TARGET 120404

A STAIRWAY TO A BETTER FUTURE

The future generation of Medillin, Columbia's poorest sector get a way to the better parts of town.

In Medellin, Columbia, the poorest part of town consists of shanties clinging to the steepest part of the mountainside. For generations 12,000 people living in Medellin's tough Comuna 13 - which clings to a hillside - have had to made the arduous journey up hundreds of large steps, the equivalent to climbing up a 28-storey building, in order to get to the parts of town that offer job opportunities. For the healthy, the climb up the mountainside has taken a minimum of 35 minutes. For the less-than-healthy or the aged, the trip has been impossible. For those with jobs in the city, but who are having a sick day, the inability to make the climb has always meant that the next day there would be no job to go to.

But now a set of giant outdoor escalators cut their journey down to just six minutes, and grateful residents have said 'it is a dream come true'. It makes it possible for the residents to go to jobs and better schools and better opportunities for life. And, it's free.

The escalator is divided into six sections so people from all parts of the hillside can access it. The average total escalator ride is 384 metres (1,260ft) long.

The poorest, toughest, most dangerous and crime-enfested part of the city...

In the city known as the murder capital of the world, and home to Pablo Escobar's Medellin Drug Cartel, Comuna 13 has always suffered the worst of the worst. Police would not go into that part of the city, and there was basically no law to protect anyone.

There is now a way out.

Since its completion in 2011 at a cost equivalent to 6.7 million US dollars, the city has further added a cover to protect its users from the weather.

But crime does not stop simply because it has a harder time preying on people. Armed police,
from whom the people can seek help, stand at the ends of the escalator sections.
The people can get help, now, as well as being able to get away.

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