The CPT delegation and Barrancabermeja team did a public action yesterday, denouncing Plan Colombia, fumigation, multinational exploitation and the free trade agreement, which are causing the poorest people to suffer more and more. We did a little street theatre, sang a song in which spectators joined, and then spectators used sidewalk chalk to cover the park's central plaza with their wishes for their future.

The Colombian people are not just wishing for a better future; they are creative and are working together in communities to find solutions in the midst of difficulties we can't really imagine. In Micoahumado, for example, they continue to claim the basic human right to live without violence or the threat of violence, whether in the form of military presence or guerrilla presence. This right is repeatedly and continuously violated by both sides, and the presence of CPT reinforces the community's rights and wishes because of the international attention it brings to these violations.

I will write more about those days soon, but today we're in transit, returning to Bogotá to visit the Canadian and US embassies. On Tuesday I'll be flying back to Canada, but not to Toronto. I'll be going back to Abbotsford to help Mom move. She's going to try out an assisted living apartment, and since I have the time, I'd like to spend it with her.

some photos

Andrés Soldad, president of the Ciudadela Educativa directive
With Luz Estella from CCCM/Geneva Call
The Coca Cola protest banner.
With Joanna and Xavier of Mesa Agraria.
Evening chat with some neighbourhood kids at the CPT house in Barranca.

So, let me tell you about my birthday yesterday - I woke up early and did a little seated yoga practice on my bed, to loosen up the spine a little. When I got out of the shower, our host Consuelo had my morning coffee waiting for me. She's a wonderfully warm woman with a husband and two grown children, and two nieces live with them. We're sleeping in the girls' beds, and they're sleeping with Consuelo. But during the day we're not there at all, so that's ok.

After breakfast at the CPT house, we visited the Ciudadela Educativa here in Barrancabermeja, a complex that integrates education, social networking and productive programs, including many agricultural initiatives (stevia, forestry, cattle, fish, etc. You can see some of their land in this photo). It was hugely inspiring. They organized themselves 23 years ago, mostly displaced people in one of the poorest parts of the city, and now they have one of the top high schools in the city, whose curriculum however is planned by teachers in consultation with parents. The school is doing all kinds of things that we're also doing at my school, and that we think are pretty innovative. It's great to see them happening here too. The president of the association and the other people from the directive kept repeating that they aren't educated people, but they have studied a lot, and they have managed to hold to a few very important principles, including that all decisions are taken as a community and that they will never pay money to any armed group (who always impose taxes) but rather negotiate with them. They don't have a web site yet because they're just getting to the technology now, but I bet they will soon.

In the afternoon we met with a woman from an international organisation that accompanies the demobilisation of paramilitaries. Her photos were quite disturbing for us, and we found it a difficult presentation all in all. The benefits the paras enjoy if they volunteer to disarm are quite substantial. However, we've heard from many people here that some demobilized do just go back to work for another armed group, continuing their activities.

I was on the supper cooking crew. We made cashew chicken with lots of lime juice, garlic and ginger because there was no fish sauce, oyster sauce, or ground coriander. We also made the zucchini brownie recipe from Simply in Season, but with banana. They were delicious. And while the oven was hot, I made Butterzopf, one for the evening, and one for communion this morning. The meal was tasty and plentiful, and I felt happy to have the chocolate desert! Before going to bed I helped John, our leader, plan for today's worship.

Yes, there was communion this morning. But when I told our marvelous delegation leader on Sunday that I haven't taken communion in over 7 years, he invited me to participate in the planning with him. So for words of institution I used the feeding of the 5000 from John, as well as John 21 where Jesus cooks breakfast for the disciples on the beach. Besides the team and the delegation, we were joined in the service by a persecuted friend of CPT who regularly has to leave town in order to "let things calm down". After the service, he told us about his life and his work with Gente en Acción. By the time he left, we felt like he was our brother, and I'm sure we'll stay in contact with him.

Right now we're planning for our visit to Micoahumado, a small mining community in the Morales municipality in the south of Bolívar department. It's a four hour ride by chalupa (boat) on the river, then a bumpy truck ride to the mountains, and it can take from 90 minutes to 4 hours, depending on the state of the road. It's been raining a bit here, so I imagine the roads won't be great. We'll be sleeping in a newish community centre, on a cement floor, but we'll have a shower. We're also taking a day trip to a nearby community where they have a cane sugar processing plant. We'll be seeing a lot of interesting geography, and hearing a lot of stories. Before we come back on Saturday, we're spending half the day attending an Assembléia, a community meeting. Will tell you more about that on Sunday, after we get back on Sunday night.

OK, time to go pack. Thanks for your prayers and interest.

Barrancabermeja

This morning our 7-person delegation and a worker from CPT attended a public action (aka demonstration) of the local Coca Cola workers’ union. It was the launch of a new campaign to get Coca Cola to admit that they've used paramilitaries against union workers, among other things. They posted lists of union leaders and workers killed, disappeared, and threatened. The union has been in secret talks with Coca Cola for a year, during which they agreed not to do any public action, but now that year is over and the talks have gone nowhere, so they're back to this. It was also an observation of the international day of protest against multinationals, which was actually on Sunday. Besides CPT, the Coca Cola workers were accompanied this morning by the oil workers union and by three nuns. After the workers went in for their shift at 6:45 a.m., we got fed breakfast at a fast food joint, Colombian style, in front of the plant. It was a piece of chicken wrapped in aromatic rice, a piece of white bread and a cup of hot cocoa. Delicious and nutritious.

After worship we went on a bus tour with a friend of CPT, who showed us the port area and the area around Ecopetról, the national oil company. He explained the issues those people live with. It was pretty sad to hear about how hard it is, and what hard work it is, for people to make their living in the port area. And it seems unions' power here has been eroded as well, by gradually building the division/resentment between unionized workers and non, even though the unions fight for the rights of non-union workers as well.

After we dropped our tour guide off, our bus driver took us to a barrio of displaced people, called Paola Ahora. We got out at the side of a road and he told us the story of how his son was killed there by paramilitaries who were trying to get at him. Pretty horrible. I felt like I had no right to shed a tear, but it's obviously important to hear people's stories. And they're not just random people, they work with CPT here.

Then we had lunch at a house of OFP, which was a hugely inspiring event. Wow are those women ever cool. The anglos around here have a particular hispanicism, they use “disappear” like "desaparecer", as a transitive verb, so they say someone has been disappeared. I find this a tragic linguistic invention in English, that this is done to a person by other people. If only we could disappear this use of the verb and its reality! Well, Jacqueline told us the story of an OFP house that was disappeared: they got there one morning and nothing was left but the cement floor. The paras (they're currently controlling Barranca) had dismantled it during the night and carted it away. Usually the verb is used for people, so this is quite a story. OFP is very well established (began 35 years ago in Barranca), so they have lots of support and managed eventually to rebuild the house on the same spot, but bigger and better. Isn't that cool? Their slogans are so great, the main one is "we don't birth or raise our children for war", because they want to take away the human capital of the war machine.

And then we went to a meeting with the peasants’ association of the Valle de Cimatera, which was also an inspiration. People just want to work the land and live in peace, and they're being chased off the land by rich landowners and multinationals, and there's chemical warfare going on against them. Hard to know how to respond to all that. One of my delegation colleagues apologized for his country’s drug habit and for the taxes which pay for Plan Colombia and the fumigation. When he said, “Lo siento”, he spoke for all of us. The people we met with explained that this “feeling” (i.e. “feeling sorry”) is an important element of solidarity in the struggle for justice and peace.

Tomorrow among other things we get oriented to Micoahumado, and eat lunch at another OFP house. I love them! Tonight we have two Catholic workers from Paz Cristi coming for dinner.

Thanks for reading, thinking of and/or praying for the people we’re meeting.

Bogotá

After a long day in airports, our group finally arrived safely on Wednesday evening. My Canadian colleague and I are sleeping at the home of a woman from a Mennonite church, and our time here has been planned by a bilingual CPT worker from Barrancabermeja. Our group has three Mennonites, two Catholics, a United Church of Christ member, and an Associated Gospel member and we are quickly bonding.

Our day begins with a half hour of worship which we take turns leading, and which includes prayer, Bible reading, singing and sharing. The pastor of a Mennonite church in the poor south of the city drives us around town in the van from another church, and he is extremely generous in engaging in conversation with us, in Spanish. We’ve been very well fed with delicious Colombian food, sometimes in restaurants and sometimes cooked for us in a Mennonite church.

Our agenda for our time in Bogotá is filled with meetings with human rights workers, learning about the Colombian context. We've heard a number of affirmations that an international accompanying presence does make for decreased violence and saves people's lives. I’m glad for the reading I had done in advance, but it’s still quite overwhelming to hear both the history of the conflicts and stories from the current situation. These stories have been both personal experiences of violence and persecution, and stories of people with whom human rights activists work. Hearing the stories is difficult, but we are inspired and humbled by the hope and courage shown in the midst of unfathomable troubles.

On Sunday after church we will go to Barrancabermeja where CPT workers are based. I will post more about what’s on our agenda while we’re there.

news articles

Here are some articles about a law suit against an American company by the families of some union leaders killed by paramalitaries.

July 13, 2007: New York Times
July 13, 2007: Washington Post
July 12, 2007: Washington Post
July 10, 2007: Inter-Press Service
July 9, 2007: Reuters

And an article from last year about displaced people, from World Indigenous News

one week to go!

One week from now my bag will be packed. Thanks to the many people who have offered words of encouragement. Here is some additional information on CPT's work in Colombia. I'm all vaccinated now, and not suffering any ill effects. I've made my way through the pile of orientation materials and while it feels like I need a few more years to prepare thoroughly, I'm probably ready. I will do my best to post updates during the trip.

[For those who are curious, the half-marathon on June 24 was one of the wettest runs I've ever done, certainly the wettest race. But I'm glad I did it. After the up-and-down leading up to the Burrard Bridge, the bridge itself seemed like nothing much. Let's say it was the extra weight from wet clothes that slowed me down to 1:56. It was great to get picked up by Frieda, Mitchell & Kayla for a post-race meal at Granville Market. I'll try for another half on Sept.30 in Toronto. This one is flat, so should be faster!
The two weeks with family in Abbotsford also went well. It was good to see Mom and Dad in such good spirits. The Ratzlaff visit highlights included one of the best games of Kuh Handel ever (everyone ended with two sets!) and of course some marvelous moments on the dykes (still not sure if it was frogs or ducks singing in the slough). Ending with a visit to the island for Luke and Heather's wedding was a special plus.]