In
our path of Polinizaciones it's a priority for us to maintain
relationships and stay in touch with the people and communities we've
had the chance to get to know and share experiences and our work
with. We recognize the dynamic where many people who travel a lot and
arrive in communities where people open their doors to them with much
love, never return. It's sad to us that people who have the privilege
to travel don't take into consideration the communities who open
their doors to them. Since we started this journey with Polinizaciones, we have been really clear on this, and although for
lack of economic resources we haven't been able to return to all of
the communities who have received us, that work is still pending for
us, to maintain these relationships and return to continue knowing,
sharing, and walking together. 
Fortunately on this tour we've had the
opportunity to reconnect to some of these relationships, first in
Cali and then in the Department of Cauca where we returned to
communities that we got to know when we first started this process,
and also got to know new communities and processes.
One
process that we've known for a long time because of the strength of
their own communication is the communities of the Nasa Nation in the
north of Cauca. Although in the past we were able to get to know and
work with Nasa communities in the municipality of Caldono and in Tierradentro this was the first time we'd been able to meet and
share with community members from the reserves of Toribio and Tacueyó.
Although Toribio is more known as a violent place because of the war
and has been demonized by the media, for example with the image of a
soldier crying when the Indigenous Guard was liberating the Cerro de
Berín, we know that it's also a territory inhabited by resourceful communities who are ready to use creativity to meet their
needs.
Although Toribio is more known as a violent place because of the war
and has been demonized by the media, for example with the image of a
soldier crying when the Indigenous Guard was liberating the Cerro de
Berín, we know that it's also a territory inhabited by resourceful communities who are ready to use creativity to meet their
needs.
Through
friends from the Minga de Muralistas we were able to arrive in this
place and learn more about their processes of struggle, resistance,
and defense of this territory. The Minga de Muralistas formed with
the idea of creating a different collective vision for the community
of Toribio through art. A group of artists and community leaders
dreamed of realizing this artistic work brigade, with the idea of
converting Toribio into an outdoor art museum to recuperate Nasa
cultural identity, and strengthen the representation of the community
through the conservation of public spaces, by painting murals. 
Since
then the members of the Minga de Muralistas have been painting murals
all over the territory of northern Cauca and now they are talking
about taking the Minga to Putumayo and to Huila.
Since
then the members of the Minga de Muralistas have been painting murals
all over the territory of northern Cauca and now they are talking
about taking the Minga to Putumayo and to Huila.
During
our time in Toribio The
Center for Education, Training, and Research for the Comprehensive
Development of the Community (CECIDIC) was
our base of operations. CECIDIC is considered a “coming together
point of different educational alternatives that offer indigenous
communities, rural farmers, mestizos
and afro descendents spaces for training and also accompaniment for children, youth,
adults, and elders, to support the building of holistic and
intercultural lives, supporting the strengthening of ethnic,
cultural, and biological diversity in Colombia.” 
Being in CECIDIC
was really an incredible thing – a college/university with
indigenous Nasa students, other indigenous communities, and
Afro-Colombians, with projects to strengthen their languages, a
screen printing workshop, a welding workshop, and programs to study
agro ecology and communications. In the cooperative store at CECIDIC
they have their own line of clothing, Maensu, designed with stamps
from the screen printing workshop, Yu'ce Nasa organic soap made there,
and also the Kwesx Café Coffee.
Being in CECIDIC
was really an incredible thing – a college/university with
indigenous Nasa students, other indigenous communities, and
Afro-Colombians, with projects to strengthen their languages, a
screen printing workshop, a welding workshop, and programs to study
agro ecology and communications. In the cooperative store at CECIDIC
they have their own line of clothing, Maensu, designed with stamps
from the screen printing workshop, Yu'ce Nasa organic soap made there,
and also the Kwesx Café Coffee.
The
first activity we participated in was the swearing in of student
councils members, which took place in the sports center of Tacueyo. The process of the student councils is how the youth is incorporated to the different community and regional organizations from a young age. During
the whole event the Mesoamérica Resiste and Plan Colombia banners
were hanging up in the space, where many people admired them and took
photos in front of them. 
After the event we were able to present
Mesoamérica Resiste and the work of Polinizaciones to a group of
professors, and we left copies of the poster with teachers that teach
in the Nasa Yuwe language, who are taking on the challenge of working
with the poster in their own language.
After the event we were able to present
Mesoamérica Resiste and the work of Polinizaciones to a group of
professors, and we left copies of the poster with teachers that teach
in the Nasa Yuwe language, who are taking on the challenge of working
with the poster in their own language.
In
Toribio we were able to stop by the NASA Project Cooperative where
they offered their own brand of natural juice, Fxinze, and berry
yogurt from Lácteos San Luis, all community businesses, and also
offered trout from the Juan Tama Fishery in Tacueyó. 
In the
cooperative and pharmacy Droguería Central they also had a variety
of plant-based medicines and remedies and other natural substances
for all kinds of sicknesses. Above the pharmacy is Nasa Estéreo
where we participated in an interview to talk about the Mesoamérica
Resiste graphic, megaprojects, and the work of the Bees. In more than
one occasion during the days in Toribio we felt, and said out loud,
that we felt like we were in the solidarity economy scene in the
Mesoamerica poster [part of the larger native bee scene of the
illustration].
In the
cooperative and pharmacy Droguería Central they also had a variety
of plant-based medicines and remedies and other natural substances
for all kinds of sicknesses. Above the pharmacy is Nasa Estéreo
where we participated in an interview to talk about the Mesoamérica
Resiste graphic, megaprojects, and the work of the Bees. In more than
one occasion during the days in Toribio we felt, and said out loud,
that we felt like we were in the solidarity economy scene in the
Mesoamerica poster [part of the larger native bee scene of the
illustration].
The
second day was workshops to collectively analyze and explore the
graphics, and presentations to groups of hundreds of students and
professors, all day long in CECIDIC. Many students from all of the
courses took time to look at the banners up close, and participate in
understanding it, while other students from the communicationsprogram recorded video and audio and took photos during the activity.
During the group workshop we gave the students in each group the
option of presenting their scenes in Spanish or in Nasa Yuwe; the
majority presented only in Spanish but one group of students
braved it and presented in their own language.
During the group workshop we gave the students in each group the
option of presenting their scenes in Spanish or in Nasa Yuwe; the
majority presented only in Spanish but one group of students
braved it and presented in their own language.
Knowing
the projects and activities in this area, it was really easy to
ground certain concepts from Mesoamérica Resiste in the reality of
people´s lives in northern Cauca. Militarization and war, but also
the resistance to them, a solidarity economy in the face of threats
of displacement and monocultures. In the high part of Tacueyó there
is a zone of high moors (páramo)
where they are trying to install a high mountain military battalion
to protect a highway to facilitate the movement of trade from the
Pacific coast to the port in Honda, Tolima, part of the Magdalena
River Development Plan. 
In all of the spaces where we were able to
share the graphics campaigns, the students, professors, and everyone
appreciated the artistic aspect as much as the educational and
informational aspects of the drawings.
In all of the spaces where we were able to
share the graphics campaigns, the students, professors, and everyone
appreciated the artistic aspect as much as the educational and
informational aspects of the drawings.As always when we're on tour, the time in each place is too short. We hardly had time to get to know Toribio, San Francisco and Tacueyó, and like every place where we've pollinated, we have to return. We know that with our new family in northern Cauca there's a lot to do together. We saw how this place has been so devastated by war, but at the same time how communities have succeeded in meeting their needs in their own ways, achieving an admirable level of self-sufficiency that other communities with more possibilities haven't been able to achieve.
We left with the possibility of working with other bees and
animals that dream, that know and live a resistance of colors, forms, art and culture, music, planting and trading, chicha
and... we see that we are closer now to the reality of being
able to bring the Minga de Muralistas to our territories, hopefully
in the not too distant future, to be able to create a new graphics
campaign about a new theme made by a new group of pollinators from
here, and we want that to include our new family in northern Cauca. Time will tell how we achieve this metamorphosis.
