It’s been 23 years of living in Colombia, enjoying the beauty and the magic this country has to offer. I come from Quindío, a place in the heart of the central mountain ranges of the Colombian Andes, home to probably the best coffee in the world, surrounded by astonishing landscapes everywhere you look. Although, I should mention that I come from a somewhat privileged background, where very harsh realities all over the country are well known and aware in the public consciousness, but turned a blind eye by the vast majority. 

In Colombia, according to MinSalud, around 34 thousand people live on the streets. Part of the homeless population are users of a substance called Basuco, the term comes from cocaine’s waste, this drug is very present in areas like the Bronx in Medellín. There are multiple “Bronx” named areas all over the country, these are places filled with drug abuse, crime, prostitution.. It’s society’s “under the rug” areas, where all the problems out of hand meet, where dehumanisation 0-happens at its worst. And seeing this with my own eyes could be described as terrifying.  

DNfG has brought us closer to wonderful and caring organisations that do care about the people left aside, one of them is Everyday Homeless. They work in the Bronx in Medellín, bringing aid in many ways to communities in need that habit this frightening place. For us it is very important to know the work our associates do first hand, this is the reason I visited the Bronx for the first time. 

From the main staircase entrance to Prado Metro station, 4 massive metal vents from the subway give you a warm welcome to the Bronx. I took a deep breath and got ready for what was ahead of me. We started walking down the street, at first it’s a block walk through a street filled with people laying in filth, all carrying a small wooden pipe (used for basuco consumption). On the block to the right, there’s at least 500 people packed in one single street, almost all of them smoking basuco, and to the left, there was our destination. Inside the apartment complex, there were the kids that live in this street, all having fun, all being kids! All naive and innocent about the reality they live in. 

Visiting a place like this, knowing the community and experiencing their reality changed my life. Through DNfG, these people’s lives can fundamentally change, and a future could be made possible for these kids. The feeling of going into a place like this is inexplicable, it’s the idea of going through a very stressful place and wanting to go back, for good reasons, to help, to spread love to people that have never received it in any way. It’s hell, but there’s good hearts inside it.