Colombia Calling - The English Voice in Colombia

In episode 164 we explore something very close to my heart and the principal subject for my doctoral thesis, the Sabana Train station in central Bogotá.

We discuss the upcoming significance of the centeniary of the Sabana train station 1917-2017 and why an industrial and growth area of the city has slid into such decay? Has it been solely due to a political ill-will towards the area that the elites in the country are prepared to maintain this once vibrant and cosmopolitan sector of the city - including hotels, theatres and more - isolated and hindered from progress?

Tune in, listen to my intervention, compare it to that of what has taken place around London's Kings Cross and imagine the same for the Estacion de la Sabana and her environs.

Building of the popularity of recent shows dealing with the Colombian peace agreement and dialogues surrounding this, this week we teamed up with South African journalist Laura Brown (you'll remember for hosting Ep155) to talk about some of the comparisons between her native South Africa and Colombia.

In what is an open and informative conversation Laura tells us her about life in South Africa, similarities between there and Colombia and of course, clarifies some of the factors surrounding the peace agreement in South Africa and how studying this can help us in Colombia better understand the peace deal here.

Please tune in for what is a revealing study of South Africa but set against her knowledge of Colombia and the political and social realities found in both.

It's always a thrill to be contacted by a listener and in particular one with a great story to tell and this is how Episode 162 came about with Puerto Rico born/ NY-based photographer Miguel De Casenave.

De Casenave has a significant career as a photographer under his belt but we have him here on Colombia Calling to talk about his recent trip and previous trips to the Sierra Nevada on the Colombia Caribbean coast to photograph the people of the ancient Kogui culture.

Don't think for a moment that just any person can stride on up into the sacred lands of the Kogui people. De Casenave speaks of how he has grown attached to the Kogui and how the Sierra Nevada "has taken him". We learn of the Kogui's customs and his recent visit of no less than one month in their company.

Tune in to Episode 162 to hear of De Casenave' respectful approach to photography and gain an insight into one of the most fascinating and unknown regions of Colombia.

And in the meantime, check out De Casenave' excellent photography: http://www.decasenave.com

Meet Tommy Manuel Dutton, a driving force behind a creative and new way of showing visitors and nationals a good time in Bogotá. Find out why this native of Alice Springs, Australia ended up spending nine months of the year in Bogotá and the remaining three as a guide in the Kimberley.

With his agency Bogotá and Beyond (www.bogotaandbeyond.com) Dutton not only offers tours of Bogotá, Zipaquira and the Chorrera waterfall amongst other things, but he has created an innovative way of showing off his adopted city, with the Septima Challenge.

Tune in to Episode 161 to hear about the Septima Challenge scavenger hunt and how it allows visitors to the city to enjoy better the culture and curiousities found in Bogotá...and then sign up!

The New Face of Colombia- La cara nueva de Colombia, is an exhibition whose theme is change. Today as never before Colombia, is going through an extraordinary period of change social, political and cultural. The aim of this exhibition is to highlight those changes, one might say to look at the new faces and visions of the country and its people through the variety of stories told by the participating artists using their own particular mediums of expression.

And for this reason, we get to talk to Colombian artist Omar Castañeda (known for hsi work with panela) and art curator Sandra Higgins (interviewed here on Ep117) on the line from London about this new collective.

The exhibition will be held over the three floors of the Art Bermondsey Project Space Gallery, a new not-for-profit creative platform promoting the fusion of art, photography and culture located in the vibrant area of Bermondsey in London.

Each artist in his or her own way provides a different take on that story of change and the New Face of Colombia will include works by Omar Castañeda, Piers Calvert, Gwen Burnyeat, Claudia Fischer, Maria Cárdenas, Lorena Cervera Ferrer and selected guest artists to be announced.

Tune in, or better yet if you are in London - be sure to go to the event!

In Episode 159 we take a short breather from the political upheavals taking place in Colombia and get South African journalist Jacqui de Klerk on the line from her adopted home in Santa Marta on the Caribbean coast.

Wiith Jacqui, we talk about the environmental issues affecting Colombia's Caribbean and focus in particular on the Cienaga Grande. The Ciénaga Grande is one of Colombia’s most surreal places as the inhabitants of this large inland wetland live in a town built on stilts – Nueva Venecia. But ‘New Venice’ is not palatial, rather a menagerie of palafitic wooden huts where the only way locals can reach the most essential of services is by canoe

But all is not well in this coastal setting. Two of the biggest environmental catastrophes of the Ciénaga Grande are the massive mortality of the mangrove forest and the significant decline in fishery resources. The major factor responsible for these is the disruption of the natural movements of water between the Magdalena River, Ciénaga Grande, and the Caribbean.

The disruption began more than a century ago when farmers needing water to irrigate their crops, began to re-direct and block the natural flow of small tributaries, and the Magdalena entering the Ciénaga Grande – unintentionally modifying the rivers’ original shape and reducing the flow of fresh water into the lagoons.

Tune in to hear about this issue firsthand.

In an intensely personal and powerful interview, Marcia Engel shares with us the story of the discovery of her adoption, her long and heart-wrenching search for her biological family and her quest now to reunite adoptees with their families.

As a two-year-old girl Marcia was brought to the Netherlands where she grew up with her adoptive parents and this was not always easy, to say the least. And the story behind her adoption will shock you to the core.

"When I was a little girl I was often sad, I felt different, misunderstood. At that time I didn’t even know that I was adopted. Only at the age of 11 my adoptive mother told me. It was as if the ground beneath my feet disappeared. I began even more to struggle with my identity and questions like 'Who am I?’ and ‘What is my existence for?’ kept running in my head.

To get some answers about my roots, I started searching for my biological parents, so I could continue with my life. What followed was a difficult search for many years in which all doors remained closed until I went to pay. Then suddenly I found my parents within four months...

So much effort and so much money to find my own parents! The right to have contact with his parents is a right that every child should be given! At that moment I thought to myself: this should be different, I am going to help people. And this should go beyond searching for birth relatives. I want to make people aware of their rights and opportunities.

Now, Marcia runs Plan Angel which has helped more than 40 adoptees find their biological parents in Colombia. She is also trying to raise funds in order to register the DNA of as many as 300 Colombian couples whose children were taken for adoption.

Check out her website and donate some money to help

http://www.planangel.org/?language=en

Colombia is undergoing change and nothing is more polarizing than the peace agreements between the FARC guerrillas and the Colombian Government. While peace was formally signed between the sides on September 26 2016 in the Caribbean city of Cartagena before 2500 people after the successful outcome of negotiations dating back to November 2011 in Havana, Cuba it all comes down to a democratic vote on October 2.

So this is why on this Episode No.157 we get Kevin McCaffrey - originally from Northern Ireland - on the line from Cali to talk about the parallels between Ireland and Colombia with regards to peace processes and draw on his own personal experiences as a boy growing up in violence and seeing the Good Friday agreement signed in 2008.

We start the interview talking about Cali, Kevin's life in the city and his passion of being a singer songwriter (https://soundcloud.com/mccaff07) before plunging into the more profound topics of peace, power sharing, pardon and forget which continue to be at the fore of all current debates in Colombia.

It's always a pleasure to have the Director of Colombia Reports, Adriaan Alsema on Colombia Calling and we know from experience that it's going to be an interesting, informative and colourful experience!

So, buckle up and settle down to Episode 156 where we discuss the city of Medellin, Netflix's series Narcos and the problems facing Alsema's adopted home city.

The reason for the topic of this show was that I just had the opportunity to visit Medellin and was a little affected by what I saw. I happened to be in the company of the owner of a top end luxury tour operator who is considering bringing tourists to the city and Colombia in general, and when we were in Medellin, his feeling was that, "the money generated from the drugs trade continues to permeate every level of Medellin's society."

We may of course be wrong, but this is why we sat down with Alsema for 156 to talk about the reality of Medellin. Is Narcos educating people about or glorifying Pablo Escobar, what is the problem in Medellin and beyond?

Be sure to check out www.colombiareports.com for independent news about Colombia and if you have some spare cash lying around, donate to this good cause.

It is a great pleasure for me to introduce South African journalist Laura Brown as the guest host of Episode 155 "Birdwatching in Colombia with expert and joint founder of Andes EcoTours, Chantelle du Plessis".

Andes EcoTours believes that travelers are looking for a deeper understanding of the land and the people they encounter. The aim to bring their visitors to the homes, farms and landscapes of those that represent Colombia’s bio-cultural diversity.

Chantelle was born in Johannesburg, South Africa and was trained to locate wildlife from a young age (skills that come in handy when you want to see cool stuff on your tours). When she was older, she moved to the United States where she fell in love with photography, salsa dancing and Colombian culture. Check out the website at http://www.andesecotours.com