Who are humanity's elder brothers? The Happiness Project: A quest for happiness among the Kogui people of Colombia.
Every now and then you should turn everything off. Turn off your phone, the noise, the rush. And learn to listen to the silence. That full, vibrant silence that only nature can create . This is what I experienced in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia . There live the Kogui , a people who call themselves the elder brother of humanity . Not out of arrogance. But because they feel a duty to protect and guide their younger brother—that is, us—who have lost their connection with the Earth . I walked for days among sacred mountains and invisible paths to reach them. And, once welcomed into the village, I realized that I had never truly listened to nature.
Our arrival was preceded by silence, waiting, and rituals. No plan, no schedule. Just trust and patience. A child greeted us, walking ahead of us, as if he knew exactly where to lead us. Then, the meeting with the mamo , the community's spiritual leader. The mamo is not just a religious leader: he is a guardian of the balance between the human world and that of nature. Raised in obscurity, far from the noise of the world, he learned from an early age to listen to what we no longer hear.
He observed us. He touched our hands. He sensed our energy, even before our words. And he let us into his world. That moment—intimate, without cameras—was the gateway to a different dimension. A reality where every tree has a soul, every river is an artery, every stone is sacred.
The Kogui don't live in nature. They live with nature. Everything has a spirit, everything is in balance. If you take something—a fruit, an animal, a stone—you must give it back. They call it "payment." A symbolic yet powerful gesture : the awareness that nothing is owed to us. Their clothes, white and hand-woven, are like prayers to be worn . Their steps, always barefoot, reject the noise of progress. Their words, few and measured, are stones that build bridges.
At the heart of their spirituality lies a simple and revolutionary idea: the Earth does not belong to us. We belong to it.
Walking alongside the Kogui was a return to something essential. Their words, their gestures, their silence—everything left its mark on us. And as we left the mountains, three reflections stayed with me . The first is that we are truly younger brothers. Not in the sense of being less important, but in the deepest sense: we still have much to learn. The Kogui don't accuse us, they don't judge us. They invite us to remember. To remember that we are part of a living, fragile, and interconnected system. And that we cannot continue to harm it as if nothing had happened.
The second reflection concerns balance . For the Kogui, it's not an ideological or political issue. It's not about being environmentalists, but about listening. About respecting. About giving back. The world, they told us, cannot be saved with technology, but with healthier relationships. With profound respect for all forms of life.
And finally, the words of the mamo left an impression on me: "The mamo shines like the sun, without making any noise." A leader, for them, doesn't impose . He doesn't raise his voice. He doesn't dominate. A leader accompanies, observes, and sets an example. In an age that seems to confuse visibility with authority, perhaps this is precisely the leadership model we need.
Before leaving, Mamo entrusted me with a message: “The Earth suffers in silence . You no longer listen to it. But you can still learn.” As I walked back through the noise of the city, I wondered: what if they were right? What if, to save our future, we had to learn to listen to the past?
*Who is Giuseppe Bertuccio D'Angelo?
Giuseppe Bertuccio D'Angelo has been traveling for 10 years in search of the "secret" of happiness. Originally from Messina, with a degree in Economics and Business, he explores diverse places and communities around the world, asking his interlocutors the same question: "What does happiness mean to you?"
In his reports, he highlights, from a new perspective, portions of reality not documented by the mainstream: from Ukraine to Brazil, from the slums of Manila to North Korea, from Kazakh eagle hunters to the obese women of Mauritania.
When he's in Italy, Giuseppe Bertuccio D'Angelo is a keynote speaker at events like TEDx (Bergamo 2022) and manages training and consulting projects for companies. He has collaborated with SOS Mediterranee and in 2021 spent a month aboard the Ocean Viking ship. Today, Giuseppe Bertuccio D'Angelo collaborates with Action Aid, following and supporting solidarity and environmental recovery projects. His reports have peaked at 7 million views, he has more than 21,000 followers on LinkedIn , and his YouTube channel, Progetto Happiness, has 1.7 million subscribers.
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