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.