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Edition Nº 02, April 2007 Ayacucho Perú |
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A COLOURFUL COLOMBIAN
a Little part of Carolina's life
by: Jan kuijt & Marie Bilau & Peter auwerx
Here is a little part of Carolina’s life, this strong woman travelling alone in South America. In case you meet her one day, she is easily recognisable, with her flashy style, really representative of her personality, lively and giving you this magic energy she has in her soul… |
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 She is a wise, hard-working woman, she is not really interested in partying every night, she prefers taking time to relax, to read books….Every morning she wakes up really early to work, and all along the day she will enjoy sharing her culture through her art.
This beautiful and smiling girl of 27 years old is originally from Colombia, more precisely from Bogotá. She came to Peru like a lot of South Americans to share her art with other artisans, and because it is on her way to Bolivia. She also came here with the wish of working in associations, where psychologists are needed. Carolina is actually a student in psychology, but soon she realized a bad thing; … many non governmental organizations are asking money to the volunteers. Firstly she can’t afford to pay them, and secondly she can’t understand why you have to pay to help people for free.
 As an artisan she is specialized in the work of Alambre (fine metal wire) in combination with a variety of seeds, mostly from Colombia. Like Colombian artisans, the colours she uses for the material are always really strong, and it brings heat and originality in her products. She tries to use natural materials as often as possible.
In a few years she could see herself living in an economically and ecologically independent community. There, she could go in detail in the research about natural material and plants. She believes in love, tolerance, life, and nature. She doesn’t want to stop being an artisan, just find a peaceful place to settle.
 She doesn’t despise the system, but recognises she is part of it. Being an artisan is just an alternative way of life that gives her the opportunity to go freely in and out of the system. That gives her the opportunity to analyse the system from the outside. Although, she never knows how much money she is going to get, she doesn’t seem to take it badly; she takes the life as it comes. Having a life as artisan is always living in a paradox. On one hand there is the opportunity to share a lot through one’s travel and experience, micro societies are created and relations are built up rapidly, but on the other hand these relations also end up fast.
Here, in Ayacucho, she feels discriminated. She attracts the curiosity, but at the same time, her work is not recognized as it should be and neither is her place in Society. She has a lot to offer to people and receives inspiration by talking to them.
Difference is good; it creates the wealth of a culture. |
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