They say that dreams don’t come by chance, they are built with effort, discipline, and conviction. Seydeth Torres knows this well. At 25 years old, this young woman from the Kankawarwa indigenous community in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta shows that anything is possible, you just have to work for it.
This community is an Arhuaco settlement founded in 2009, considered a sacred place where ancestral knowledge for the care of life originated. Inhabited by more than 30 families, Kankawarwa has traditional infrastructure and seeks to preserve the Arhuaco culture through its ancestral practices.
From a very young age, she dreamed of working to protect the rights of the children in this small community and leaving an indelible mark. Although there is still a long way to go, she has already taken great strides. Today, that dream is beginning to take shape: she is a second-semester student of Business Management at the Institute for Regional Projection and Distance Education (IPRED) of the Industrial University of Santander (UIS).
She had never heard of the university, but through love she learned that it was possible to become a professional without leaving her community. Despite the great distance between the Sierra and Bucaramanga, she found in the virtual modality a way to combine her academic training with her mission to serve.
IPRED’s Professional in Business Management has the ability to identify and take advantage of entrepreneurial opportunities based on the analysis of the business context and production chains; strategically manage organizations as an interrelated system of processes; create a company based on the validation of a formulated venture; and manage business models in new or existing companies from their interrelation with production chains, among other skills. The program lasts 10 semesters.
“I graduated in 2019. It was difficult for me to get into college. Some time later, I met my current partner. He is a graduate of UIS and told me that I could study at the university. That’s when the idea of studying, bettering myself, and being different from others in my Sierra came back,” says Seydeth.
When she was admitted to the program, she did not immediately realize the magnitude of her academic achievement. Only with time, and upon learning about the institution’s reputation, did she understand that she had entered one of the most recognized public universities in the country.
A love to blossom
Their love story began just a click away, in the virtual world. They met through social media: he lived in Bucaramanga and she lived in the Sierra Nevada. Distance was not an obstacle, nor was the indigenous community to which she belongs or the fact that he was a civilian. The feeling was so strong that Luis Blanco decided to join the Kankawarwa community to build a life together.
Luis is an Agricultural Production Technician at IPRED. Convinced that he wanted to support her, he talked to Seydeth about the possibility of enrolling in an academic program and becoming a professional. He told her that she could do so without paying tuition, thanks to the Free Tuition Policy.
This policy consists of paying tuition fees for students in undergraduate programs at public higher education institutions (IES). The amount covered by this benefit corresponds to the final tuition fee, after applying any discounts or support to which the student is entitled, such as: electoral votes, scholarships, support from local authorities, and other sources or concepts.
For Seydeth, it was a viable alternative, allowing her to continue living in the community, alongside her three-year-old son—her greatest inspiration—while continuing her work at the Dunarun Torres Association.
The Association is a project that Seydeth undertook at a very young age. The idea came about after an event that she does not want to remember, but cannot forget. However, it became a driving force for her to set big goals for herself.
“I was a victim of sexual abuse when I was 11 years old, and I felt the need to always be the voice. When you are a victim, you are afraid, many point fingers at you and imply that you will never be able to do anything. Instead of limiting myself, I came up with the idea of being a leader, being the voice of those children and young people, and being able to work together with other authorities,” she recalls.
A step forward for gender equality
For Seydeth, being part of the UIS is incredible, especially because it has allowed her to show her origins to the so-called “civilians,” as the people in her community refer to those from the interior. However, it has not all been easy. According to the customs of her people, it is not common for women to attend university, which made her decision even more challenging.
“Here, the leaders are all men, and it has mostly been men who have had higher education, so for a woman to better herself was a very difficult issue. And I wasn’t able to win a scholarship in 2019. I have always said that both women and men, regardless of gender, can achieve it. So, we all have the ability to better ourselves. And with my association, I have been the voice of them, of the women who live in my community, that it is possible to better oneself,” says the young indigenous woman.
eydeth is in her second semester of the program and although she faces many challenges, especially with connectivity, as the internet does not work very regularly, she knows that the benefits outweigh the difficulties. However, at UIS, the IPRED professors have understood her situation and often help her upload her academic work. Likewise, her classmates are always ready to support her in group work or any other activity. On many occasions, she is unable to connect to class and must take the recorded tutorials, which are hosted on the platform.
“All the professors have been kind. I think they are all like that by nature, and they are very accessible and collaborative,” Seydeth reiterates.
Bringing opportunities
When Seydeth began studying at the UIS and identified the great opportunities that come with going to university, she knew that her mission was to open doors for new generations in her community. That is why she arranged a meeting with local leaders and IPRED executives to initiate discussions and establish opportunities to bring the Professional Technical Degree in Agricultural Production to the community.
This program trains students to perform agricultural tasks throughout the production process, from the nursery, planting, maintenance, harvesting, storage, and transportation of the agricultural unit’s production process, and runs the agricultural production unit’s business at all stages of operation, taking into account quality and yield parameters and the risks posed by climate change, among other areas.
This first approach with the Kankawarwa indigenous community sought to explore a possible alliance to strengthen productive projects in the heart of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta.
“The support of the University is crucial to promote our projects and consolidate high-impact initiatives that promote the integral development of our territory,” said Javier Alberto Pinzón Torres, academic deputy director of IPRED.
Luis, Seydeth’s partner, also participated in the meeting. In his role as a graduate and current member of the community, he highlighted how technology, research, and innovation can become fundamental tools for improving productivity and competitiveness in the rural sector.
One of the missions of the association led by Seydeth is to promote agricultural, livestock, forestry, fish farming, and aquaculture production, as well as the processing, industrialization, and marketing of agricultural products in national and international markets. Its work also focuses on research, training, and defending the interests of communities before different authorities, promoting rural development and improving the quality of life of its members.
For her part, the young indigenous woman visited neighboring schools in the Sierra Nevada to discuss the possibility of the UIS coming to the area, which has been well received by the directors of the Juan Francisco Ospina Departmental Educational Institution.
Potatoes, rice, cocoa, and coffee are grown in this region of the Sierra Nevada, so the academic program offered by the UIS would allow the population to be trained in the technical aspects of this production.
Seydeth was always told that she would not be able to achieve many of her goals. And while she never thought she could achieve so much in such a short time, she is proud of where she is today.
“When people tell you, ‘You can’t do it, you’re not going to make it,’ it instills a lot of fear. I was very shy, and people here judged me harshly and told me that women are like that, but I didn’t let that get me down,” she says.
Seydeth “silenced those voices,” ignored those comments, and decided to go after her dream. She knows the road is long, but she has no intention of stopping. She will go as far as the more than 400 kilometers that separate the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta from Santander.
