He was born in Cali, one of the biggest cities in Colombia, and has lived in Comuna 16 for many years. Life expectancy in the ghettos in this district of Cali is around 22 years.

Helena de von Arnim, from Colombia, believed that being abused as a child had condemned her to a lifetime of hate.

Colombia is a nation that has known bloody civil wars and where, since 1965, guerrillas have ruled part of the country, intimidating the other part by extortion, kidnapping, murder and sabotage.

At the age of 23 Diana Patricia Pabón-Ramirez has already devoted more than a decade to tackling the social problems of her Colombian community, Paul Williams reports.