Right this moment, in celebration of Ladies’s Historical past Month, we wish to spotlight a narrative of the resilience and dedication of Sylvia Lopez Jusayu. In a distant village of La Guajira, Colombia, Sylvia is the devoted chief of the Amuyuwoü group who works to offer primary wants and a thriving future for the Amyuwou kids by training, well being, and assets. Prior to now decade, Sylvia has helped safe a water tower, primary showers and bathrooms, a wifi tower, and a two-room college the place she herself is a trainer.
Whereas these have been some unbelievable hurdles to beat, these assets have been largely unusable with out energy. Sylvia continued to hunt assist and was ultimately related with GivePower–a company that gives water and energy to scarce areas. It was our biggest pleasure to affix GivePower on this Trek to offer Sylvia and her group with energy.
Please take pleasure in this particular interview between Juan Arias (Givepower Movie Crew Member) and Sylvia Lopez Jusayu throughout our Trek to Colombia.
Interviewer (Juan): Are you able to inform me your title and your function in the neighborhood?
Sylvia: Good afternoon, my title is Sylvia Lopez Jusayu, I’m the chief of this group, Amuyuwou.
Juan: Are you able to inform me extra concerning the group? The place are we? What it’s prefer to stay right here in Amuyuwou.
Sylvia: Properly, Amuyuwou belongs to the municipality of Manaure. We’re in Media Guajira. There are 55 households right here. We’re nearer to Uribia than Manaure, between the 55 and 57-kilometer markers of the street. Right here in Amyuwou, we have now a small college consisting of 89 college students with one classroom starting from preschool to first grade and two lecture rooms that target consideration to infants primarily based on the ICBF applications. Every classroom has 20 youngsters starting from preschool to fifth grade. We’ve 4 academics accessible. We educate a number of grades on the similar time. For instance, there’s 4th and fifth graders in a single classroom and preschool and 1st in one other, however third and 2nd are separate. Entry to the college is difficult each time it rains, we don’t have a constructed street so the pathways get filled with water.
Juan: Now that you simply point out the difficulties, are you able to inform me concerning the challenges the group, particularly the kids, face whereas residing right here?
Sylvia: Properly, the challenges we face, the aim we have now for the children of the group, is that they attend the college and have a great high quality of life as a result of they’re educating themselves in order that they will combine with the troublesome society we have now.
Juan: Let me rephrase that query, are you able to inform me the each day life of a kid, what does that child need to do, how does he/she begin their day? Inform me all of the challenges they face, as a result of we’re seeing them now, not solely the difficulties they face however the group as nicely. However inform me extra concerning the youngsters.
Sylvia: Oh the function of the children. Properly the each day function of a child right here, they get up with their dad at 5 A.M. That child takes the herd to get water on the pond/nicely. They’ll come again round 7:30 A.M. and eat breakfast, mazamorra and milk. Since he already went to the pond/lake, he already took a shower, so he’ll go residence, change his garments and go to highschool. Since there are children who’re distant from the college, they wait for his or her transportation. So on the newest, attributable to their chores, they’ll begin college round 8 A.M. They’ll come to highschool and be greeted by their trainer. College ends round 1 P.M., they’ll eat and relaxation for a bit. At 2 P.M. they’ll exit and see the place the goats are in order that they will return residence. By 5 P.M. they’ll be again residence after his duties. Typically, in the event that they get residence round 4 P.M., they will do any homework their academics gave them however often, as a result of the academics know they’ve chores to care for, they received’t assign any homework to the kids.
Juan: And, I suppose, at evening there’s no extra vitality, proper? How would they do homework at evening?
Sylvia: Properly like I discussed, they hardly get homework as a result of they don’t have time to do homework. The daddy can ask them to do homework however the youngsters will merely say they did it once they truly haven’t. There may be additionally no mild at evening. They’ll make a bonfire and eat the identical factor they did that morning, mazamorra and milk. That is when the elders will are available in, the daddy, the grandfather to speak to the kids, inform them tales, inform them about their ancestors or myths. The youngsters are very curious so that they’ll ask the place this or that comes from, they ask a whole lot of questions, so the elders attempt to reply.
Juan: Inform me concerning the difficulties you face attributable to not having electrical energy. Inform me about your group and never having electrical energy, how does that make life tougher for you?
Sylvia: Properly, attributable to lack of electrical energy, for instance, mild, which is important now for each day life in the neighborhood. Since there is no such thing as a mild, and the children don’t have time within the morning attributable to chores, as a result of it’s cultural {that a} child has to learn to heard, not as a result of we are attempting to “enslave” the kid, however as a result of the child must study life. So it’s one thing they should learn to heard, the right way to get water from the nicely, to take the heard to the pond/nicely. So it’s troublesome for them as a result of if they’d mild, they’d have the ability to do homework at evening. There’s additionally the factor about telephones now, so the daddy does his greatest to get the kid a smartphone so the kid can use it to do their homework however they don’t have wherever to cost it or the place to get a sign from. And that’s the place our lives are troublesome attributable to lack of vitality. Not simply the children both, us as professors have difficulties as a result of, with out electrical energy, for instance, we are able to’t analysis homework materials. There’s a whole lot of shortcomings attributable to lack of sunshine.
Juan: What concerning the artisans who work in the course of the day, can they nonetheless work at evening?
Sylvia: With out mild, with out mild bulbs, they will’t work on the chinchorro or a backpack. In the course of the day, the ladies take into account the chores they’ve at residence however with mild, our lives could be simpler. With mild, we may make the backpacks or the chinchorros. It will get darkish very early, at 6 P.M. so that they’ll sit down or lay down so with out mild, it’s not very useful.
Juan: So that you suppose that having electrical energy will change the best way you reside and training?
Sylvia: Properly if we have now vitality, in fact, it might change issues loads and be very useful. First off, we don’t have refrigeration for the meals that they convey us for the children so the cheese goes unhealthy. We add salt to maintain it contemporary nevertheless it nonetheless goes unhealthy which leads to sickness for the children. They’ll convey us greens and fruits, as a result of we give them to the children too, however these go unhealthy as nicely. So let’s say they convey it to us on a Sunday afternoon, or a Friday afternoon, so Saturday and Sunday passes by, and by Monday we need to give it to the children however you discover some have gone unhealthy, it’s not consumable, so we have now to throw it away. It’s about 90 bananas typically that we have now to throw away as a result of they went unhealthy. Or the pumpkin (squash), each second week we get pumpkin(squash), however we are able to’t observe the routine as a result of we don’t have any strategy to protect that meals. Secondly, artisan work helps us loads. If we do 2-3 hours it might assist us much more. The web, tv reveals, they’d convey a whole lot of adjustments as a result of the kids would choose up new issues that they didn’t know existed.
Juan: When was the primary time you heard concerning the sonar panel undertaking?
Sylvia: I imagine round March I heard concerning the undertaking in order that’s after I was motivated and requested myself, nicely if that arrived into our group we’d see that change. I might see it in different components, in bigger faculties that had mild, they’d inform us concerning the adjustments they went by and what I may do. So I bought excited and thought, if it will probably occur in different communities why not right here? So I began to speak concerning the lack of vitality to this system.
Juan: How did you’re feeling if you discovered it was authorized?
Sylvia: Once I heard the information that they authorized the undertaking, it was a pleasure that you may’t think about, Look I’m nearly crying because of the happiness. This didn’t price us greater than a chat. Some folks say, ‘Oh I’ll work 10 years to make this occur” however you’d by no means obtain this with 10 or 20 years of labor. So I’m very grateful with God, the one that made the contract, ONG which made all the pieces occur and GivePower.
Juan: And once they informed you Individuals would come to put in the panels themselves, what’s your opinion of them now that you simply see them working? Inform me what do you consider them seeing them now.
Sylvia: Properly the enjoyment is immense, and much more when the Individuals themselves are putting the panels, it’s by no means the identical when somebody provides you a grain of sand as to once they themselves see the set up. It’s admirable as a result of they honestly positioned it full-heartedly, identical to they positioned the cash for it, and so they’re additionally staying right here, sharing their time with us, like household. It’s one thing that’s admirable, one thing I haven’t seen wherever else, that they themselves donated the cash, are putting in it themselves, not due to lack of cash however as a result of they introduced from the center, identical to the saying, that if you give one thing, it ought to be from the center.
Juan: What’s the factor you might be most trying ahead to having electrical energy?
Sylvia: I’ve been excited and will probably be much more excited after I see all the pieces mild up as a result of it is a big milestone. It’ll make a huge effect that the group will see. For instance, we have now some panels that we activate at most an hour and that’s it however it will stay right here. I’m simply imagining the adjustments and what they’ll convey as soon as we have now mild.
Juan: What hopes and desires do you might have for the group? Okay, the vitality is right here, so inform me concerning the hopes and desires that you’ve got.
Sylvia: Properly, at this second, you don’t have any concept the various issues I’m imagining. It’s been about 5 years as a result of I began working right here in 2001. Since 2001 I began working with the middle of Orinoquia. Every part is finished by exhausting work, so I’m working to have a middle. A middle as a result of we discover it exhausting to ship youngsters to a distinct location for his or her increased studying. First, as a result of we have now the gully/stream. Secondly, as a result of it’s distant. So a baby that leaves right here round 5 A.M. will come again round 3 PM. Over there, they’ll eat breakfast, they principally simply snack and get again at 3 PM, it’s actually exhausting. This can be a blessing and an development that can assist me obtain my objectives. I’ll now have mild, quickly after I ought to have the computer systems. I solely want the classroom of.., classroom of…classroom of chemistry which might be the place they’ve the human skeletons…umm I neglect the title (laughter)
Juan: What would you prefer to say to them as final phrases of appreciation?
Sylvia: I’m very grateful, very pleased with the Individuals. That is one thing big, and from right here I do know my college will develop. I’m looking forward to the college middle and I’ll accomplish it. I’m very comfortable and grateful. Thanks to them for supporting us and that this isn’t the one factor, that it’s an indication of many issues to return. And that they don’t neglect about us, that they arrive again and go to so that they see that this isn’t the tip, that it will develop. This received’t solely be right here a 12 months or two, that is going to final. And that hopefully, they observe us right here. Each time they go to La Guajira or Colombia, they arrive right here and see the development we’ll accomplish as a result of we’re shifting ahead. Once more, I need to thank them for the blessing they gave us as a result of it is a large blessing. I’m very grateful and comfortable.
From the underside of our hearts, thanks to Sylvia Lopez Jusayu for sharing her lovely phrases and ideas with the ONEHOPE staff and our group.
Whenever you select the ONEHOPE Basis at checkout, you’ll be able to assist fund initiatives like this and make a distinction on the planet. Store to assist by selecting any nonprofit at checkout and we’ll give 10% again to your reason for selection.
With nearly $10 million donated thus far, we prefer to suppose…we’re simply getting began.
Cheers to hope,
The ONEHOPE Staff
Be sure that to take a look at this video to study extra about ONEHOPE’s GivePower Trek in Colombia!