Using Photography to Strengthen School Harmony

USAID’s Juntos Aprendemos program brings Colombian and Venezuelan students together and keeps them in school

Workshop students develop photos in a darkroom. / Juntos Aprendemos, USAID

In the mountains of Medellín, Colombia, a pair of young artists — Camilo “Rulos” Perez and Juan Diego “Skinny” Lora — are using photography to strengthen student relationships at the Joaquin Vallejo Arbeláez Educational Institution. The school is one of many that enroll migrant students and manage misconceptions that can drive mistrust among the diverse student body of migrants and natives.

Without the social networks they left behind, migrants in Latin America often find themselves ostracized in their new host countries. In Colombia, for example, school dropout rates are twice as high among the migrant population as among other enrolled students.

Students captured this group shot with analog photography, a method they learned in the Veanvé workshop using chemical processes to develop images on paper. / Students at Joaquin Vallejo Arbeláez Educational Institution

USAID’s Juntos Aprendemos (Together We Learn) program works with local organizations to increase student enrollment and retention in areas affected by migration, like Medellín’s Llanaditas neighborhood. Through their community organization Veanvé, Rulos and Skinny partnered with Juntos Aprendemos to launch a photography workshop providing students from different backgrounds an opportunity to learn new skills — while learning about one another. They saw the potential for photography to help integrate migrant students into the community, build support networks for young people, and make school a safe space for everyone.

The USAID program provided Veanvé with funding, training, and other technical assistance for the workshop.

“Veanvé … means to share what I see and to be able to see what another is seeing through photography.” — Rulos

Veanvé instructors Camilo Perez (“Rulos”) and Juan Diego Lora (“Skinny”). Rulos holds a pinhole camera made from a soda can. / Juntos Aprendemos, USAID

Students took interest in the photography workshop immediately, with 20 signing up for the optional after-school activity in August 2022. In the workshop, Rulos and Skinny combine lessons in film photography with an invitation to share thoughts, emotions, and experiences through collaborative art. Participants learn to create basic cameras and kaleidoscopes from cardboard boxes, cans, and even oranges — no expensive equipment or sophisticated processes required.

“Right off the bat, we saw a group of very bright and willing students interested in the subject and in our workshop. There were no academic motivations — they just liked being in that space.” — Rulos

Film photography and traditional developing techniques allow the students to explore the environment and connect with one another while experimenting with different methods, visual perspectives, and light effects to capture and develop their unique images.

In Skinny’s words, “alternative techniques allow … people to play and have fun.”

Rulos, one of the Veanvé workshop leaders, teaches students to make pinhole cameras using aluminum cans. / Juntos Aprendemos, USAID

The workshop culminated in a collaborative group project based on students’ shared appreciation for the biologically diverse forests surrounding them, which they considered a living extension of their school. Skinny and Rulos encouraged participants to use nature and work together to create stories inspired by their environment, with the forest as the protagonist of their narrative.

“We are familiar with this context because we are not strangers to it. We also live in poor neighborhoods, and we know about the dynamics in these neighborhoods and the situations boys and girls face here because they are living in situations we have also been in.” — Skinny

Left: Students work together to stage a photograph using a pinhole camera. Right: Rulos helps students set up a pinhole camera as their subject poses. / Juntos Aprendemos, USAID

Students committed to extra hours after school to be a part of the workshop. Some walked over an hour home after the sessions because the bus was not available that late. Many even opened up to Skinny and Rulos about bullying and the ways people interacted at the school.

The students stayed committed to the program through the end and were proud to present their work together — and the skills they developed as creative young leaders — in an exhibition displayed in the school’s hallways for their classmates and teachers. Bolstered by the bonds made with their fellow students, the photography students can see the part they play to weave a social fabric that creates a positive school environment.

“We noticed the group was divided in cliques like one normally finds in classrooms, but they always united to do the exercises, creating proposals and looking for solutions.” — Skinny

Photograph taken and developed by Veanvé workshop students using analog photography methods. / Students at Joaquin Vallejo Arbeláez Educational Institution

About the Author

This blog was a collaboration between the USAID/Colombia Juntos Aprendemos program and the USAID Leading Through Learning Global Platform, which enhances education program quality by highlighting and elevating successful approaches around the world.