It could sound a cliché, but I can guarantee that it is very true that sometimes when you travel to some place the real travel becomes an internal trip. I think that it happens because we feel reflected in the others. That happened to me in the Magdalena Medio Colombia, a place that I had the opportunity to know well during 9 years and where I had the pleasure to meet Irene Ramirez, “Doña Irenita”. When I was there for a long time, far from my family, she became as a mother to me. I can describe her as a woman that takes care of everyone around her with great dignity. In spite of the machismo that surrounds the social organizations in Colombia, she is the leader of one of the largest organizations of “campesinos” in Colombia and handles all from domestic to regional policy issues with a very special strength.

- Monica Orjuela