By Valentina Luna and Fernanda Barrios, with Laura Salerno

A group of youth of Bogotà initiates an ecological project at a social centre that accommodates mothers and children in difficulty: to make community and caring for the others, educating to safeguard the environment.

“Huertas Urbanas” (Urban Gardens) was born as a degree project of Valentina Luna, member of the Youth for United World group of Bogotà (Columbia). She, along with a classmate, saw in her degree thesis an opportunity to work with her community. The idea was shared with the other members of the youth group and it was decided to carry out a project with the mothers and children of the social centre, Unidad, situated in the La Merced neighbourhood of Bogotà.

«Working with the community was very challenging – explains Valentina – initially we carried out interviews to get to know in broad terms of the reality of the neighbourhood and to understand their needs». Then, the first formation meetings were held, through which the youth group provided a general panoramic of the project and taught the mothers and children other key concepts, like those of “food security” and “food sovereignty”. The latter, being particularly important. In fact, as the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) explains, this establishes peoples’ right to nutritious food and culturally adequate, accessible, sustainable and ecological products.

«Little by little, we noticed that the interest and effort of some mothers grew always more…. – explains Fernanda Barrios, Valentina’s classmate – for us, it was very important to be able to count on the community’s support».

During the period of the project eight mothers and different children were involved, for which the youth offered time and skills to realize the different workshops.

«It wasn’t an easy task: but it is just like this we discover, when we really want something, it can be obtained. – said Valentina – There were moments of doubts and uncertainties, especially in relation on how to obtain the necessary budget to carry out the activities. But the hard work pays, and when the ideas become concrete, we can obtain incredible results».

And so, it was possible to establish a real community centre garden, which is currently taken care of by the mothers, who are committed to curing and maintaining it over time.

«Like this project, there are many that can be realized – explains Fernanda – we can act starting from our own ideas with simple acts: collecting left over food, separating the waste or doing compost, acts that are concrete and that permit a real change in our society».

«Like this project, there are many that can be realized – explains Fernanda – we can act starting from our own ideas with simple acts: collecting left over food, separating the waste or doing compost, acts that are concrete and that permit a real change in our society».

For these youth, aside from the small acts, the formation and education to ecology is important. «We consider it important to generate information spaces, in which the ecological themes and general environmental issues are faced, as they raise awareness regarding the importance of taking care of the ecosystems that provide us all the resources we require to live» explains, again, Valentina. Fernanda then concludes: «It is important to encourage environmental education, in a way such that the next generations may be sensitive to the topic. But above all, we have to remind ourselves that insane and impossible ideas do not exist. Often, we have an idea, but are scared that it may be too difficult to carry out; instead, the idea of a single person can inspire many others! So, joining our hands and motivation, we can bring about changes, maybe small but significant in our neighbourhoods, in our city and in our society».

The Youth for United World of Bogotà till today continue to work on different projects orientated towards the ecology and to the social work, continuing to work at the social centre and in other places. «We believe that small and impossible acts do not exist. We simply believe that acts of love exist, and there is no act of love more concrete, towards ourselves and towards others, to take care of this beautiful planet on which we live».