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Published On: Wed, Nov 13th, 2013

Forgotten Colombia; Regalo del Dios

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Anna Tyor recently spent time in Regalo del Dios, Antioquia. Ana`s portrait of this Forgotten Colombia will be published on Colombia Politics over four articles exploring education, the displaced, conflict and the lack of state presence in this “Paisa” community.

The vintage school bus winds up the dirt road as it heads for communities in the El Pinar district, perched at the top of a mountain over-looking the valley of Medellin. Shacks held in place by precarious pillars line the road, waiting for the next mudslide, while a pack of dogs and farm-animals run across the street causing the bus to lurch left and right.

We shudder to a stop at the end of a short muddy street and the bus driver nods towards it. We’ve arrived in the small town of Regalo del Dios (Gift from God).

“People come here because they believe it’s safer, and in relative terms, it is. But have things happened here? Absolutely” said New York state native Mark Kasemen, director of the foundation Angeles de Medellín, located in Regalo del Dios.

Although it sits above Colombia’s second-largest city Medellin, Regalo del Dios is actually a part of the neighboring city Bello. The town is mostly comprised of families who have been displaced during Colombia’s 49-year armed conflict, or as a result of gang warfare over valuable drug-trafficking routes. Men who grew up on the beaches of Choco, or the sloped fields of northern Antioquia now sit on broken stoops and talk of times free from drug violence.

One of the biggest problems facing the community is its rapidly growing population. Fifteen years ago the El Pinar district was just a handful of small ranches and farmland. But by the late 1990’s new families, fleeing their war-torn homelands, began to settle in the area. From 2006 to 2013 the population in the area surrounding Regalo del Dios tripled to around 12,000, almost all of them displaced persons.

In Colombia there are over 4.7 million internally displaced persons, which registers as the largest number of displaced in the world.

“There is a lot of violence in Baudo,” said 22-year old resident Jeison who was born on the Pacific coast in Choco but grew up in Medellin. “My mom moved here above all to look for better work opportunities and for a better education for me and my siblings, because there wasn’t any in Baudo.”

But not all those who have moved to Regalo del Dios have come from outside of the city. In 2012, Medellin registered 9,322 victims of intra-urban displacement – when residents are displaced to a different part of the same city – according to the Consultancy for Human Rights and Displacement (CODHES).

A mere 10-minute bus ride down the mountain and you’re back in Medellin. A bus whizzes by on the paved road just below the shiny black walls of the brand new Parque Biblioteca España (Spain Library Park) paid for in part by Spain. Colombia has the most unequal urban areas according to the United Nations and Medellin tops this list; the rich get richer and this cycle hinders revenue from entering poor communities.

Over the last 10 years, the Urban Development Business (la Empresa de Desarrollo Urbano) has undertaken several projects to improve the lives of the residents of Medellin’s poorest communities. The city now boasts of a state-of-the-art metro and cable car system, and joining the barrios that would otherwise have been disconnected.

But the government of Bello, of which Regalo del Dios is a part, has not been able to follow Medellin’s example. “There`s a high level of corruption in the city I work in,” Kasemen says about Bello. “I could tell you some horror stories.”

Residents have to travel over an hour on public transportation along dilapidated roads to reach the nearest hospital. They have to boil water before its safe to drink. Moreover, businesses are unwilling to make an investment in an area that offers so little return, so jobs are scarce.

“Infrastructure is the biggest problem,” local resident Don Miguel told Corporación Semiósfera. “Improve the apartments… there are still people who get soaked [in their houses] and have dirt floors, there are still homes made out of plastic.”

The final problem is the community’s thrown-together education system with little regulations forcing students to attend school and non-existent social programs to promote education. Jeison, who finished school a couple years ago, chuckled when asked about the school system. “The quality is very low. It lacks well-educated teachers, which means the students don’t get any better.”

While Medellin’s improvements are gaining recognition around the world, many of the communities that surround the area continue to be pictures of poverty and hardship. When asked about Medellin’s acclaimed advances, 16-year old El Pinar resident Luis replied, “Yeah, the improvements [in the city] are great, but here I just don’t know.”

*Some names in the article have been changed to protect their identities.

Anna`s four part special will continue over the coming days. Please come back to continue reading.

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