Eigth grade students from TCS sent letters to government officials all around Colombia with hopes of informing them of La Guajira’s economic problems, and the school’s campaign to help.

This letter tackles the issues of the critical water, education, and poverty conditions of the department. It invites powerful members of Colombian society to support the cause, and raise awareness and money for the Guajira. The 8th-graders will travel to one of the most recognized cities of the department, Cabo de la Vela, February 13th.

“We are writing a letter that would get sent to municipalities and governments of a lot of places in Colombia, and they would get informed about what we’re doing about it,” said Julia Medina, an 8th grade student involved in the program. “I was involved in this project from before, and this year when we entered eighth grade my classmates started to get involved with me because the school started to tell us the story. We realized that when you start to educate people about things, motivate them, and create awareness, the message begins to spread and people start to act,” said Andrea Arango, an 8th grade student.

The motivation of the Guajira campaign group is that people can take action and try to help. They hope by raising awareness some tragedies can be prevented.

“If people don’t know about this problem, what happened in 2016 may happen again; which is that 56 indigenous children died. This letter has to inform the problem to people from all over the world, as the school did with us,” Arango said.

So far the efforts to get the attention of someone important have paid off. Last week, recognized singer Pipe Pelaez, shared a message on social media discussing the problems of the Guajira.

“I am Felipe Pelaez and on this occasion I am pleased to announce that with all my heart I am defending a tremendous campaign in favor of our Guayu community. This campaign is led by The Columbus School,” Pelaez said.

The message from Pelaez has motivated the students to continue working for the cause, and showed them their work is useful. 8th grade students and teachers have high hopes of the impact their work can make. They believe everything they do is progress, and that they will be able to get through to people

“I don’t think everyone is going to read it but if at least one person starts to care about our the Guajira, it’s worth it. The last thing I am losing is hope,” Medina said