The Therapeutic Orchard
Farming to Heal in Sincé, Sucre
A community torn up by violence, elderly left alone, and the empty future of the youth filled with drugs to ease the pain, the community of Villa de Corral in Sincé has opened a community farm to learn how to be a community again. Young consumers come here to be able to get their minds of drugs, and instead do something useful, while having people around them to talk to about their problems. But everybody is welcome here at the farm. Such as Don Carlos, an elderly citizen of Villa de Corral who comes to the farm everyday to help out. He says that when he's alone he feels heavy, sad and lonely, but here at the farm he gets to do what he has been doing his entire life. It gives him energy, a sense of community, and he's happy. This is not just a farm, it's a healing farm: the therapeutic orchard.
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Sincé: a place of dreams, desires and hope
By Catalina Barragán Hinestroza & Juan Felipe Hernández
Located in the Sucre savanna, just 30 kilometers from Sincelejo is the municipality of San Luis de Sincé. Villa de Coral is a district of Sincé where violence and state neglect are evident in its streets, its schools, its parks, in every corner you can see the absolute lack of basic human rights. Drinking water and electricity are scarce. The streets are unpaved and the soccer fields consist of just two sticks where kids play in between pigs and roosters. A town that lacks everything, except for beautiful, friendly and hopeful people who seek a better future for their town.
This town has experienced violence as a result of the war between the paramilitaries, the government and the guerrillas. As well as problems such as high levels of gang violence, micro-trafficking, teenage pregnancies and problematic consumption of drugs.
In recent years the awakening of its people has led to a call for change, for government intervention. While they wait for an answer, the Sincences are not standing still and so they have created several community projects that seek to unite the community to work together for a better Sincé.
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A fairly humid and warm climate accompanies our visit.The sincere community welcomes us, inviting us to see the preparation of a typical sweet of the region: the "milk balls". Doña Aleida, the owner of the local business, shows us the step by step of making the "balls". Accustomed to the heat of the region, and without showing greater discomfort in the face of the wood smoke, one of her colleagues wags milk and sugar from one side to the other, in a circular fashion.
With patience and dedication, they form each one of the "balls". In the end, Dona Aleida tells us, there are around 450 for sale. They pack them in containers that have their own logo. It's not just a livelihood, it's also about bringing joy and flavor to consumers.
After visiting Doña Aleida, we went to visit one of the projects that emerged among the young people: "The therapeutic garden, nurturing the soul." Here, the work of young and old converges, women and men who seek, through cultivation, to channel feelings that in the past were problematic, but that today are the foundation of a plot that produces yams, sweet potatoes, yucca, among others. It's about seeing opportunities along the way, seizing them, and nurturing the soul, body, and mind.
