Harvesting a change / Jhon Sebastian Cano Ruiz / 18-25 / Colombia / 4:59

Amidst the beautiful mountains of Colombia at 1200 msnm

there is a nice small town of working people and great biodiversity

called Trujillo.

Characterized by the hospitality of its inhabitants

and its fertle land for agriculture

at some point in their history their tranquility was marred by their violence

As in a witch hunt, civilian leaders and ordinary people

were judged and eliminated by the state in a cruel and insensitive way

and there was nothing the people could say or do in their own defense

The State committed countless crimes against Humanity causing fear and generated displacement

Currently there continues to be unfortunate events such as

forced recruitment, drug addiction, increased high school dropouts and micro trafficking.

For this, and since then, Trujillo has lost the sense of belonging thus causeing a kind

of neglect and apathy against the town by its inhabitants

in addition to the social stigma acquired by his dark past

However, over the years various groups of young people have worked towards rebuilding

the social fabric and regain a sense of belonging despite the difficulties.

and inconveniences to develop initiatives and processes that benefit the community

Here are some of these...

Initiatives such as summer camps,

drawing, and painting workshops,

School theater and building playgrounds

Foremost among these is the youth association Manguala

with its "Cinestres" project

which uses a film to give a message of substance abuse prevention

and against recruitment of the youth in to armed groups.

But, what do young people think?

"Fortunately, consciousnesses has awoken

in the young people

and they fight for everything

that's wrong.

The violence as stopped

and we are seeing major changes

in both the youth and adults.

We are instilling principles and very significant values

and the youth directly involved

in showing that Trujillo is not a violent place

Trujillo is a good place to live!"

"Actually the young people of Trujillo are creating strategies"

to foster environments where only knowledge

and cultural strengthening of the youth Trujillo reigns

We want to get ahead"

"Many people still fail to measure the importance

of these processes conducted by the youth

because young people are changing consciousness

and the thinking of people by the activities they perform

The Trujillo community is more optimistic;

that you can do things

and that you can fight for a cause

because it is worth it

Hopefully this serves as an example

for many young people in other towns

where we can achieve great things

when there is no support from the government

or from the community."