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I am Leidys Mena Valderrama.
I am an adviser for public policies and issues regarding the afro community.
For some time
I have been leading internal processes for the afro community en el pais.
I also have the opportunity to contribute outside of the country.
and what I am as a person,
collectively and individually.
My hair represents
my historical roots,
my ancestry.
Because of this, my hair is an essential part of me,
the way I wear it and why I wear it the way I do.
I have an ancestral,
cultural
genetic
and phenotypic legacy
and my hair plays a part in this.
I love it. It's my style. It's my look. It's what defines me.
For me, my hair is let's say important
and represents a rebellion.
But it is not a rebellion just to be rebellious,
it is a rebellion in the face of the social injustices,
in the face of inequality,
and the abuse or the lack of awareness of the ethnic and cultural diversity
that we have in this country.
What is missing is respect for this diversity by the general public.
So my hair represents that.
I do not know if I can say that one person
inspires how I wear my hair or what I use,
but I can say it is clearly influenced by my knowledge of my ancestral roots.
That is to say afro people close to me,
afro leaders, and afro and African heroes that I work with and follow.
Through them emerges love in me
for my hard hair, for my hair as coily, and my hair as somewhat an afro.
So it is influenced by people close to me,
the people I follow, and by the work I do.
I have a lot to say.
It is quite funny
because my hair and the way I wear it receives a lot of attention
in public spaces or in the street
where people have tried to touch my hair.
I have had to be like a tiger and say stop, don't touch my hair!
This has happened to me a variety of times.
It seemed strange to me that they wanted to touch my hair without permission.
I felt attacked. I felt violated within my personal space,
let's say within my corporeality.
So my reaction was one of shock.
How are you going to touch me without my permission? What's happening?
I think of this because people are so bold,
that they become violent and violate your personal space without asking you permission, as if it is nothing.
What was the worst was when a woman smiled when I told her no, no you can't touch my hair.
To her it seemed to be the most normal thing ever.
In regards to my hair and the way I wear it, there are many stories.
I remember one story when I was at school
and I wore my hair in Bantu knots.
So in the classroom they called me
little horns, little horns, little horns,
that I had horns, that I had little horns
because my hair looked a like an afro without form.
I do not know why it did not bother me.
I suppose the influence of the people in my house.
My aunts wore their hair similarly. My grandmother always hair wore her natural, and still does.
With these examples,
it enabled me to strengthen my self-esteem for my hair and how I looked.
That said, many funny things have happened
and since school they have asked me why haven't I straightened my hair,
or said, "Straighten your hair because it's not pretty the way it is."
"What are you thinking? That you look good?”
Well good, many situations.