Colombia’s ever-expanding civil war and deepening economic crisis have forced over 3 million Colombians to seek a new life in the major cities, only to find similar poverty and violence to that which they fled. Many of these ‘displaced’ persons squat in the outskirts of Colombian cities, in neighborhoods like El Progreso. In the seven-year-old neighborhood, unemployment is over 50%, the informal economy of recycling (reselling raw materials salvaged from refuse) and street vending is how the majority of residents survive. Gangs of masked teenagers patronized by paramilitary and insurgent groups patrol at night - nobody dares walk the dusty roads of El Progreso after 9 p.m. The children of El Progreso struggle with the present while being haunted by their traumatic past. The prospects to study past elementary school are dim.

‘Disparando Cámaras para la Paz’ (DCP) allows thirty children from the communally run elementary school, Corporación Fe y Esperanza, an opportunity not only to reflect on their tumultuous lives but also to recognize that they can be protagonists rather than victims. These young photographers and their intimate portraiture of their daily lives provide a unique and insightful perspective on the perplexing Colombian conflict.

The students also participates in The AjA Project's initiative - "Documentary Interchange." See some of their photos and letters they sent to their penpals in AjA students in Thailand.