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Letter to my younger self
Hey little me, I wish you had written down a couple of questions for me to answer today. It is hard to think what you would have wanted me to talk about specifically, since I am you and not, at the same time. My last resource is guessing. I am not sure if you ever desired advice from an older self in order to take decisions. So even though you did not wish for them, here is a couple of bits of advice: To the one I was 15 years ago, math is hard but learning is great. Do not feel like you need to follow what everybody else does in order to feel part of the bunch. Keep being loud and kind; you...
Migrants: exposed and vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic
No Country for Online advocacy
In the spawn of three months, grandparents learned how to use Zoom, professors that had been teaching since the last millennium had to learn forcefully about live-streaming and virtual conferences, and humanity realized that many daily activities can be done online. Technology had been swallowing slowly our daily routines during the last decade; however, it took an accelerated and imposed growth due to this pandemic This change to online-based society seems easy and even unavoidable in the so-called High-Income countries. But Low-Middle Income countries got stuck in a slow development, where...
Reciprocity: an indigenous teaching for a better 2021
Ayni is an Aymara principle that means “mutual reciprocity and help others in need” and Juk’uchaña is an Aymara word that means “to accumulate or hoard like a mouse” translated by the Aymara teacher Félix Layme Pairumani. While thinking about actions to take for a better 2021, I was compelled to ask my elders what are the steps to reimagine a better future after the COVID-19 pandemic? Instead of providing a straight answer, they narrated one of our traditional stories, which is taught from generations to generations. There was once a mouse who always had food in his house. He harvested all...
Child vaccination and the challenge of consulting
Now that the COVID-19 vaccination has advanced greatly in many countries, levels of absenteeism are rising in the places where the doses are being put. The anti-vaccination movement has had a significant impact on this matter, alongside the help of fake news and disinformation. Misleading communities is a serious issue, but it becomes even bigger when those people are parents. At this level, it not only affects them, but also their children’s health. Thus, this problem escalates from an individual sphere to a family spectrum. And just like in other medical instances, the youth is not given a...
Dream captures his last breath
I approached him after an hour of sitting without revealing a word. His features told me a lot, he is not good. I went up to him and asked, "Are you okay?" Oh thank God I asked. He was a bomb that only needed a little pressure to explode, but with our conversation, I relaxed him a bit. He told me a story that made me apprehensive and angry, but he told me that he still had some time to turn it into a success story. My conversation with this young man lasted for more than two hours. I felt when he spoke every letter he uttered took from his soul a little because of his pain and his sorrow for...
Let's go back to school
The COVID-19 pandemic changed everyone’s lives abruptly. Lockdowns were enforced, businesses were closed, and schools had to shut down and transfer their classrooms to a virtual sphere. Homes suddenly became workplaces, both for adults and children. But for many, it was not easy. Numerous siblings sharing the only phone or computer available, sometimes even borrowed from a family member or neighbor. Some kids climbing up trees to get data reception; meanwhile others were spending the entire day at a park or shopping mall to use the free Wi-Fi. Adults tend to have many different activities...
Our Chance
The Tree
Holistic education in the digital era
Living in the twenty-first century, we’re witnessing digital technology permeating all areas of human life. One of them is the field of education. Nowadays at school, it’s common to use digital technologies on a daily basis. In my country, Bolivia – often perceived as a ‘developing’ country – we are witnessing a transition to a digital, community-based and pluralistic pedagogy that adds ancestral knowledge to the traditional humanistic education model. Without doubt, this is a revolutionary step, not only towards inclusion and recognition of indigenous groups within the formal education system...
Towards the teaching of indigenous languages in schools
Aruskipt'asipxañanakasakipunirakispawa is an Aymara word that means "we are compelled to communicate", translated by Aymara teacher Juan de Dios Yapita. As a young Aymara, belonging to this indigenous people, I feel proud of my culture. Unfortunately, I am one of many who with affliction do not know the language of their parents and grandparents. The school offers us education and values, which are usually far from our original culture. Making it difficult to access materials, teachers and the learning of our native language. That is why the teaching of indigenous languages is fundamental...