Restory a Resilience Experience After a Natural Disaster

Abstract

As an attempt to describe a resilience process after a landslide through narratives, this research study aims at analyzing, interpreting and describing how Chevano tenth graders restory their resilience experience after a natural disaster in their hometown. This inquiry was carried out with students at López Quevedo School in Jericó - Boyacá, Colombia. The information was gathered through students’ narratives, students’ interviews, and researcher’s field notes. Narratives made part of a pedagogical intervention to explore student’s ways of coping with tragedy, and they allow students’ voices to be expressed. It was revealed that students needed to share their stories to achieve a process of resilience but it was important to give participants the time to start that process. Moreover, they needed to be involved in a social context they felt they made part of as well as in a routine in which they could set apart the negative thoughts and feelings of sadness from their present experiences.