Beyond The Plate – A Podcast by Food For The Poor
Food isn't just delicious... it can also change your life! Tune into Beyond the Plate, a new podcast presented by International Charity: Food For The Poor. Get inspired with conversations that nourish the soul. Hear amazing stories of transformation from faith influencers, leaders in the nonprofit sector, and the individuals receiving aid in the 15 countries of Latin America that Food For The Poor serves.
Beyond The Plate – A Podcast by Food For The Poor
Ep. 21 - This Colombian Town Is Building Its Own Future
Better futures are built deep in the mountains of Colombia, where teenagers like Sandra once made a treacherous daily journey down mountain trails to collect unsafe water to drink. Thanks to transformative programs in Colombia serving 46 families, she's attending school instead of carrying heavy water jugs, and local doctors report significantly improved health outcomes throughout the community. Sandra’s transformation exemplifies the sustainable community development approach we explore in Colombia – where solving one critical need creates ripple effects across education, health, and economic opportunity.
We explore powerful stories of communities transitioning from production of forced illegal crops to thriving farms. These same communities now produce export-quality blackberries, eliminating exploitative middlemen and creating legitimate livelihoods that transform not just present communities but future generations' possibilities.
We also visit a remarkable entrepreneurial school where students like Yohan create their own businesses complete with secret recipes, custom packaging, and marketing plans. These schools function as business laboratories where students develop the skills to achieve economic independence. When communities, local governments, and supporting organizations all bring something to the table, sustainable change becomes not just possible but inevitable. Join us as we continue to explore how going beyond immediate relief creates lasting transformation for generations to come.
Beyond The Plate is a podcast by international charity, Food For The Poor
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Life was not easy. The water situation was very difficult.
Speaker 2:A young woman's treacherous trek for water and a school for children who dream big.
Speaker 1:This is my first business. I'm learning accounting and small business.
Speaker 2:This is food for the poor, but we're not just food.
Speaker 4:We go beyond the plate to discuss a full range of development programs, all designed to break the cycle of poverty by empowering people with the tools and training they need to transform their lives for generations to come. These stories will inspire you and, best of all, you can be part of the change that takes place.
Speaker 2:Join us as we go beyond the plate. Welcome to Beyond the Plate a Food for the Poor podcast. I'm your co-host, paul.
Speaker 4:Jacobs, that's right, and I'm Daniel Patino, and today we're heading to Colombia.
Speaker 2:You said that with a little bit of an emphasis I am because I have some roots there. That's right.
Speaker 4:Family is from Colombia and you never leave right your roots and you're always tied to them my heart and.
Speaker 2:And also where sustainable community is happening right now yeah, we're talking about where a place where families, neighbors, community leaders, even the youth, all bring something to the table for the purpose of helping them towards a self-sustainable future, and that's just not just a definition. We're going to really get and dive into what that really means to people in Colombia.
Speaker 4:That's right. And joining us today are two friends. We're going to call them friends and you've seen both of you, actually seen firsthand what Food for the Poor does. We're talking with David Langell, our regional program manager, and Ian Wood, director of studio production, who've been behind the cameras for almost two decades capturing stories across Latin America and the Caribbean, and is also where Food for the Poor serves the least of these.
Speaker 4:So we want to talk about sustainable community development, and that's a big word. I'm just going to go through that not to confuse anybody. And it's just a big word to say what we say around here at Food for the Poor it's to help your neighbor, help, uh, others, with a hand up, not a hand out. You know, and today we're going to dive into that, food for the poor has 10 focus areas in our sustainable community development program and if you want to know all about them, subscribe to our channel. But we go deep into all of them, but today, uh, we're focusing on a few and and the people whose lives they've impacted. Now, don't, don't give me stats, don't give me numbers. Tell me something from really, your heart. What is it? When you visited some of these communities while in Colombia. What told you? This is working.
Speaker 5:But, danny, like you, I'm half Colombian, so it's very near and dear to me to be able to give back to my roots as well through the work that we do at Food for the Poor. From what I've seen, even beyond just doing the projects and I've lived in the country and so I've really become accustomed to the culture of the people, and I think that's I do want to start there. The hospitality and Ian can add to this as well the hospitality that the people give is like no other, and I think this is maybe tied so strong to the latin america roots that that hospitality is there. They welcome people into their community.
Speaker 5:I'm me myself, you know, as as a regional program manager, I'm taking notes like okay, they seem organized, they're welcoming this opportunity. Right, we're, we're a guest. We're not here to tell them what to do. We understand their challenges or difficulties, but we also want to hear their thoughts, their input, understand their struggles, understand their lifestyle and see if there's something that can be done. And that's pretty much been the approach for everything that we do, and I mean not just Columbia, but the other countries that we work in as well, I mean not just Colombia but the other countries that we work in as well.
Speaker 4:And then, Ian, you saw that a little different, because you're capturing this through your eyes, which are kind of your production eyes right, which is your behind the camera kind of deal. David will look at the numbers, but you look at it in a different way. What's something that stood out when you landed in Colombia that you're like OK, this is just not another trip and I'm actually joining.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I have to say the hospitality was amazing. You know, like David was saying, from the moment that we arrived, everybody was so friendly and so eager to show us like the projects that they've been working on. So I travel a lot with Food for the Poor. For about 10 years I was in the field almost all the time and Paul and I have been to Haiti and Guatemala like 20, 30 times, I'm not even sure.
Speaker 2:Many camera shots, many camera takes.
Speaker 3:Yes, yeah, and usually I'm on the other side. I'm on the other side of the camera and I'm filming Paul or whoever else. Is like speaking on camera, telling the stories of people. Everywhere we went, the children were like excited, they were happy, they're smiling, they're ambitious, like we have a lot of amazing stories to tell about how these children's lives were transformed. So there are the basic needs that you have, like water. You know food, that food for the poor addresses, and then you want to break the cycle of poverty, so it's about empowering them. So we'll also talk about the entrepreneurial spirit. You know how it's thriving with these children.
Speaker 2:Now, ian, give us. You know, and we've been, as you said, we've been in so many communities. We've seen things in Haiti, we've been together in Nicaragua, We've been in places like Guatemala, honduras, but you have to find a way to convey this through a lens of a camera and the story, so that people see self-sustainability.
Speaker 3:So David did a wonderful job of setting this all up, and before we even went, we're talking, he's saying hey, I want to take you to these different locations and show you what's happening here, and this is why I think it would be a great story to tell. So we went to a remote community in Colombia that was in desperate need of water. The family we intended to interview wasn't home, so we had to pivot and we met another family and a young lady named Sandra, and what she had to endure to get water every day was almost unbelievable.
Speaker 1:We had to walk very far down the mountain, taking lots of risks. There were lots of bugs. We often had to walk very far down the mountain, taking lots of risks. There were lots of bugs. We often had to go barefoot carrying water buckets to fill up. We also brought a wash tub to wash dishes and clothes.
Speaker 3:What she had been doing for most of her life was going to fetch water every morning, sometimes in the dark or at dawn. Her responsibility and she had she's such a responsible person, like you can tell she's taken care of the family, she's taking care of the little ones, and so what she had to do when she took us on this journey was to go fetch the water every single day. So we walked with her on this day and you're walking through the mountains and it's this winding, dirt trail, trail, and then it goes into the jungle and then you go down and there's this stream that runs through the jungle. It's absolutely beautiful. It's so picturesque, but also this water isn't safe, but it's like the only water they have access to, so they're gonna drink it anyways and the kids get sick often. Um, she has to carry all this back. Like on this day, everybody was excited that we were there, so we had a group going with us and the little ones were bathing in the water, but sometimes she does that all by herself and she's carrying these, you know, big jugs, everything she can carry she's bringing back to the house. So the family has water.
Speaker 3:And she's young, right? Yeah, young teen, you know, and and this is depriving her to some degree, this is depriving her of her youth when we were walking back with sandra and everybody's carrying all the water they can, and I'm just sweating, like, trying to keep up with them and film you know, but, um, you know, for them it was a daily thing and for for like, if you're not used to that, it's like, wow, this is hot, it's heavy, like, and they do it all the time. And so then when you get back to the community, you can see the project that's just been completed. It's this beautiful water tower. It's like a monument to how their lives are changing and the development of this community, because they have a deep well, pumps it up to the water tower and then there's plumbing that goes right into all these houses in the community. This project is amazing. It'll serve 46 families, so we're talking about hundreds of individuals receiving water.
Speaker 1:Just listen to what Sandra had to say this is a great benefit, not just for my family, but for others as well. They're doing well and their lives have changed. Thank you very much.
Speaker 3:David already has reports from the community medical services that the kids are healthier. Thank you very much. Drinking safe water, the kids are healthier and then it frees Sandra and the other kids up to go to school to do other things rather than just risking themselves to go fetch water.
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Speaker 4:We're fortunate to have David Elhangle, our regional program manager, and Ian Wood, director of studio production, here today. And David, one of the principles in this work is that everyone have we been talking about everyone brings something to the table, and what does that look like in Columbia? We?
Speaker 5:don't want to do everything for you. We meet us halfway right. What can you contribute? What are your assets, what can you bring to the table? And that's the ideal scenario that we hope to always encounter whenever we do our projects that the community is involved, perhaps a local municipality or, if it goes beyond, maybe the national government or regional government, and then there's, you know, our partners and Food for the Park as well, so that that circle of participation is extremely key and ideal, because if you have the buy-in of the community, you have the involvement. It helps make that project become more sustainable.
Speaker 2:What I love how you just described that. It's the clear line in the sand between charity and community development.
Speaker 5:Right. So with economic empowerment, at least where we went to in La Miranda, cauca, when we were doing our analysis, our investigation, we are aware, ok, this community has a lot of potential. It's very organized and that's a huge piece to the larger puzzle. And so in this, in this project, the blackberries that we were mentioning earlier is they're very well organized. There is a very tragic history of this community.
Speaker 2:I think this would be a really good time to kind of get into that. If you could just kind of take a little bit of a dovetail into that, danny, this might resonate with you perhaps.
Speaker 5:Maybe family wise and maybe myself, even though we haven't been directly impacted by it. It's you can say, quote, unquote our people, right? So Colombia has been in a conflict internal conflict for 50, 60 years, you know, depending on who you ask, 50 or 60 years, at least 50 years Bloodshed, the war on drugs. The entire country was affected and this community particularly, for decades, has been affected by a conflict. And for this community, it was surrounded by cartels, obviously not to their own choice. There was limited opportunities.
Speaker 5:During that time, or the past several decades, the only job opportunities that these communities had really were day jobs, service, uh type jobs, but it was very informal, right? So, you're, you're, these families are earning next to nothing. And the fact that you know, okay, they're in this, in this high risk area, right, they can't move. You know it's, it's impossible, they're, they're, they're, they're in a high-risk area, not of their choice. And so imagine you have a member of the cartel going up to the community offering you hey, community, I will give you $150 every week could be be month if you grow this product.
Speaker 5:What was this product? This product, unfortunately, was an illegal crop, right lack of better words marijuana. Okay, so you have families, day in and day out, looking to find any means necessary to put food on the table for their children, find ways to send their children to the school, find just any way, shape or form, to survive the current labor market couldn't offer that. But then you have an opportunity to earn 150 US dollars. That's a huge, huge change. And so for the families everyone that we, a huge, huge change. And so for the families, everyone that we spoke with, I mean they had no choice but to say yes, because it was one of those situations where, if you don't do this, we will come back and perhaps make things a whole lot worse for you guys.
Speaker 2:Right, it's a forced yes. There is no alternative other than a yes.
Speaker 5:Exactly, yeah. So for that community, for the longest time it was all about survival.
Speaker 4:It's better to be stained with blackberry juice than marked by blood. David, how did this remind you of why this mission matters?
Speaker 5:The president said. The president of the community said that quote. Okay, he lived through all this conflict, he's seen it, and so for him to say that when I heard it it went a long way, that tragic history, and has now been converted to an opportunity of hope that all future generations no longer have to experience what the current generation has experienced, that they're growing into legal crops, blackberries, and I'm sure the stories will be told by their parents, grandparents, right, yeah, but all future generations are much safer. You know, thanks to this project, one of the biggest challenges for any farmer in Colombia is earning a fair price for what they cultivate. Okay, and largely because there's a lot of middlemen that come in and, sure you know, make it, make an agreement with the community, we'll pay you for this much, but then that middle person charge you know, sells it to the market at 10 times the amount and we've seen this.
Speaker 2:You, we, you know, ian and I we've traveled to guatemala. We've seen this.
Speaker 3:I couldn't help but think of elialu also, where we saw projects, projects in the mountains, and the women up there, like had their own cooperative and they were growing export quality produce and that's the key the quality was so high that they could sell it internationally. So it's a very high standard. It's very hard to achieve, but that's part of what Food for the Poor does educating the farmers on how to get to that level. So the crops are worth more.
Speaker 2:And you went to a school and you met a young man by the name of Johan and that story stuck with us. So why don't you tell our listeners a little bit about our audience, about Johan?
Speaker 3:Again. The children in Colombia just amaze me. There were so many there that were so ambitious and so excited about learning. So we go into the mountains of Columbia where there's an entrepreneurial school. So, like all the kids there, they all want to start their own businesses and they're learning all the basics. And we started off by meeting one young man, johan. He lives on the side of the mountain in a house that's made out of corrugated metal and tarps, dirt floor. It's very humble but it's perfectly kept.
Speaker 3:Johan and his little sisters, melanie and Valentina. They get them all dressed up to go to school and then they hike up the side of this mountain and they do it if it's raining, it doesn't matter what the conditions are. They go up the side of the mountain, they catch a bus that takes them to the entrepreneurial school. So the school is beautiful. Anything you could ever want to learn in this area it's, like all, very applicable to the area. So they're learning how to cultivate crops, they're learning animal husbandry, then they learn how to run a business. So they have regular classes, like you'd have in a school that any of us might have attended. But then they apply that knowledge to like what it would take to run a local business. So when you're doing math, you're learning about inventory, you're learning about sales. You know you're learning like how do I apply this to a business here? Then they actually take care of all the animals and the crops and they have their own products.
Speaker 3:And when you go to lunch in this school, everything on the table is stuff that they grew. They grew it right there and then they have a storefront because it's on a highway. You know where Johan got dropped off for school and all his classmates. They're on a busy highway. So they open up a shop and they have a restaurant and they serve the people. And now they're learning how to run a business and how to interface with clients. Everybody there has their own side hustle too. So they got the school itself as a business that you're learning. And then they have their own small businesses and David got them all organized and we line them up and each one of them takes a step forward and tells us about their small business and they're so excited Like they have their elevator pitch ready to like tell you all about their business. And Johan steps up and he makes energy bars and he has his own secret recipe.
Speaker 2:He's so excited about it, he wouldn't share his recipe, you know, because that's like yeah, I know, I know You're going to take it to America and make a million bucks with it. I know he's not having that. That's a secret recipe.
Speaker 3:He does his own packaging, he made his own labels, he does his marketing and he's ready for business and they all stepped up and they all had their own small businesses that they were working on and they get to develop them there.
Speaker 1:Thank you very much for helping us. We are people of limited resources. You are helping us so much.
Speaker 3:This is a combination of a school for the local kids that are ambitious and want to go there, but it's also an Angels of Hope school. So that means that you have some kids that live on the property like they might not have a home to go to, and then some of them might have a home but it's a long way off and their parents kind of send them like what we would understand as a boarding school. So it's like we want you to go there and get those skills because the kids are excited about it and again you're breaking the cycle of poverty. Now these kids know how to start a business or how to employ other people. So it's absolutely wonderful and the enthusiasm that you see here these kids were absolutely incredible.
Speaker 4:And those are pretty much those alter your dreams of doing something in the future versus a kid that's outside the walls of that school, that pretty much don't know if they can get a meal tomorrow.
Speaker 2:David, I want to go back to you for a moment and just talk about some of the misconceptions that take place. What do we need to understand about really the life cycle, or the longevity, or the timeframe it takes to do this?
Speaker 5:So Paul, great question. It's not easy. In layman's terms, it's not easy. It's not a quick fix, it's not, you know, to transform an entire community or even several communities. A year's not enough, six months is not enough, two years is not enough, three years is not enough. Three years is not enough.
Speaker 5:And so, really, it boils down to the investigation that needs to be done, and sure, we find what the most important needs are and we have our main focus areas that we attend to, but we also are aware that we're not going to be there forever. We want to get to a point where the community, once we do our number of interventions, it gets to a level where, okay, community, based on everything that we've done and we've seen through data and numbers and through hearing what you all think, we believe that you're ready, you don't need us anymore. That's the game plan. That you don't need food for the poor anymore, because we've got to a level where you and the community and for the next generations are sustainable. Right, that's the end game. That's what we want to arrive at. If I could say I wish my job didn't exist, if my job didn't exist, there'd be no poverty. Guess what that's?
Speaker 2:why we're here. Thank you truly for being here today, because I think that you have given a voice to so many in Columbia that will no longer remain voiceless. I love it. On that note, fist bump, thank you guys. But on that note, fist bump, thank you guys.
Speaker 4:Hey everyone, thanks for listening to Beyond the Plate. We love having you here. Keep up with us on Instagram and TikTok at beyondtheplatepodcast, and, if you enjoy the show, don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel and give our videos a like. Just search Food for the Poor Beyond the.
Speaker 2:Plate. Your support means the world to us All.
Speaker 4:right, folks, we'll see you on the next Beyond the Plate episode. I'm waving.
