As I mentioned in the 10 years of Palmas History article, one of the most satisfying moments of my experience with Live & Life in Palmas has been to see how our kids show love for the magazine. The magazine is part of their lives because they grew up with the magazine and appear in the magazine. The magazine has recorded their experiences and their parents’ and friends’ experiences.

And since I go through the old magazines frequently, I can’t get over the fact that the kids who were 15 years old, when the magazine started, are now professionals. Like Valeria Aponte, who is already a TV reporter in Telemundo USA, and Cristina Colón, already a lawyer, and the ones in our cover photo, who were babies and have experienced 10 years of history.

We have grown up together, and for me, it is a great satisfaction to see their faces when they see themselves in the magazine. Theyshow their excitement and feeling of belonging which makes them realize they are an important part of the community. I don’t know all their names, but I do know their parents, and more than once I have advised the kids when I have seen them doing something wrong or dangerous. Because in a way, they are my kids, the kids of my community, whom I have seen grow with Live & Life in Palmas.

It makes me remember the old African proverb that says, “it takes a whole village to raise a child”. This Yoruba (Nigeria) proverb exists in different forms in many African languages. The basic meaning is that child upbringing is a communal effort. It takes a village to raise a child means that it takes an entire community of different people interacting with children for children to experience and grow in a safe env ironment.

These are our children! Our Palmeños children!