Colombia Fieldwork Experience
Elijah Marder Bio Heading link
Elijah Marder is an MPH student in the Division of Community Health Sciences. Elijah is working with faculty from La Universidad de Antioquia in Medellín, Colombia. Elijah will be assisting in psychosocial and youth development activities with at-risk adolescents who are victims of commercial sexual exploitation and other rights abuses.
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My name is Elijah Marder, I am a second-year CHS student conducting my Applied Practice Experience (APE) here in Medellín, Colombia. I am working at the University of Antioquia, fondly referred to here as la U de A, with a qualitative research group called GIDI, which stands for Intergenerational Group of Researchers. This program takes approaches from Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) as well as Youth Participatory Action Research. The ongoing program aims to empower and nurture youth participants who have been victims of commercial sexual exploitation and have recently been released from protective state-run institutions. The youth are directly involved in research, and they are connected to resources and employment opportunities. GIDI creates spaces for healing and community building, and to overall identify and helps participants overcome barriers to their reestablishment of rights. These participants usually come from very economically challenging backgrounds, so a part of the program involves coverage for transportation to the University and refreshments during events. The youth seem overjoyed to have the opportunity to advocate for themselves and others like them while cultivating community, and through the program are involved in art, dance, music, and political action. The photos below come from a la Marcha en Contra la ESCNNA, or march against commercial sexual exploitation of boys, girls, and adolescents. A large group of us sang, held signs, and marched through one of the busiest and biggest tourist areas. People who were eating, drinking, and hanging out, many of whom are American, took note, filmed the march, or otherwise showed support! (Photos not available)
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There are various events I have been involved in thus far, and all the participants have been incredibly welcoming and kind, helping me tremendously when there is something I don’t quite understand in Spanish. The learning curve of working in Spanish has been a welcomed challenge for me. I went in confident in my ability to converse and quickly realized that being able to have a conversation is quite distinct from having to sit in meetings, understand complex topics, and give my opinion. After about a week of doing a bit more listening than speaking, I felt confident enough to contribute more to discussions and give my perspective. Now, I feel quite integrated into the team and the work, and I am excited to see how the rest of my time goes!
My core team of professors and students consists of a multi-disciplinary team that spans to other fields outside of, but directly related to public health, such as sociology, mental health, psychology, and youth development. We all seem to bring a unique perspective which allows us to come at this sensitive issue with great care and awareness of the background of participants. All have such rich knowledge of the program and connect deeply with the youth. I am proud to be a part of this research team and believe more research should be done ethically by working directly with (not just on) communities in this way to empower at-risk populations! This picture comes from a lesson on personal finance, given by a fellow master’s student and intern, who works at the University of Florida in a youth development program for immigrants called 4-H. (Photo not available)
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*Two pats on the chest, two pats on the thighs, two claps, two blown kisses*
*Group yells while we enclose the circle
All say: “GIDI soy yo! GIDI somos todos, todas, y todes!”
This ritual is how all group classes or meetings with the youth begin and end, after gathering in a circle with our arms around each other to come together as a family. I find it incredibly fun and inclusive to get the energy high and have all on the same page before we begin meetings. GIDI hosts different weekly meetings with youth participants: “Diplomados” which are rotating classes every other Wednesday, with the topic changing every month to bring resources or skills for the youth participants. The first Diplomado was in personal finance and employment resource utilization. The National Service of Apprenticeship (SENA) gave the first class where we discussed how to utilize this service as the youth of this specific vulnerable population have priority when it comes to employment opportunities within the service. The next Diplomado was in the personal finance and budgeting lesson that my colleague Laura gave. We had interesting discussions on how to spend money on things that we need versus what we want, and how to set SMART goals, similar to what is included in Laura’s 4-H program in Florida. The current Diplomado is in personal relationships, communication, and human rights in the context of Colombia and Medellín. We had two people come in from the secretary of social inclusion, family, and human rights, who discussed how to deal with difficult conversations, how to look inward and self-reflect, and other interpersonal tools. We ended by each painting a piece of canvas with 12 distinct spots to paint in. We were instructed to paint whenever the person described something that applied to us and not paint if it didn’t apply to us. In the most recent meeting, we discussed rights that are given under Colombia’s constitution, like the right to health, dignified work, education, and protection for vulnerable groups, as well as resources in Medellín for each of these rights.
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Every two Wednesdays that there isn’t Diplomado, there is the “Encuentro con el Cuidado,” which is led by individuals with a background in mental health or psychology. These spaces are open for honest conversation around our negative thoughts and how to navigate them, tools for coping with poor mental health, how to have difficult conversations with friends or loved ones, and how to ask for or give an apology. This week, we wove “eyes of god” and “mandalas” with sticks and yarn as a method of meditation through handwork. I have felt how healing these spaces are for everyone involved and how important it is to involve these types of care in these kinds of programs. The following “Encuentros del Cuidado” (that I unfortunately will not be here for) will be in art therapy, which is an incredibly interesting method of mental health practice.
Every other Saturday, we have our largest group meetings. Since July, we have been planning as a group of about 45, different areas of performance art the group would like to do for the September 24th Marcha Contra la ESCNNA. After voting on different types we created four groups for each to join based on their own liking, including vogue dance, which takes a lot of influence from drag shows, rap, which is already a big interest of many of the youth participants, mural painting, maybe for the incredibly artistically talented but shyer individuals, and batucada, which roughly translates to bucket drumming or percussion with recycled materials. I chose to be in the batucada group and used it as an opportunity to show some Chicago pride and showed my group a video of the Chicago Bucket Boys who are famous for playing outside of Chicago sports stadiums. Here’s a link to the Bucket Boys playing at the United Center: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfkIPRhLmKY . Although I do not expect my group to be nearly as skilled as the bucket boys, and do think the video gave a good perspective on what is batucada. Recently we added another student to the core group, and luckily, she has a friend who is a musician and has done plenty of percussion to join our Saturday meetings and teach our group a little bit more about drumming, beats, timing, and rhythm. I will unfortunately not be here for the March itself but I’m excited for one last group meeting and to hear how it goes from my colleagues here.
A major strength of GIDI is its equitable practices as an integral part of the program. Taking from principles of community-based research, this comes in the form of providing “refrigerios y pasajes,” or refreshments and travel. GIDI, funded by several donors and organizations, pays for healthy snacks, usually a pastry of some sort and a fruit juice without added sugar, as well as transportation fees given the youth arrive via public transit. This simple act makes a world of a difference for many in the program who come from low or extremely low-income backgrounds. Many in the research world may look at this practice as a form of coercion, that the participants are being paid to attend, or that this otherwise goes against ethical principles of research. However, I believe, based on my experiences here and in Community Health and Global Health classes at UIC, the opposite is true. Meeting the needs of the community (especially this vulnerable population) is the most ethical way to enhance the material conditions of the group in this symbiotic relationship. The goal obviously is to improve the lives and conditions of our collaborators in the long term, but how can we also provide them with the necessary resources while they take time out of their lives to participate in the program? Instead of biasing the results of the research, as some may argue, we are allowing this type of research to exist by providing free food and travel.