Fe y Alegría stations tuned to the culture of peace in Colombia

Bogotá, Colombia.- Camilo León, community manager of the Fe y Alegría Movement community initiative in Colombia, remembers that September 4 as if it were yesterday when a group of students from the San Ignacio de Bosa school, south of Bogotá, “worried Due to the situation the country was going through, we decided to organize ourselves to make our voice heard and that of the entire community ”.

It was 2013 and the national agricultural strike was taking a stir: "We decided to take advantage of a space they had in the school that served as a station, although they only played music, it looked more like a jukebox", therefore "we wanted to somehow tell what was happening in the country, ask the educational community what they feel about all this that we are experiencing ”, Camilo tells SIGNIS ALC, who was in the tenth grade at that time.

This is how Nacho Estéreo was born

It was an almost improvised experience, without much knowledge about radio, but with the heart they became a means of community communication that little by little gained ground among the students, as it is worth mentioning that this station project arose as an initiative of their own students: "It is a voluntary job, here things are not done by taking a course or completing community service hours, but with the passion and desire to communicate."

This is how this period passed, the holiday period arrived, but "to the surprise of the teachers in the last week of January when we returned to classes, we told them to give us the space we asked for last year again." A hovel almost one by one, "there we looked like the Transmilenio passengers at rush hour," jokes Camilo, who was starting eleventh grade at that time.

"The thing was serious", evokes the young man and it was in this way that he decided to hold a council with all the young guys from the station to put a name and surname to this project. “At school there was a little dog named Nacho, he was very loved by everyone. Nacho joined us at the meeting in the library, as by magic we decided to name the station Nacho Estéreo in honor of this friend from school, in addition to everything that caring for creation means ”, in fact“ if the dog is He would have called Firuláis, surely we would have called ourselves that ”.

First achievements

The first challenge for Nacho Estéreo , your youth station, was before the local Mayor's Office of Bosa. “We introduced a project there, without much technical knowledge on this, but with the blessing of the school board. Of 70 proposals that participated, ours came in fourth place. It was a huge joy, we couldn't believe it. With this resource, we acquire the equipment to establish ourselves as a whole station, ”he says.

The young people of San Ignacio, from there, decided not only to make a collegiate station per se, but to open up to the entire community so that "the people of the neighborhood can tell their stories." In this way, they formed a whole organization chart: a director, production manager, network coordinator, among others.

Eddy Santiago Forero, current director of Nacho Estéreo, assures that his time on the radio has been enriching: “The production process caught my attention, that's how I began to give ideas to my colleagues about the programs we did. Monday to Friday. I liked that, that's how they named me director ”.

For Kleberson Rodríguez, production manager, the most important thing is teamwork, because "I am the biggest chick of all (the newest), I have to rely on my colleagues, I am in charge of editing the programs." He always wanted to participate, but had not been able to specify until "that time they called for registrations I was the first, I even participated that same day in a program as an announcer."

Tangled by radio passion

It was between 2017 and 2018, when young communicators decided to knock on doors in their own home: Fe y Alegría Colombia. The objective was to be able to export this initiative to the schools led by this movement in the country. From this experience, a network of school radio stations is emerging in Bogotá, Soacha and Tolima for a total of nine.

In this way, Enredados arises, a communicational network of Fe y Alegría that through community radio processes empowers the young people in their schools. Camilo as a student, then went on to coordinate this network of stations as a sign of student leadership.

"The bet of all these stations has been the construction of critical thinking and betting on the construction of peace, being in tune with the culture of peace, a fundamental issue in the reality that we are living right now," says León. The key to the success of this initiative is that it was made by young people for young people, of course "while recognizing the contribution of teachers."

This is endorsed by Juan Salgado, who in four years with Nacho Estéreo , in the current situation has had to assume the management of social networks: “See all the potential that this project has with which you can reach many people, that's why I have always had that courage to put the tab on this, where not even the pandemic could stop our efforts.

Paths of self-sustainability

The great bet of this group of young people is to achieve self-financing, because they have always asked themselves “what would happen in the future if Fe y Alegría does not follow and the district takes it for example”. Under this premise they have established an annual festival that they have called the Nachofest.

In this gala they invite local and national artists in search of funds for the maintenance of the stations. The entire educational community and residents of the sector actively participate there. Every September, the date that coincides with the founding of Nacho Estéreo, they animate this event.

“It is a very interesting challenge, it is not only about making an event to do it, it is about all the learning that the organization generates, from the sale of tickets, promotion, to contacting the artists, all of this is an organizational exercise that requires a complete combo of possibilities, ”says Camilo.

From what arose as a spontaneous idea to the indignation of a group of 'partners', today it gathers its fruits in every boy or girl marked by the magic of making radio, a secret that only those who have been able to turn microphones into brushes know. draw peace.

Editorial staff: Ángel Alberto Morillo, SIGNIS ALC correspondent in Colombia

 

Links nachoestereo.blogspot.com