Bubulina of Colombia – The fighter for the rights of the disabled

Born and raised in Bogota, Colombia, her name (on paper) is Natalia Moreno Rodriguez (Natalia Moreno Rodríguez) but she herself has chosen to introduce herself as Bubblessince in the face of the heroine of the Greek Revolution of 1821 she has found a part of herself; the one who fights for the rights of people with disabilities but also of every other person whose rights are violated.

“I am the Bubulina of Latin America, who raises her voice for the rights of people with disabilities and for all situations that are unfair to every person, when their rights, their free will or their very recognition as a human being are violated, regardless from his disability or his choice of how he will feel in life about his gender,” she tells the Athenian-Macedonian News Agency 37 year old Colombianwho herself suffers from congenital multiple arthrogryposis.

Every day, Bouboulina fights her own fight, not only for herself but for all people with disabilities, while since 2014 she has also founded an organization called “Polymorphia”, through which she wants to strengthen the voice of Disabled. “I’m a sociologist – I’d like to be an anthropologist but I haven’t yet – and I suffer from congenital multiple arthrogryposis, meaning my four limbs are very deformed. I was born with this disability, I get around with a lot of difficulty, but the biggest disability is seeing how others treat me and disabled people, and this is something that has made me very bitter all my life. That’s why I try to tell them that neither I nor any of the people who have disabilities are to blame for being born this way, and that really my disability is not in my body, but in all the obstacles I encounter to live, those that surround me, which do not allow me to live like others, to have the same opportunities, to be able to study in a normal school, to work, to love and be loved…”, he says.

The rock song that “christened” her Bouboulina

But how did a woman born and raised in Latin America meet the great heroine of the Greek Revolution and be inspired by her? The answer, as he says, lies in a …rock song. “Since I was little, together with my brother, we listened here in Colombia to a song by the Argentinian rocker Charlie Garcianamed “BOUMBULINA“. The song is from the 80s – difficult times for Latin America… It was a revolutionary song for our youth and I was very impressed by the name of the heroine of the song… Was it a fantasy or a a real person?”, he narrates and explains how he “dived” into the depths of Greek history and discovered the wonderful story of the Greek heroine.

“I searched, searched, and so I found that Bouboulina was a Greek woman, who had fought against the Turks. I admired her when I understood that a woman, with her strength, fought for her ideals, her beliefs and gave a great fight for freedom! She loved freedom so much that she dreamed of it for her homeland and fought the enemy bravely, overcoming all obstacles, fearing no one and nothing. Not only that, but she also fought a great battle to be recognized as a woman who took over the “men’s affairs” of that time. I imagine her as a fighter, a unique woman, with strength and passion, who did not think about danger, death or the criticism of society, but who fought for the Freedom of her country and for what she loved. I immediately felt identified and adopted her name as mine”, he says characteristically.

“Deep down I’m a kind of Bouboulina too,” she says and remembers the day when, when asked her name, she replied: “My name is Natalia Boumbulina Rodríguez». Little by little, her friends started calling her only Bubble! “They forgot Natalia and with pride in my new name, I was telling them about the heroine Boubulina and her exploits. Today, everyone knows me by that name,” he says with obvious satisfaction.

“This name represents me a lot, because not only the Greek heroine fought for Freedom, but also for the role of women to change a society. I too, like her, am fighting my own battle”, he underlines and explains that “there are fences and barriers on the roads but also in souls and attitudes”. He mentions as an example the fact that there are buildings without elevators, only with stairs and no ramps, as a result of which people with disabilities cannot have access. “I want to go to a disco and they don’t let me because of my appearance and I can’t celebrate with people my age or I want to go to a cafe and the wheelchair won’t go through the door… These are things that one faces too” “normal” person, when something like this happens to him by accident and he worries about how he will be able to cope for a month or two. But I, and the rest of the disabled people, live these things and think about them every day and hour of our lives”, he emphasizes emphatically.

Since 2014, Boubulina of Latin America has founded an organization called “Diversity” and organizes conferences, seminars and theatrical performances, wanting in this way to make the request of people with disabilities heard more loudly. He fights, as he says, “for a fairer world, in which we all have a proper and fair place, without distinction or prejudice, all the same opportunities and rights, whether because we were born that way, or because we got sick, or because we chose our way of life ». This is also the message she carries in her luggage when she travels throughout Latin America, wanting to multiply the voice of those who do not have a voice. “Some do not admit that we also exist and are members of the same society. Let them know that we exist and that we have something to say!”, emphasizes the 37-year-old Colombian, who in a few days will start working in a special committee of the Vice-presidency of Colombia, which has been set up to deal with the issues of the disabled.

The Greek Revolution opened her window of knowledge about Greece

Bouboulina of Latin America didn’t know much about Greece before she started reading about the Greek Revolution, the struggle and passion of the Greek people for freedom. “I didn’t know much about Greece before. In Colombia, we know what we learn in school about ancient Greece and the classical period. Great philosophers such as Aristotle, Plato, Socrates and many good mathematicians, such as Pythagoras, are the first that come to mind, yet we do not know much about modern Greece. Bouboulina opened a way for me to learn about the Greek Revolution that I admire and embrace”, she says and does not hide her enthusiasm for the fact that a small country did not fear the enemy and defeated it.

Although he has never been to Greece, he would love to visit Athens, climb the Acropolis to admire the Parthenon, but also visit the place where Bouboulina lived and worked. “I want to gaze upon her sea, to go where the Captainess fought the enemy, to see her in my imagination on the waves fighting the enemy and always victorious. I really want it!”, he emphasizes.

Fighting for human rights in a world full of inequalities

The 37-year-old Colombian is very involved in the recognition and respect of human rights as she believes that everyone is entitled to equal opportunities in life. “On the one hand I try to publicize the struggles of people with disabilities and on the other hand to make society, governments and competent authorities aware to support us and support us with adequate programs”, he notes and adds: “Many times when families have a children with disabilities are left in institutions from an early age. There, these children lose contact with their families, they are also deprived of their civil rights, they cannot study, they suffer from physical, mental and psychological violence […] There are no human rights there and we cannot allow this to happen. It is a systematic violation of human rights. They don’t want us to be members of society. They are hiding us. They zero us out. As if we don’t exist, as if we are inferior.”

In Colombia, with the struggle for the rights of the disabled, a lot has been achieved, as he emphasizes. “Firstly, we got children with disabilities to go to public schools, accompanied if necessary by special teachers to help them, people with disabilities get a subsidy, because they can get a job but usually that job doesn’t last long. And so we know that if we lose our jobs, we can survive. Social security and medical care. Free travel, and a small pension for our later years. And most importantly, a legal system for people with disabilities that existed in Colombia was abolished! It was called INTERDICTA and judicially, it took away all the rights of people with disabilities. They couldn’t sign an employment contract, couldn’t open a bank account, buy, sell, etc. to dispose of their property… And still, women or men who were sexually abused and wanted to report to the police, could not because even this right was taken away from them, while many times their guardians took their property and exploited them. It also deprived them of their political rights. We were legally dead, useless, non-existent, completely unprotected…’.

Growing up, Bouboulina stopped feeling sorry for herself for her disability and decided to fight for her voice to be heard. Today, he invites the whole world “to open its arms and embrace all of us, with our values, with our difficulties, with our differences, and with our dreams. May we all fit into this embrace, without exceptions. Let’s all have the same opportunities and the same rights.”

RES-EMP

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