Peace & Pedagogy Photo Contest: Rural Education in Colombia

Building from our ongoing work in southern Colombia, Voices from the Void organized a photo contest entitled “Peace and Pedagogy” to help explore the reality of post-conflict education throughout more marginalized areas of the country. We were specifically curious to better understand what’s working, what challenges remain, and how best to support rural Colombia moving forward. Towards that end, the contest received over 500 entries from throughout the country highlighting the work that remains to be done, as well as the resilience of rural communities seeking a more prosperous future. Below are the photos that received the highest scores from our panel of judges.

WINNING PHOTO

The Task, Lucy Monsalve

The Task is based in the spirit of moving forward through education, be it to pursue one’s own dreams, to help parents improve, or some other yearning. With the peace agreement, there is the hope that children will have more opportunities to attend school and become motivated by a teacher, rather than an armed group, as is the case in Charalá, Santander.

WINNING PHOTO

The Future of a Country in the Midst of War, Juan Pablo Rueda Bustamante

Three students observe the destruction of the Maria Inmaculada School in Suárez, Cauca, after a cylinder bomb destroyed it. The attack was aimed at a police station yet, due to its proximity, the cylinder bomb was deflected and fell inside the school, leaving 350 students without their place to learn.

WINNING PHOTO

Education and Peace in Rural Bojayá, Andres Restrepo

After the signing of the Peace Accords in Colombia at the end of 2016, there was a period of peace in Bojaya, Chocó, as in other regions of the country, that many of its inhabitants said they had never felt in their lives. Yet new dynamics, fueled by the pandemic and the reorganization of armed groups, has led to forced recruitment, many students dropping out, and entire families abandoning their communities. As a result, many rural schools are left to nature.

WINNING PHOTO

Reading to Mom, Luisa Maria Hernandez Vasquez

Luis Fernando reads at home with his mother in Pijao, Qundío, underscoring the relative significance of family in supporting education and human development in rural areas of the country that often receive less formal support.

WINNING PHOTO

Graduation, Jaír F. Coll

Ariel Chiquito Marín was a coffee grower in Quinchía, Risaralda, until he joined the Óscar William Calvo Front of the EPL at 45 years old, “because he wanted change in this country.” At 57 years of age, he now wants to grow coffee again and recently graduated with 26 other ex-combatants in Toro, Valle del Cauca. This portrait seeks to reflect on the people who decided to lay down their weapons to bet, instead, on their education and personal potential.

In acknowledging that there are many meaningful perspectives that help shed light on the imperfect progress towards peace, we also wish to draw further attention to the following photos. In underscoring that rural development is more nuanced than simple perseverance over violence, the following photos were selected by contest judges for Special Mention.

SPECIAL MENTION

Winter flooding. Bajo Atrato, Chocó

Jenifers Martinez