CURATED BY NIKI DE WITT
In Colombia, indigenous children make a pilgrimage each year for education, trekking through the Vaupés jungle to reach the Rural Education Center of Bocas del Yi. Since the journey to the school is incredibly laborious, 90 percent of the children live there for the duration of the school year, living in dorms and eating fish and manioc, a potato-like vegetable. Recently, four students took the national exam and were rewarded with tablets for their exceptional scores.
FROM EL ESPECTADOR/WORLDCRUNCH
MITU “” This is a very different kind of education story, under circumstances far from your ordinary classroom.
The Rural Education Center Bocas del Yi is in the middle of Colombia’s Amazon jungle. And yet three of its students and three of its teachers have managed to achieve outstanding test scores in a nationwide program of academic and sports competitions.
I decided to pay them a visit.
It’s not easy to get to the center because it is, after all, in the middle of the Vaupés jungle. If a reporter accompanied by the school director and members of Mitú’s Casa de la Cultura finds it difficult, imagine what it must be like for a 5 or 6-year-old child who lives in this boarding school in the middle of nowhere “” a child who must leave his or her family behind for the duration of the school year”….Continue Reading
ABOUT THE CURATOR
Niki is currently exploring Asia while working on a children’s book series about travel. As a child, she traveled and moved often for her parents’ jobs. As a result of this, she has always felt most at home when she’s off and away. She is interested in international films, working on building an impressive tea collection, and can often be found with her camera in hand. You can have a look-see at her blog and follow her on Twitter @nikidding.
Photo by Enrique Patiño
