When: Octubre 2025
Where: Istmina y Tadó, Chocó.
Institutions: Colegios Verdes del Pacífico
Facilitators: Victoria Mena
Text: La_teoria_de_la_bolsa_como_origen_de_la_ficcion_UrsulaKLeguin
YouTube Link: Registros y Testimonios – Taller Colegios Verdes del Pacífico
The visit began with an intimate meeting among community leaders, teachers, and the facilitation team. Listening to them felt like opening a book of voices that echo across different regions of the country: a shared sense of fatigue with the same recurring questions, the presence of the State advancing slowly and unevenly—efforts that, though recognized, still fail to close the gap between discourse and daily life. Yet within their words, there was also a clear need to believe that change remains possible; that quality education can be achieved; that learning must be contextual; that orality is a treasure to be safeguarded and multiplied; and that within culture, children are raised not only by teachers but also by families and communities.
With that contradictory energy—between frustration and hope—the following day we conducted the Pre-Texts workshop in its usual disruptive spirit. When art emerges from text, new paths open up. Creation and play become tools for thinking, feeling, and building collectively. The atmosphere soon transformed into a space of discovery. Faces brightened, voices grew livelier, and bodies moved with curiosity. The idea that “nothing can be done” gradually gave way to “everything we can do from here.”
The most beautiful moment was witnessing the effect on first-semester students from the Early Childhood Education program. Many arrived believing their degree was simply the only available option in the region—a kind of imposed destiny. The workshop offered them a new perspective: to be a teacher of early childhood is also to open worlds, sow the future, and lead transformation through small acts of care and imagination. I saw them begin to recognize themselves as part of something greater—a community of purpose and meaning.
Another profoundly human moment emerged during the encounter among students, coordinators, and administrative staff. It was moving to see them look at one another and say, “How are you? Oh, it’s you! I only knew your voice!” For many, it was their first time meeting in person after months of interacting through screens, since poor connectivity had often kept cameras turned off. That simple act of meeting, greeting, and asking about one another’s dreams, goals, or state of mind became deeply revealing. There was laughter, there were embraces, and silences that spoke more than words. It was, in many ways, a rediscovery of each other as people beyond academic roles.
By the end of the day, I reaffirmed my conviction that transformation does not depend solely on technology, as the group of teachers suggested. Of course, it plays an essential role, but as the saying goes, “with three stones you can make a stew” when creativity and talent come alive while waiting for devices to arrive. The attitude with which one views the environment is the strongest engine for change. Pre-Texts reminded everyone that transformation begins with the simplest gesture: reading together, listening, creating something of one’s own, and sharing a question.
Plans were made to ensure this experience would not remain an isolated moment. We aim to continue the full certification process in the Pre-Texts methodology. Only then will the enthusiasm and awareness achieved become sustainable changes—both among future teachers and the educators who guide them today.