Rotary Exchange Student - Sebastian Lopez

Host father, Kevin Keller, introduced his house guest since Thanksgiving of last year – Sebastian, from Columbia and a senior at AHS. Sebastian showed a Powerpoint slide program of his home country and residence. He will remain with the Keller’s until his return this coming July.

He said that he and his family live in Ibague, Columbia where the population is around 400,000 and about 3 ½ hours from the capital by automobile. He showed a photo of his country’s flag consisting of 3 colors stacked horizontally with yellow at the top signifying gold in the country, Blue next signifying water (Pacific and Caribbean), and red on the bottom denoting the blood that has been shed battling the Spaniards to secure the freedoms they now enjoy.

Columbia, Sebastian said, was very close to the Equator and his home town was almost in the middle of the country. Columbia is bordered by Panama, Venezuela and Brazil on the east. Columbia is a republic made up of 32 “states” working independently of each other. Their government is much like America in that it has an administrative, legislative and judiciary branches. Their president is Juan Manuel Santos who, Sebastian said, was not doing that good a job and was surprised when he was reelected in 2014 after serving a 4-year term.

Columbia, he said, is a country that has the most holidays. Celebrations, parties and parades are commonplace and occur every month. Some last an entire week. Dance is also very popular among residents. Soccer is a very popular sport in his country. Food, he said, was very cheap and delicious.

Sebastian concluded his presentation by saying that corruption within Columbia’s government was occurring. Over 800 governors are under investigation. And, drug trafficking was also a huge problem there.