The Sibundoy Valley, in southern Colombia, is the land of indigenous cultures. In this magical place, rich in fauna and flora, Deisy Liliana Tisoy Jacanamejoy, an indigenous woman belonging to the Kamentsa (Kamsá) ethnic group, was born 28 years ago. It's been more than a decade since Deisy left that valley, and she may never return. It was especially painful for Deisy to go into exile in 2011 when she was 17 years old. Beyond the uprooting that exile can produce in any person, indigenous communities feel a strong connection with the lands that see them born and rarely leave them. “They threatened us. My dad was the president of the community action board of the villages”, she recalls without giving much detail.

It is common that in an area like Sibundoy, which lacks infrastructure and security, people emerge among its inhabitants who watch over the organization and well-being of the community. These social leaders frequently receive threats from illegal groups that seek to control the territory.

The assassination of social leaders is one of the biggest security problems in Colombia. According to a recent report by the United Nations Office for Human Rights in 2021, 78 social leaders were murdered in Colombia and another 130 homicides are in the process of verification or their cases, although linked to their social work, are inconclusive.

displacement

Deisy and her family knew those threats were real. She was the first to leave the Sibundoy valley at the age of 17 until she reached the nearest Kamentsa reservation. That was how she came to Mocoa, the capital of the department of Putumayo. Here, Deisy wears jean pants and a cool t-shirt to cope with the equatorial climate. She drives a scooter type motorcycle without a helmet (almost no motorcyclist in Mocoa does) and showing her long dark hair. Deisy knows by heart the holes in the unpaved road that takes her to the indigenous reservation, located just fifteen minutes from the town center and where 400 Kamentsa families live.

As if he were finally free to discover his authentic identity, upon arriving at the indigenous town hall, he changes his clothes and proudly wears his traditional clothing: a black blanket, a sash made of guanga and wool, where the symbology of the Kamentsa community and the accessories cannot be missing: balacas, necklaces, bracelets and earrings made by herself with beads[1].

“Getting here was hard: I worked in a restaurant, in a market, in a china shop, also in an appliance store…”, she says, doubting if she forgets to mention some other job. Being a woman, indigenous, a minor and with a very basic education did not make her an attractive profile for any stable job.

To all this was added that Deisy was displaced by violence. According to some social workers of the International Labor Organization (ILO) in Colombia there is a strong stigma against the displaced. They are mistakenly considered 'problematic' people because they are habituated to violence, have little education and suffer from many basic necessities.

Deisy directly and indirectly experienced this discrimination and unsuccessfully searched for a stable job, a difficult task in Colombia where, according to the National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE), the unemployment rate is close to 11% and close to 50% of those who work do so. they do informally[2]. When she didn't get any work, she dedicated herself to making indigenous handicrafts: "Necklaces, earrings, bracelets, balacas... selling them has been part of my livelihood," she explains. But living from "day to day" or "rebusque" did not guarantee the stability that Deisy needed. Neither she nor the baby that was on the way.

When her son Juan Camilo turned his first year of life, Deisy decided to study: “First, I looked at the National Learning Service (SENA) to create an administrative management technology. It was a hard process, but I managed to finish it”, says Deisy. However, finding work was still difficult and in 2017 there was a tragedy in Mocoa that would mark the history of the country.

The tragedy of Mocoa

In the early morning of March 31 to April 1, an incessant and intense rain overflowed several rivers near the municipal seat. An avalanche swept away hundreds of houses and 334 people died. Since that night, Mocoa has been marked by the tragedy and its economy has been hit hard. In the midst of the disaster, the Kamtsa community shelter also disappeared. “Fortunately, there was no one in the reservation that morning, but we had to move to a property further up the hillside. A place that is supposed to be temporary because the space is insufficient”, says Deisy.

The Government of Colombia and the United Nations prioritized support for the inhabitants of Mocoa in the aftermath of the avalanche. That 2017, the International Labor Organization established in the capital of Putumayo the national program 'Training for the Future' designed for people who, like Deisy, needed an educational boost to get ahead.

“Forming for the Future came at the time we needed it, it was like a blessing from God. They helped us with the family basket, they worried that we had a market and that we could study without having to think that we needed a job, and we had the opportunity to be trained to improve our resume[3]”, she says gratefully. Her father accessed this program in 2017. She and her sister enrolled in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A leader like her father

The program allowed Deisy to graduate as a systems technician, where she learned to use Word, Excel, design web pages and manage social networks. But the greatest learning, thanks to the psychosocial support of this program, was discovering that Deisy was, like her father, a natural leader: she received a special mention for her commitment and leadership capacity.

The young woman developed a vocation of service for her community and she knew the magic of learning: two indispensable tools that motivated her to promote something that violence had tried to usurp: the culture of her Kamentsa of her.

Deisy carried out a course in early childhood education that, combined with the systems technician course at Formarnos para el Futuro, opened the doors for her to work in her indigenous community through the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare (ICBF).

“Having the systems technician was key for me to be able to access this job because it was the first thing they saw when they reviewed my resume,” explains Deisy, who has been teaching assistant for a year.

Deisy is a clear example that culture is displaced, but not stripped away and her goal is to promote their traditions and language among the children of the Kamentsa Biya reservation in Mocoa. "My idea is to finish my degree with systems and continue contributing to the community," she says proudly.

Spreading your culture

As for the making of necklaces, bracelets and balacas, Deisy explains that the Training for the Future program planted the idea of ​​entrepreneurship in her. "I merged my knowledge of new technologies with handicrafts." In her free time, she is dedicated to making and selling it through her social networks. More than a business, she sees it as a way to make her culture known to the whole world.

“That is the motivation for me, to be able to educate myself without forgetting my traditions, rather strengthening them with technology,” she adds. Deisy works in Mocoa, but her mind and heart are still in the Sibundoy Valley, a place she was displaced from ten years ago, but from which she has never left.

Report produced by Lucía Benavente for UN News.