¡Hola!

Dear family and friends,

Many of you know that 2007-2008 is my year off from teaching, the 5th year of a 4 over 5 self-funded sabbatical program. I will begin my time off by running a half-marathon in Vancouver on June 24, followed by a two-week visit with family outside of Vancouver. However, I feel strongly that I do not want to spend the whole year sitting in my comfortable home while so many people around the world suffer exactly what my parents suffered in the Soviet Union and earlier ancestors in Europe. I have been studying Spanish for a number of years and have long wanted to visit Central America, perhaps on an MCC learning tour. Several weeks ago, through reading reports from Christian Peacemaker Teams Canada, I learned of a good opportunity to get involved in a small way this summer.

From July 18 to 31, I’ll be participating in a 7-person CPT delegation to Colombia. We will spend the first few days in Bogotá, meeting with church leaders, representatives of human rights groups, and others to gain some overall perspective on the situation in Colombia. Together with the long-term CPT Colombia members based in Barrancabermeja, we will then visit internally displaced people who have had to flee from violence. We will also visit a small mining community near Micoahumado which is confronting several large mining companies, one of them Canadian, that are trying to force them off their land. We will return to Bogotá for the last few days before returning home. [Please have a look at this slideshow about internally displaced people: http://www.lawg.org/IDPs/]

I have no illusions that my visit alone will change the world. But it is my hope that the people whom our delegation will visit will feel less forgotten by the rest of the world, a feeling that my parents and others have known only too well. The purpose of this letter therefore, is to help spread the non-forgetting to as many people as I can, both before the visit, and with updates and reports during and after the visit. In this way, I hope to live the vision expressed by a leader in the Colombian Mennonite Church: “We must reach with one hand for the hand of God, and with the other hand for the hand of our neighbour. Then together we’ll walk, and we’ll make it to the other side of this struggle.”

If you would like to join hands to support this valuable work, please pray for the delegation with whom I’ll be volunteering, and send any financial contributions to

CPT Canada
25 Cecil Street, Unit 307
Toronto, ON
M5T 1N1

If you would like your contribution to support my personal participation, please write “inspired by the work of Erika Friesen” on the memo line of your cheque.


Please read more information about CPT below, or on their website, cpt.org

CPT MISSION STATEMENT
Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) offers an organized, nonviolent alternative to war and other forms of lethal inter-group conflict. CPT provides organizational support to persons committed to faith-based nonviolent alternatives in situations where lethal conflict is an immediate reality or is supported by public policy. CPT seeks to enlist the response of the whole church in conscientious objection to war, and the development of nonviolent institutions, skills and training for intervention in conflict situations. CPT projects connect intimately with the spiritual lives of its constituent congregations. Gifts of prayer, money and time from these churches undergird CPT peacemaking ministries.

PURPOSE OF CPT DELEGATIONS
Christian Peacemaker Teams sends short-term (10-14 day) peacemaker delegations into a variety of crisis settings around the world. These delegations are part of CPT's ongoing experiment in faith-based, active peacemaking. Delegation members provide encouragement for individuals and communities experiencing violence, challenge violations of human rights and promote active nonviolence as a means of settling disputes. Our partners in the field have repeatedly expressed how important it is for "outsiders" committed to nonviolence to be there. At the closing of CPT's work in Haiti, community members said, "CPT didn't DO anything. They didn't give us food or build us shelter or donate clothing. But they saved our lives." Indigenous Mayans in Chiapas, Mexico said, "Please keep coming. Your presence protects us." In South Dakota, Lakota Indians established a peaceful occupation under hostile vigilance from FBI and local law enforcement to protest Federal government plans to turn treaty land over to the state. The Lakota warriors testified that if CPT had not been there, they are certain things would have turned violent.

Delegation participants seek to:
--gain a sound understanding of the situation through visits and discussions with grassroots leaders, community members, church and human rights workers, legislators and officials;
--support movement towards nonviolent change through listening, dialogue and public actions (as appropriate);
--reduce violence by providing an international presence in affected communities/areas;
--identify ways in which CPT or churches/organizations with whom participants are affiliated may support the work of nonviolence.

THE ROLE OF ADVOCACY AND MEDIATION IN CPT WORK
Christian Peacemaker Teams views mediation ministries as complementary and valuable, but not CPT's primary work.
Clarifying statement: CPT recognizes that in many situations it is not enough simply to call for the end of violence or disagreements, because this merely maintains an intolerable and unjust system. While we see the work of mediation and conciliation as important and complementary ministries, there are some situations in which peace and justice seems to be incompatible. Nonviolent direct action is an approach which seeks to serve both just ends and peaceful means, most often by working alongside those who are most impacted by the unjust situation. CPT will attempt to be attentive to the truth held by every party, but it will not be neutral on questions of injustice, poverty, hunger and oppression.
Christian Peacemaker Teams seeks to pursue a ministry of presence and responsiveness in emergency situations and settings where violent instability often no longer permits evangelism, relief and development work. Our hope is that our presence can create an additional space of security for potential victims as we serve as human rights observers, assume the risks of insider partials, and on occasion serve as public advocates in response to violent incidents.