)
MEDELLIN (Colombia) 19 February 2011 --Last November, Laura Villadiego, a reporter from EFE (Spanish language News Agency, equivalent to Reuters, or API in English), visited the Social Communication and Journalism Section of Don Bosco Technical School in Sihanoukville. The resulting article, Periodismo joven en el corazón de Camboya (Youthful journalism in the heart of Cambodia) was reproduced by newspapers in Spain, Colombia and Mexico, such as El Mundo and El Tiempo. The Spanish media was amazed at how Don Bosco Tech had managed to open a school of journalism and communication in a country with not a few difficulties in freedom of expression and at how young people from vulnerable communities were able to access technologies and information.
The attention of the press attracted the attention of the radio and I received some calls from Colombian radio stations wanting to know about the project. Before returning on holidays to Medellín (a journey that took some 50 hours from Phnom Penh, through Bangkok, Frankfurt and Bogotá), I was contacted by Medellín City Mayor. 'Could you offer some workshops in communication to our Fuerza Joven programme?' My answer, as a Salesian, was of course 'yes'.
'Fuerza Joven' (Youth Force) is a program set up by Medellín's Mayor for young people from the poorest quarters of the city, victims of urban violence or vulnerable youth who might otherwise end up in gangs.
Don Bosco Parce
I called my experience with Fuerza Joven, Don Bosco Parce. 'Parce' is Colombian Spanish slang for 'friend' in Medellín. Every morning a car from the municipality with some program leaders pick me up from the family home in Barrio Castilla and bring me to another barrio in the city to meet a group of youths involved in a re-socialisation program. I asked however that the groups be small, between 15 and 20 each so the youngsters could better profit from the experience.
I begin with a cultural exposition about Cambodia and our communication training program for young people like them. These Medellín youth from the poorest barrios - portrayed very often by the media as violent and the inspiration of several movies on urban violence - are obviously quite curious about this 'newcomer'. Then the stories of young people like them, living precisely on the other side of the planet (Cambodia is 12 hours time difference from Colombia), gradually draw their attention. Many of them have more than one tattoo on their bodies and now they want their names in Khmer!
After the cultural section on Cambodia and many questions from my 'parces', we come to the communication workshop. I explain to them that we cannot not communicate. Everything in our society means communication and every community develops its own codes of information.
Then I explain what I manage in Cambodia in our social communication and journalism section: What must we communicate? On which bases do we develop our communication in a country like Cambodia or Colombia, in cities like Medellín and Sihanoukville?
What must we, as young people, communicate?
There are four elements we, as young people, must communicate in order to improve our standard of life, make peace and exchange our gangs for video cameras, Internet, etc.
1. Hope: In contemporary society our movies, radio, press and information rarely offer us hope. Medellín, for example, has been a victim of an international portrayal by the media as a violent city, ignoring the many hopeful things we have and our talents. We should communicate hope for our society with our values and talents. We should show our cities, as young habitants of it, to the world.
2. Development: We talk about improving our standard of life as a right for everybody. Development is a responsibility of governments, but it must also be everybody's commitment. We young people contribute to the development of our community, city and country when we dedicate time to be a good young man or woman. We are a good citizen when we study, when we have good ambitions and grow with ideals.
3. Tenderness: This might sound a little odd for Latin American culture. In Asia, tenderness is a natural element in society. A Cambodian man, for example, is able to appreciate beauty without compromising his manhood. Tenderness means beauty and aesthetics. The transformation of Medellín is a good example over the last two decades. We have built great parks, libraries and tourist compounds in poor and marginal places that made the city more attractive and international. For this reason, Medellín was selected as a world model of social inclusion by the UN Habitat Agency in Shanghai last October. When you visit a beautiful place, your attitude changes. You become peaceful and kind. Dostoievski said that beauty will save us.
4. Tolerance: We should communicate tolerance. It is respect for the other as he or she is. We give importance to humanity. We love everybody because every person is a son or daughter of God, so everybody is my brother and my sister. People can think differently, but it might not be a limit to friendship and living together.
A video showing both sides of the planet: images of Don Bosco and Dominic Savio at Moore Street, downtown Medellín.
To end the workshop, we create a video. The Parceros of Medellín send messages and questions to their Cambodian peers in Sihanoukville. They talk about their city and their own traditions. In April, once I cross three continents once more, back to Cambodia, I will film the Cambodian youth answering and sharing with their Medellín friends. The purpose is to produce a video that we are going to publish on Youtube and Facebook.
We hope that these experiences of communication with young people will bring good results to our societies. I offered the municipality of Medellín the possibility of a youth program like this, also with something else in mind. The social communication and journalism section's aim is to create leaders in communication to multiply the experience. It would be a dream to create a Don Bosco Parce social communication section in Medellín if we get the required support. Don Bosco dreams all the time... all the time...
_________________
AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For queries please contact admin@bosconet.aust.com . RSS feeds - just go to Bosconet, click on austraLasia 2011 in the sidebar. You will see the RSS orange icon in your browser address bar - add it from there. Or be interactive with the EAO blog Cetera Tolle. Avail yourself of the Salesian Digital Library at http://sdl.sdb.org
