This account from Alexandre Borovik's Mathematics under the Microscope, on a summer math camp on the Aegean Coast, raises many interesting questions on doing math in countries outside of the current mainstream.

I quote Borovik: Crucially, I have two dozen bright, highly motivated students who are prepared to learn something challenging and non-trivial just for the sake of learning, without marks or diploma. It is an experience that I have not had for ages. With all my respect to my students in Manchester -- hardworking and intelligent people as they are-- not many of them would be prepared to spend their summer taking intensive advanced courses which do not count against the final mark and degree classification.

Borovik experiences in Turkey, in the mathematical village of Şirince (promoted by Ali Nesin) and even when talking to a shoe polish boy on the streets of Istambul an amazing thirst for learning. A thirst for learning that is linked to the possibility of social mobility, but is not restricted to the poorest people of Turkey. The Mathematics students, who come from a secure middle class background, exhibit the same thirst for education.

Having met a few of the Bilgi students in Model Theory, who all received some of the influence of Ali Nesin's, I can only believe more in Borovik's claim of an incredible level of motivation and good quality of formation.

Again, Borovik: But currently, no other country in Europe can be compared with Turkey in the sheer pace of social dynamics. The country has a tremendous drive for education. One has to see a shoe polish boy on a street of Istanbul, a boy aged about 10, who, every minute when he has no business, takes a worn out textbook from under his belt and tries to do his homework. Universiy mathematics students come mostly from a secure middle class background, but they exhibit the same thirst for education. It is a truth universally acknowledged across the Turkey that education is good, that education improves quality of life. I do not idealise Turkey -- the abandoned olive groves around Sirince is only one of many marks of rural decline. The political and social situation in the country is full of tension. However, what matters is that the social mobility of the society is strong enough to carry talent up the social ladder. What matters is that Mathematical Village is held in greatest respect by the villagers of Sirince. A middle-aged waiter in the roadside restaurant where I now type this post told me that he would be happy to get a job of a janitor in the Mathematical Village, even for less pay -- because he wants to do work that counts.

In many ways, those Turkish achievements are a challenge to us, to Colombian mathematicians, who should not let the current talent drift and dry. In many ways, some steps have been made in that direction - however, I feel we need to do much more here in Colombia, to dig for mathematical gold as they are in Turkey.