{"id":24055,"date":"2017-09-17T12:21:41","date_gmt":"2017-09-17T16:21:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/?p=24055"},"modified":"2017-09-18T13:56:23","modified_gmt":"2017-09-18T17:56:23","slug":"can-dream-six-dreams-life-bogota","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/2017\/09\/17\/can-dream-six-dreams-life-bogota\/","title":{"rendered":"Where Can I Dream? Eight Stories of Life in Bogot\u00e1"},"content":{"rendered":"

“We need to have a beautiful place so we can live in dignity as human beings\u2014that’s what we need the most: a place where we can go and speak to our ‘Older Brother’; to our brothers and sisters, the trees; to nature; a place where we can rest.\u201d<\/blockquote><\/figure>(Una versi\u00f3n en espa\u00f1ol, aqui<\/a>.)<\/em><\/p>\n

In pondering the question: \u201cWho should have access to the countless benefits and services that urban ecosystems provide?\u201d We have put together a collection of eight first-person accounts that portray city dwellers’ dreams.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Luisa. Photo: Johanna Gonzalez<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This series of Sketches of life explores both individual and collective human experiences as participants narrate their lives and reveal their innermost thoughts. These acts of remembrance provide a key to human identity and give meaning and substance to daily life (Cifuentes A., 2016).[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

“I am Hernan Garcia, from the Barrancas-Quebrada el Cedro neighborhood located in Bogot\u00e1’s eastern foothills.<\/strong>\u00a0I envision a movement that would revolve around the entire watershed basin … a territory that would take in both the brook and its basin … I dream about all of us forming a harmonious bond, one based on mutual interests and symbiosis with all the communities that live in the foothills, as well as with those located in the mid and lower basins which the Cedro brook flows through; I believe this is possible because part of this basin is located where the brook empties into the Torca stream, and further downstream into the Bogota River. \u00a0So, I dream about this territory being held together by water: by crystal-clear water, by marvelous biodiversity. I also think that eco-tourism could contribute to the development of these communities.”<\/p>\n

\u201cMy name is Neiphy. I’m 26 years old and I live in the Usme neighborhood in the southeastern part of Bogot\u00e1.<\/strong> The Tunjuelo River runs through it. I have heard that this river comes from a high mountain meadow. Being close to a river means that we live in a special place, but my kids don’t go out very much to explore the river and its surroundings because this a dangerous neighborhood. The only place for them to play outside is on a hilly area inside the housing project where only a few trees are growing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy name is Jorge Enrique.<\/strong> I was born in 1953. I grew up in the country, but I had to leave during a period of political violence.<\/strong> I came to Bogot\u00e1 with my family. I dream about Bogot\u00e1’s northern border being turned into a giant forest that would unite the eastern mountain range with the plateau below so that all the falling water could flow through it. This would make the eastern mountain range happy because it would be brought closer to the Majuy hills located west of the city. Right now, these two mountain formations can’t be together, but they are winking at each other and playing hide-and-seek, because they know that someday the giant forest will make their rendezvous possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy name is Enilfa. I live in a neighborhood in the southern part of the city, where I really don’t feel at home.<\/strong> Most of the houses are only half-built, and the streets are filled with dust that comes from the nearby open-air quarries. Progress means that some of the streets have been paved. The truth is that most of the people who live here don’t want to see any trees planted because they would only give the criminals with knives in their hands a place to hide behind. If the city wants to build us a park, we just want playground equipment and benches in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Moses. Photo: Lina Prieto<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cMy name is Moses, but some people can’t pronounce it right and they call me ‘Moset’.<\/strong> I was born on April 4, 1928, and because of the political violence in the country I was forced to move to the northern part of Bogot\u00e1 with my family. I remember that at that time everything was very pretty; we hunted capybaras, armadillos and wild turkeys. Every year we used to have barbecues with the corn we raised in our garden; it wasn’t just about agriculture, but about the ritual of being together. I have dreams that I try to thread together: I dream about a neighborhood where the young people and everybody else knows where they come from so they can work together within their own culture. I visualize a territory made up of waterways that starts where the water springs from the soil. I dream about us building a harmonious, mutually-dependent and reciprocal relationship with the communities in the mountains and with those who live along the banks of the Cedar Brook which pours into the Torca Brook and then into the Bogot\u00e1 River.\u201d<\/p>\n

“My name is Ligia Hernan.\u00a0Take\u00a0for example the Bogot\u00e1 River … you travel to other places and you find cities that have big rivers running through them.<\/strong> Why isn’t the Bogot\u00e1 River the city’s most important feature? Instead, here you have the impression that the river is “just over there”, that it’s better to not even look at it, that it’s something of an eyesore, that it doesn’t even move … you should be able to walk along the river and come upon birds and fish. \u00a0It’s something we’ve lost without even realizing it … it’s sad, isn’t it?\u00a0 So, what happened?\u00a0 People still strongly believe that they can only be living well if they have pavement beneath their feet.”<\/p>\n

\"\"
Granmother Blancanieves. Photo: Daniela Robayo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI am the grandmother, Ichakaka Blanca. \u00a0My words carry the most weight in the Council of Women here in Suba, located in the northwestern part of Bogot\u00e1.<\/strong> I belong to the indigenous nation of the Muiscas whose territory is called Bacat\u00e1 (Bogot\u00e1). I have always lived in my territory. I am a daughter of Mother Lagoon because I was born in Aguascalientes in the region of Mother Lagoon, and it is where I still live. We lived here with my grandmother, Amalia, who was the doctor. She used traditional medicine from our territory to treat people. She applied the remedies herself. She also wove baskets and gathered all kinds of vegetables and medicinal plants to take to the October 12th<\/sup> Market Place where she bartered with them. It was a cultural exchange: she gave what she had brought for salt and cane sugar in return. Those are the things she would bring back home.”<\/p>\n

“I dream about seeing our Pusmuyes (houses) being built. As the first nation and inhabitants of this sacred Muisca territory, we need to have our territory given back to us. We need to have sacred places where we can plant our crops; what I see every day in the city are just more and more playing fields for sports being built. We need to have a beautiful place so we can live in dignity as human beings\u2014that’s what we need the most: a place where we can go and speak to our ‘Older Brother’; to our brothers and sisters, the trees; to nature; a place where we can rest.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Photo: Andr\u00e9s Angel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
Mister Poveda-Romero with Sandra Valencia. Photo: Sketches of Life Team<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cMy name is Edgar Armando Poveda-Romero. I’m not a native son to these parts [I was not born in Bogot\u00e1].<\/strong> We came here as outsiders 50 years ago. I was born in a gunny-sack where they planted potatoes, 59 years ago, on November 23, 1957. We had milk, farmer’s cheese and eggs, which meant that the country people really didn’t need any money for groceries because we raised our own food with our own hands. As a community, we all belonged to the same family; we lived in harmony. If you were at your neighbor’s house at noon, you all shared lunch from the same pot, followed by a cup of hot chocolate. It was a big family-style meal.\u00a0What they call Bear Mountain here represents love for this place, for life, for the will to live. In the future, I would like to see everybody interested in this place because they really care about it from the bottom of their hearts, not because they have to be thinking about the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Sketches of Life Team: Daniela Robayo, Lina Prieto, Sandra Valencia, Laura Garc\u00eda, Benoit de Santignon, Paula Faure, Johanna Gonzalez<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Sketches of Life<\/strong> Initiative includes real life-stories as told by inhabitants from different corners of Bogota. This Initiative, carried out by Bogot\u00e1 Mountain Foundation<\/a> volunteers, including Sandra Valencia, Johanna Gonzalez, Lina Prieto, Paula Faure, Daniela Robayo, Catalina Garcia, Benoit de Santignon, and Maria Alejandra Pe\u00f1a who recorded the observations which reveal that ecological services in a given place must be concerned with more than just the issue of nature itself: it must be remembered that these services are also loaded with meanings and memories that represent the soul of the community. Therefore, plans based solely on quantitative distribution and indicators are insufficient: the soulfulness of the area’s inhabitants must also be taken into account. In Bogot\u00e1, we have a long way to go in fulfilling this moral obligation: an obligation, which demands that nature and the landscape, make up part of a more equitable city. \u00a0[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

Diana Wiesner Ceballos<\/strong>
\nBogot\u00e1<\/p>\n

On The Nature of Cities<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

[1]<\/a> Cifuentes, Andr\u00e9s. 2016. Saberes de vida para dar vida historias de vida de comunicadores populares, Editor: Corporaci\u00f3n Escuela de Artes y Letras.<\/em> Bogot\u00e1, Colombia<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Translated by Steven Bayless
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

<\/h3>\n

\u00bfA donde puedo so\u00f1ar? Ocho relatos de vida en Bogot\u00e1<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Mediante unos relatos reales pongo a consideraci\u00f3n la reflexi\u00f3n planteada respecto a la pregunta sobre \u00bfQui\u00e9n deber\u00eda tener acceso a los innumerables beneficios de los servicios de los ecosistemas y la naturaleza urbana? y la coincidencia con ocho historias y ocho sue\u00f1os ciudadanos.

“Nosotros necesitamos tener un espacio lindo, digno, como seres humanos para vivir, eso es lo que m\u00e1s necesitamos, ese espacio donde nosotros podamos ir a hablar con nuestro hermano mayor, con nuestros hermanos \u00e1rboles, hablar con la naturaleza, poder descansar\u201d.<\/blockquote><\/figure>\n
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Do\u00f1a Luisa, Paramo de Guerrero. Foto: Johanna Gonzalez<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Historias de vida indaga de las experiencias humanas individuales y colectivas, tomando la interioridad del personaje para darle voz a trav\u00e9s de su narrativa de vida; permite construir una visi\u00f3n de la sociedad en conjunto, adem\u00e1s de acercarnos a la memoria, elemento clave para la identidad humana, la cual da sentido y contenido a la vida (Cifuentes A, 2016)[1]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Me llamo Hern\u00e1n Garc\u00eda Cerros Orientales, Barrio Barrancas-Quebrada el Cedro.<\/strong> \u201cme imagino una din\u00e1mica de cuenca, el territorio entendido desde el agua y la cuenca, es importante entender desde donde nace el agua y donde desemboca, entonces yo sue\u00f1o con que nosotros establezcamos un v\u00ednculo arm\u00f3nico, mutualista y simbi\u00f3tico con las comunidades de los cerros, y de las comunidades de la cuenca media y baja de la quebrada el Cedro, porque parte de esta cuenca desemboca al Torca y luego al r\u00edo Bogot\u00e1, entonces sue\u00f1o este territorio conectado a trav\u00e9s del agua y con agua impecable y una biodiversidad maravillosa y creo que desde el turismo responsable puede haber ese desarrollo en las comunidades.”<\/p>\n

Soy Neiphy, tengo 26 y vivo en un barrio al suroriente de Bogot\u00e1, llamado Usme.<\/strong> Es un lugar que lo recorre el rio Tunjuelo que desciende de un paramo de donde me cuentan viene el agua de la ciudad. \u201cA pesar de parecer un lugar \u00fanico, mis hijos solo cuando se arriesgan con temor de la inseguridad llegan a ver el rio. El \u00fanico juego que encuentran es un rodadero en la mitad de lo que dejo la urbanizaci\u00f3n casi sin \u00e1rboles\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mi nombre\u00a0 es Jorge Enrique, \u201cnac\u00ed 1953, soy de origen campesino, en medio de la violencia pol\u00edtica, nos desplazamos a vivir en Bogot\u00e1.<\/strong> El borde Norte\u00a0 de la ciudad lo sue\u00f1o como un gran bosque que posibilite un encuentro entre la monta\u00f1a, la planicie y que las aguas discurran, fluyan como transmitiendo ese deseo que de pronto tienen los cerros de oriente se acerquen con los cerros del Majuy en el occidente, y con un gui\u00f1o se hacen esquivos y entre ellos saben, que por ahora no van a estar juntos pero, que de pronto pueden tener la posibilidad de encontrarse en un gran bosque\u201d.<\/p>\n

Me llamo Enilfa, vivo en un barrio de la zona sur en el que no puedo ubicarme bien, predominan casas en proceso de construcci\u00f3n, calles cuyo cielo se llena de polvo que viene de las monta\u00f1as excavadas por las canteras que a\u00fan funcionan o que dejaron abiertas<\/strong>. El desarrollo trajo la pavimentaci\u00f3n de algunas v\u00edas, y la verdad la gente que vive ac\u00e1 no quiere que siembren \u00e1rboles, pues pueden ser lugares de inseguridad, donde se esconden los cuchillos para robar. Preferimos que si nos hacen un parque solo tenga juegos\u00a0 y bancas.<\/p>\n

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Moses. Photo: Lina Prieto<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Me llamo Mois\u00e9s,\u00a0 \u201ca veces\u00a0 se traban y me dicen\u00a0 MONSIETE, nac\u00ed\u00a0 El 4 de abril de 1928, llegamos por la violencia desplazados a Bogot\u00e1 por la zona norte.<\/strong> Me acuerdo que todo eso era muy bonito, hab\u00eda algo que cazar como Borujos, Armadillos, Pavas . Todos los a\u00f1os hac\u00edamos asados con las mazorcas de la huerta; no solo ha sido un tema de agricultura, sino tambi\u00e9n un rito de compartir. Yo tengo sue\u00f1os que he tratado de ir enlazando, sue\u00f1o un barrio donde los j\u00f3venes y todas las personas reconozcan el valor de su origen y se trabaje a partir de una cultura propia. Imagino un territorio entendido desde el agua y la cuenca desde donde nace el agua. Sue\u00f1o con que nosotros establezcamos un v\u00ednculo arm\u00f3nico, mutualista y simbi\u00f3tico con las comunidades de los cerros, y de las comunidades de la cuenca media y baja de la quebrada el Cedro, porque parte de esta cuenca desemboca al Torca y luego al r\u00edo Bogot\u00e1\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ligia Hern\u00e1n<\/strong> \u201cpor ejemplo el r\u00edo Bogot\u00e1\u2026 uno va a\u00a0 otras parte y uno ve que dentro de las ciudades pasan r\u00edos grandes, \u00bfpor qu\u00e9 aqu\u00ed el rio Bogot\u00e1 no puede sentirse due\u00f1a de la ciudad? El rio esta como por all\u00e1, como que mejor no lo miro, esa destrucci\u00f3n que uno ve ah\u00ed , como que no se mueve nada, uno esperar\u00eda ver al lado del rio pajaritos, peces. Y eso es como una perdida que uno no fue consciente de que se dio, es como triste \u00bfno?, qu\u00e9 sucedi\u00f3\u2026 se sigue pensando que lo que es bueno es que la gente vive bien porque\u00a0 tiene el piso pavimentado. \u201d<\/p>\n

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Abuela Ichakaka Blanca. Foto: Daniela Robayo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Soy la abuela Ichakaka Blanca. \u201cSoy la palabra mayor aqu\u00ed en el consejo de mujeres de Suba, al noroeste de Bogot\u00e1, soy la abuela Muisca del territorio ac\u00e1 de Bacat\u00e1.<\/strong> Siempre he vivido aqu\u00ed en mi territorio. Soy hija de Madre Laguna, pues nac\u00ed en la Laguna Sagrada de Aguascalientes y aqu\u00ed estoy. Nosotras viv\u00edamos ac\u00e1 tambi\u00e9n con mi abuela Amalia, que era como la m\u00e9dica tradicional de territorio Y era la que daba la medicina, tambi\u00e9n era tejedora de esteras y tambi\u00e9n ella recolectaba mucho, todo lo que era la verdura y todas las plantas medicinales pa\u2019 llevarlas a la plaza del 12 de octubre, para hacer el trueque, el intercambio cultural de todo esto; lo que no hab\u00eda ac\u00e1, m\u00e1s que todo era la sal y la panela, as\u00ed que\u00a0 era lo que ella tra\u00eda de all\u00e1.<\/p>\n

Me sue\u00f1o una construcci\u00f3n de nuestros Pusmuyes (casas), y como primeros nativos y vivientes de este territorio sagrado Muisca necesitamos nuevamente nuestro territorio. Necesitamos tener espacios sagrados donde sembrar, pues cada d\u00eda amanecen en la ciudad mas canchas deportivas. Nosotros necesitamos tener un espacio lindo, digno, como seres humanos para vivir, eso es lo que m\u00e1s necesitamos, ese espacio donde nosotros podamos ir a hablar con nuestro hermano mayor, con nuestros hermanos \u00e1rboles, hablar con la naturaleza, poder descansar\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Foto: Andr\u00e9s Angel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
Don Poveda con Sandra Valencia Foto: Equipo Historias de vida<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mi nombre es Edgar Armando Poveda Romero, \u201cno soy rasal de aqu\u00ed de la regi\u00f3n, nosotros ll\u00e9ganos aqu\u00ed como forasteros hace 50 a\u00f1os, nac\u00ed en unos costales en un campamento donde se cultivaba la papa, hace 59 a\u00f1os, el 23 de noviembre de 1957.<\/strong> Hab\u00eda leche, cuajadas, huevos, es decir, el campesino pr\u00e1cticamente no necesitaba tanta plata para completar la canasta familiar, porque la mayor\u00eda de producci\u00f3n alimentaria se generaba aqu\u00ed, del trabajo de los campesinos y en el tema social, todos \u00e9ramos\u00a0 una sola armon\u00eda, una sola familia, llegaba al medio d\u00eda a la casa del vecino, as\u00ed estuviera almorzando y siga para la olla del fog\u00f3n, y le compart\u00edan, t\u00f3mese un tinto un cacao, y se participaba de lo que estaban compartiendo en familia\u2026 La monta\u00f1a del oso representa una convicci\u00f3n por el amor del lugar, a mi vida, las ganas de vivir, y a futuro me gustar\u00eda ver un conglomerado de personas que a conciencia valoren este lugar, no por necesidad del tema ambiental, sino por convicci\u00f3n\u201d.<\/p>\n

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Algunos miembros del Equipo Historias de Vida: Daniela Robayo, Lina Prieto, Sandra Valencia, Laura Garc\u00eda, Benoit de Santignon, Paula Faure y Johanna Gonzalez<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

En la iniciativa llamada Historias de Vida<\/strong>, narraciones reales de habitantes de distintos rincones de Bogot\u00e1 la Fundaci\u00f3n Cerros de Bogot\u00e1 (www.cerrosdebogota.org<\/a>)<\/strong>, grupo de voluntarios ciudadanos, liderada por Sandra Valencia; Johanna Gonz\u00e1lez, Lina Prieto, Paula Faure, Alejandra Pe\u00f1a recogen los relatos que dan cuenta de que los servicios de la naturaleza van mas all\u00e1 y est\u00e1n cargados de significado y memorias que representen un lugar del alma de esa comunidad. Por lo tanto, hay que ir mas all\u00e1 de pensar en distribuci\u00f3n e indicadores cuantitativos, hacia indicadores desde el alma de sus habitantes. En Bogot\u00e1, estamos lejos de cumplir ese imperativo moral para que la naturaleza\u00a0 y el paisaje participen en la noci\u00f3n de ciudades justas.<\/p>\n

Diana Wiesner Ceballos<\/strong>
\nBogot\u00e1<\/p>\n

On The Nature of Cities<\/a>.
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

[1]<\/a> Cifuentes, Andr\u00e9s. 2016. Saberes de vida para dar vida historias de vida de comunicadores populares, Editor: Corporaci\u00f3n Escuela de Artes y Letras.<\/em> Bogot\u00e1, Colombia<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Una versi\u00f3n en espa\u00f1ol, aqui.) In pondering the question: \u201cWho should have access to the countless benefits and services that urban ecosystems provide?\u201d We have put together a collection of eight first-person accounts that portray city dwellers’ dreams. This series of Sketches of life explores both individual and collective human experiences as participants narrate their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":148,"featured_media":24064,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[273,298],"tags":[73,49,601,96,34,392,84,33,27,90,404,100],"coauthors":[269],"class_list":["post-24055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essay","category-essay-people-and-communitites","tag-biophilia","tag-communities","tag-culture","tag-ecosystem-services","tag-experiencing-nature","tag-justice","tag-livability","tag-resilience","tag-south-america","tag-sustainability","tag-value","tag-wildlife-people-interactions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/148"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24055\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24055"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=24055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}