Laura Jimena talks about our project in Colombia

My name is Laura Jimena, I am 14 years old and I have been participating in the Paza la Paz project in Colombia since April 2021. The experiences I've made through this project have been very empowering and I have learned a tremendous amount.

What I like most about the project is discovering and developing my leadership skills. I didn't know before how much I like the feeling of being a leader and striving for peace and conflict resolution. The project has shown me that it is important to stick together, participate, and have a voice. That's the only way to make a difference.

Through the project, I also discovered my passion for music, especially folk music. This has had a very positive effect on me. I recognized my talent for music and gained a lot of self-confidence, which helped me a lot to develop as a person. I was also able to build good friendships with other young people from the project.

We also got the opportunity to create a song in a music group and record it. Since we thought about the importance of never losing touch with your rural roots together in our group, we created a story and song lyrics from it. Our song is called "Pájaro Urbano" (City Bird) and the lyrics tell the story of the barranquero bird that wants to return to the mountains where its roots are.

Overall, I was able to benefit a lot from this project. I was allowed to try out many things and learned a lot of new skills as a result. Now I have more confidence in myself, I recognize my leadership qualities and I will work for more peace and justice in the future. For me, Paza la Paz is a great and enriching project and I am very grateful for the experiences I've had here.