Back to the roots
Luis Rincón has absolute faith, in spite of what he’s been through. Because thanks to the support he received from the project, both his self-confidence and his leadership qualities got a boost.
In November of 2015, he graduated from the agricultural school, and received his technical certificate for his participation in Education for the Future in Santander.
Raised in nature
“I was born in March of 1997, in the agricultural region of Santander, into a family of coffee farmers. I grew up among the coffee plants, and woke up every morning with the smell of nature in the air. My parents worked really hard to send me to the agricultural school Arrayana, a satellite school for the Florentino Gonzáles School. But in 2013 we moved to the city, in search of a better life.”
Bad experiences in the city
“In the city, my parents took different jobs in the hopes of earning a little money. I went to a public school to finish my ‘elementary level’. We had left behind our coffee farm, our friends, and our culture. We were robbed multiple times, and sometimes we didn’t even have enough money to buy food. So I decided to return to our birthplace, where you can find humble, honest, and hard-working people.”
2,000 coffee plants
“Back in the countryside, I enrolled in a regional branch of the Florentino Gonzáles School. And since February 2015, I have been participating in the project Education for the Future in Santander. I am so proud to be a part of this initiative. I feel as though I am of value to my community, because I’m learning new things that can benefit the education and sustainability in Coromoro. Thanks to the technical assistance and contribution of the project, I was able to plant 2,000 coffee plants at my parents’ farm.”
Grown into a leader
“I feel really good about my participation in this project. I’m now much better equipped to build my life in this area, to grow coffee and to help my community. The project also gave me the opportunity to become a young leader in this area. Today, I am a representative of the network of National Rural Young Entrepreneurs, an initiative that gets support from the Colombian ministry of agriculture and rural development.”
