‘I have learned to think critically – and at the same time realised that change is possible.’

Living in a colombian war zone

José David Ríos grew up in southwestern Colombia. People here live mostly from growing coca and drug trafficking. Across the entire country around 2.3 million children have been forced from their homes by 50 years of fighting. The conflict between the government, the rebel army FARC, and paramilitaries shaped José ’s childhood from an early age. There’s a difference between watching bullets fly across the screen in a movie and seeing them in real life. A big difference.

José started working in the cocoa plantations when he was just four years old. Just before he turned nine, he was caught in a crossfire. Bullets hit his arm and both legs. For a long time, he could not deal with his feelings; fear and anger overwhelmed him.

There were shootings almost every day. At some point his fear turned to anger. José, the nice boy at the top of his class, changed. ‘I started quarrelling with others, looking for trouble. And because I wasn’t paying attention in school any more, I fell behind by two years.’ At this stage, like so many others, he could have slipped into the violent world of the drug gangs, like many young people in Colombia. But instead, a teacher put forward the troubled teenager for Save the Children’s local mentoring programme. It was a turning point. José’s life took a different direction.

Since attending a youth programme organised by Save the Children in Colombia, he has begun to work through his trauma.

The mentoring programme supports adolescents who are caught between all fronts. It informs young people like José about their rights and opportunities and encourages them to become socially involved. When José went to the programme he startet to see things a different way and regain hope. Today, José leads a group himself. José explains: ‘I was frustrated for a long time because I thought there was nothing I could do. Now it is different. Because I know that change is possible, that people can do something.’

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This text is an excerpt from the book “I’M ALIVE”
by Martina Dase and Dominic Nahr.

All information about the book and where to order can be found here.

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