Juan Pablo is 13 years old and his house did not collapse; he could have stayed there, safe, watching the news from the living room of his home in Pereira.
But on August 10, when a magnitude 7.4 earthquake split the Coffee Region in two, this boy put on a helmet and went out into the street without anyone asking him to.
He helped clear the area behind a collapsed home so rescuers could reach a woman trapped beneath the rubble. They found her dead, but he kept working. An Argentine journalist from TN Todo Noticias found him among rescue workers and volunteers and put a microphone in front of him.
Juan Pablo did not hesitate: “I’m not going to abandon my country”, he said, adding something that is already being repeated throughout Colombia: “No Colombian can abandon their country”.
While the official toll stands at 294 dead and 320 missing, a teenager who should be in school decided that the best way to mourn his country was to help it get back on its feet.