Colombia

When the Disciple is Ready

"Not too long ago a street vendor told me he was meeting with other colleagues and with several Universidad de los Andes professors in order to see how some difficulties in their trade could be overcome. I attended a pair of these meetings in which a noticeable general skepticism permeated. My relationship with the street vendors began once again after I decided to undertake a ?guided project? to study some of the coexistence processes within the Friends of the Andes group. The group was discussing how to legitimate the work of selling products and working on the street in the informal sector. Regardless of internal divisions, I no longer found the earlier skepticism and found their bonds to be much tighter. It was always clear to me that my role there could not be that of a protagonist, but rather of a facilitator and witness of what they were experiencing. To assume this role followed an ethical principle but also a practical logic: it is not efficient for an external agent to decide which road to take. The internal logic of an organization differs greatly from how one thinks it should function. In this sense, my relationship with the Friends of the Andes was a small reality check since some of their achievements were realized by means of a logic that, for me, was not ideal. This is a great lesson which has allowed me to work with the Friends of the Andes. In the universities the idea that we are the future of the nation is always emphasized; it is assumed that we are the ones who ?know? and are able to understand the world, and for that reason we ought to be the ones who correct the errors that surround us. In other words, we are taught to intervene. I have learned that some matters are not like that: there are other methods of learning ? beyond those of pure intellectualism ? that are equally valid and actually more appropriate at times to resolve certain problems. If we assume this responsibility of facilitators, and not of supervisors, we can be more useful in these types of activities; the supervisor can rarely contradict him or herself nor remain disqualified in the face of those who intervene?And what was learned?

Having completed my project, I distanced myself from the group and I heard of some problems that practically dissolved the organization. Recently, I was again able to accompany the street vendors to a meeting. At the last session, I still perceived some of the old disagreements. Nevertheless, in a matter of seconds, everyone decided to put together a collection to help one of the vendors who was in very bad health. Another meeting was set and nothing else was said. In the end, though, we all left with our backs a little straighter, knowing that little by little, the street vendors were learning to provide for themselves, not because someone from the Andes has shown them how and why to do it, but rather because they themselves have decided to do so.?

Andres Barragon is a senior at the Universidad de los Andes in Industrial Engineering.