La Limpieza Podemos Alcanzar

I am Studying a course about Rhetoric, and this is my third Action Project. It consists of making a piece of art to address a social issue that is important to me. I decided to make a song, which addresses the issue of the lack of cleanliness in my town, Chongón,Ecuador. The name of my song is “La Limpieza Podemos Alcanzar” (We Can Achieve Cleanliness). It is a “Cumbia” song, which is a Latin American rhythm that is popular in  Chongón.

There is a certain neighborhood inside  Chongón called San Geronimo 2, which I visit a lot given that I have a children’s class there once a week, in which I teach kids from 6 to 8 years old about spirituality and values.I have started to realize that there are some problems that the neighborhood has that the locals have never really set their mind on changing because they may seem quite unimportant. However, I have also started to realize that these unattended problems affect not only the children in my class, but the whole neighborhood in general! So I decided to break the sound barrier on one of the problems that I feel is affecting San Geronimo 2 the most: the lack of cleanliness.

My thesis statement

I made my song as a “Cumbia” so that it would attract the locals of San Geronimo 2, and I wrote simple lyrics so that it would be easy for people to sing. My goal in making this song is so that the locals of San Geronimo 2 may open their eyes to this problem, and realize that it is affecting them both emotionally and economically, so that they may get together and work towards reversing this problem.

Here is a recording of the song I made:

Here are the lyrics of the song:

La Limpieza Podemos Alcanzar

Al caminar por mi bello barrio
Gente amable sonrie con fulgor
Niños jugando en el parque veo
Madres y padres juntos van tras ellos

Pero el agua en las calles muy sucia está
Y los niños jugando se mojan sin parar
Debemos limpiarlas pa’ encontrar sanidad
(Pues) Los niños se enferman y para el doctor no hay más

CHORUS
El fuego de la unidad
Se enciende en todos al cantar
La limpieza podemos alcanzar 
Pero todos debemos apoyar

Mi barrio ahora más limpio está 
Y el resultado alegra a los demás
Niños más sanos juegan juntos sin temor
Padres sin la más mínima preocupación

Pero las construcciones en las calles siempre están
Y el polvo que crean a los pulmones van 
Debemos limpiarlas pa’ encontrar sanidad
(Pues) Los niños se enferman y para el doctor no hay más

CHORUS
El fuego de la unidad 
Se enciende en todos al cantar
La limpieza podemos alcanzar 
Pero todos debemos apoyar (Bis)

Here is a rough English translation of the song:

We can achieve cleanliness

While I walk through my beautiful neighborhood

Kind people smile with fervor 

I see kids playing in the park

Mothers and fathers together looking after them.

But the water in the streets is very dirty

And the kids playing fall on them

We need to clean the streets to achieve sanity

Because the kids are getting sick and there is no money for the doctor.

CHORUS

The fire of unity

Lightens in us all as we sing

We can achieve cleanliness

But we must all give a hand

My neighborhood is now much cleaner

And this makes everyone happy

The kids play with no fear 

Parents with no worry

But there is always constructions in the roads

And the dust they create go directly to the lungs

We must clean them to achieve sanity

Because the kids are getting sick and there is no money for the doctor.

CHORUS

The fire of unity

Lightens in us all as we sing

We can achieve cleanliness

But we must all give a hand (BIS)

My Artist Statement

Here are some things I have observed in San Geronimo 2:

• My kids often come with no shoes or no shirts to my children’s class.
• The streets of San Geronimo 2 have been in “repair” for the last 6 months. The work is very slow given that workers don’t get paid enough and on time. This creates a lot of dust, and this brings diseases.
• Much, if not most of the wastewater that comes from the houses of San Geronimo 2 empties out into the street. San Geronimo 2 is situated on flat ground, and the wastewater accumulates and becomes the focus of mosquitoes that can carry a variety of diseases. 
• The wastewater accumulated in the streets makes the whole town smell terrible, and children that play in the street often fall and get wet with this water. This also brings diseases.

“Breaking the sound barrier” means To bring to light problems/facts that go unheard, which often turn out to be very important. With that said, I believe that my song breaks the sound barrier because it talks specifically about two of these facts: the wastewater and dust that accumulates in the streets and their consequences. This is a topic that no one talks about or pays attention to in general in San Geronimo. I decided to start the song by naming all of the good things that San Geronimo 2 has to share, and later I introduce the wastewater problem and its consequences. Then the chorus says that the solution to these problems can be reached if we decide to unite and help clean our neighborhood. Next, it talks about how I see San Geronimo 2 better already, but that the dust from the street repairs is accumulating and affecting us all physically and emotionally. And finally, I repeat the chorus twice.

I used a metaphor to describe unity as a “fire” that lights in all of our hearts when working in harmony towards the improvement of our neighborhood. I also used rhymes throughout the whole song to make it sound much more attractive and easier to sing.

With this song I hope to make the people of San Geronimo 2 see that their neighborhood is full of beautiful people and also potentially a beautiful place, and it is because of this that they should work together to make it better yet. I also hope that they may see that they are presently living the consequences of the lack of cleanliness, and it is bringing them much grief and economic depression. I will share this song with the president of the neighborhood. I will suggest that he organize a cleaning campaign and offer to invite the children from my class to participate. I will also sing the song with the children from my class.