At age 13 he lost his father. From him, however, he inherited a conviction destined to accompany her throughout her life: all that you can conquer through education, learn it, because one day might come to you useful.
Today Nubia Carolina Córdoba is governor of Chocó, Colombia. And those words took on a particular significance after the devastating earthquake of 10 August 2026.
About 200 schools were damaged and 40 collapsed. In a territory already struggling with enormous difficulties, this means risking not only buildings, but also the future school of thousands of children.
When Shakira and the Howard G. Buffett philanthropist arrived in Quibdó, Córdoba was able to tell them directly the situation in English, without the need for an interpreter.
It was not simply a competence acquired according to its institutional role.
The governor, in addition to Spanish, speaks English, Italian, French and Portuguese.
Behind those four idioms is a story started many years ago.
His father, newly elected MP, died in a plane crash when Nubia Carolina was only 13 years old. He insisted on the importance of the study and, in particular, on learning English.
She continued on that road.
After attending the public school of the Sisters of La Presentción, the Universidad Externado had to begin studying English from the lowest level, while other students were already ahead.
He didn't stop.
He studied Italian at the Italian Institute of Culture, French at the Alliance Française and Portuguese at INCAP. After graduation he also obtained a scholarship from the Latin American Board, which allowed her to perfect English at Georgetown University in Washington.
Years later, those languages were not simple lines on a resume.
They have become tools to tell the world what is going through the Chocó and explain directly to Howard Buffett how the destruction of schools can affect the future of an entire generation.
And this is where his personal history meets that of the children he represents today.
Córdoba hopes that they too can have access to the tools that education has given to her: to become a multilingual day, professionals and, why not, even governors.
Because rebuilding a school after an earthquake means building walls.
But it means above all giving a child a chance to imagine who can become.