Afro-Colombian Day
Content for Grades 4-6
During May in Colombia, the whole country comes together to commemorate and support Afro-Colombian culture as well as to work towards equality. This special date was first celebrated in 2001, to honour the Afro population, remember their relevance to Colombian history, and of course give recognition to all the artistic, academic, and social contributions made by Afro-Colombians.
This special month we want to celebrate all the efforts of the Afro-Colombian communities for saving and protecting different territories and helping with the preservation of the fauna and flora. Ecotourism in Nuquí, Chocó, on the Pacific coast of Colombia has become a popular activity since it offers wonderful landscapes, unforgettable experiences, and the possibility to observe an enormous diversity of species, such as whales. For this reason, locals seek to minimize the impact brought by human activity, and they want to fight for the conservation of different natural resources. This is how great heroes and national leaders have emerged. That is the case of Josefina Klinger, a Colombian environmentalist and human rights defender.
In 2022 the USA government conferred her the Woman of Courage Award, to honour her leadership to improve the lives of others. Her main motivation is to protect her community, the beauty, and the ancestral knowledge found in Nuquí. We will be exploring how ecotourism is benefiting and affecting Afro-Colombian communities in the following material.
Activity 1
Ask students the following questions and then create a Venn diagram to compare normal tourism vs ecotourism:
- What is ecotourism? (To illustrate this idea, you can mention places they might be familiar with that also experience ecotourism, like Hawaii or the Gold Coast.)
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of ecotourism?
Activity 2
Read the biography of Josefina Klinger in this document, then watch the video below and discuss with your students the following questions:
- What can we learn from Josefina Klinger?
- What are the characteristics that a good leader needs to have?
- Do you think you have some of those characteristics?
- Do you think it is important to help our community? Why?
- What are some small actions that you can do to help your community?
- Josefina Klinger is considered an important hero because she fights for her community and the environment, do you know any similar heroes in your country?
Experiential Activity
Josefina's courageous actions have inspired others to express their concern about the environmental impacts in Chocó. For instance, Alianza Urbana is a musical group that uses rap to communicate the importance of fighting for the defense of human rights and for the protection of the environment.
Their main objective is to use artistic means to approach people and communicate a message. Additionally, From April 5th to 9th, 2010, 31 young people from the Litoral Pacífico Ecotourism Educational Institution participated in the creation of a mural 20 meters wide by 2.8 meters high for the new collection centre of the DMRI Recycling Network.
Their artistic creation wanted to inspire people to take care of the natural resources at Nuquí. Ask your students to listen and analyse a fragment of the lyrics of the song “Que viva mi escencia” by Alianza Urbana.
- What do you think about this song?
- Do you think it is important to create environmental awareness throughout music?
- What other forms of art can we use to send a message to the public?
*Play for 40 seconds
Reflection Zone
Next, tell students they are going to do a “music therapy” exercise called mixed techniques.
The main idea is to listen to a song while they paint a mural that seeks to transmit a message of environmental awareness to the world. They can be inspired by what they have learned about Nuquí. In the end, they can share the results with the class.
Song to play while students create a Mural