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The conversation

Courtesy of Matt Meyer

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We are highlighting perspectives from members of the Hispanic/Latino Initiative at Go Global NC as they travel to central Mexico. The Initiative brings together representatives from education, workforce development and business, including four NC community colleges — Wake Technical, Durham Technical, Central Carolina and Rowan-Cabarrus — who are partnering to identify and eliminate barriers to access and entry for Hispanic and Latino students.

I have always envied those who have had the opportunity to meet and learn from wise and emphatic leaders or study with great artists. I would love to converse with those individuals who are considered the world’s greatest dreamers.

These thoughts must have been simmering in my mind because when the opportunity to meet a leader who is also a dreamer and to learn about many artists of Mexico, the writer within me appeared. On a bus drive, following a tour of a Hacienda located among rocky hills and fields of agave northeast of San Luis de la Paz in the state of Guanajuato, I heard a conversation…

The Conversation

Craft me a story if you’re a writer.

Impress me with a mural if you’re a painter.

Build me a community if you’re a dreamer.

Give me your hand if you’re a leader.

 

But I’m not a leader or a dreamer,

I can’t paint or write, either.

 

Then, find paper for the Writer.

Or mix the color for the Painter.

Carry the bricks for the Dreamer,

And stand with pride, next to the Leader.

 

Said the Hummingbird to the Flower.

Adriana Cortes Jiminez (center in red) explaining the efforts on a community improvement project. Courtesy of Matt Meyer

The Conversation was inspired by the work of Ardriana Cortes Jimenez, founder, leader, and chief dreamer for the Community Foundation of the Bajio. She introduced the NC delegation to communities where her foundation is working to improve the lives of the residents. She showed us murals created by the youth of these communities. She shared the stories and challenges of the people of the communities near her home in Irapuato.

The logo of Adriana’s foundation is a hummingbird and flower. The wings of the hummingbird represent the partnership of Education, Government, and Industry. The flower with it pedals stretched out is the hand of the people who live in the communities forever changed by the industrialization of the once robust yet poor agricultural state of Guanajuato.