most recently, my life has been filled by long, hot days of organizing the logistics for 800 people to eat and drink while outside under an enormous tent, listening by technological advancements to a hearing of the man who ordered their violent displacement from their land on march 11, 2000. i have been in mampuján, a displaced community of campesino farmers, where fellow seeder and close friend, torin, lives. the peace and justice law in colombia allows for (supposedly) ex- para military leaders and members on trial to admit to their acts (or some of them - whichever they choose) and their sentence is reduced from a minimum of 60 years in jail to a maximum of 8. i am not impressed with the law. it does not accomplish what my idea of peace and justice is. however, for the community of mampuján, this was a small victory. they were able to face their victimizer, participate in the hearing and tell their stories, ask questions, and confront the person who led their forceful removal from their land. it was powerful to participate in the event, to be with the people as they processed, listened, shared stories, etc. this is one of the first times the process has even been done in colombia because generally, leaders such as these are just sent to the states to be tried for drug crimes, which are less punishable then violent massacres and displacements. the way it worked was a formal, legal hearing in bogota, with 8 representatives from the community who were selected to participate. the rest of the community stayed and with the help of a number of human rights organizations, mampuján had a number of large tents with hundreds of chairs, big screens and lots of computers and mics and cables so that the people in the community could see and participate in the hearing...to the point where they could even intervene and the judge and court room in bogota could hear and see them. it was pretty impressive.
it was a 10 day event, giving us a two day break on saturday and sunday. i had no idea really what to expect when i arrived at the beginning, but within 24 hours i was in leadership of all the logistics of where, how, when, and what people would eat. it was really a ton of work, but i got to know the community really well, fell in love with the people, and enjoyed being really busy. i was reminded of fish fry and camp days. :) the most complicated work was registering all the people who showed up and making sure that the people receiving lunches and snacks were the people registered and participating, since around noon about double the people would show up wanting free lunches. and refusing lunches to kids is not easy! overall, it was a really good experience - for those of us working the event, as well as the community itself.
i returned to zambrano after 2 weeks away, with a community awaiting me with a lot of scolding for being away so much time. its a fine balance when most of my work is really outside of zambrano - visiting other communities, doing workshops, participating in events such as this in mampuján, etc. part of the difficulty is that we have not started the project we have been hoping to in zambrano, which means i have even less work here. it seems that there is are different interests and for that reason we haven't really started...and now i have 6 months left in zambrano (filled with lots of travel and other activities, as well) and am wondering if its worth starting a project that will only be half done when i leave. we'll see where we decide to go with it all.
time seems to be flying. i can't believe i only have 6 more months in zambrano. especially now that i'm a lot more busy, the time just disapears! it will be christmas before we know it and i'll be home enjoying the cold weather with you all (although i know at this moment you're probably most of you excited about the warm weather headed your way for a few months!).
the big news is that i will be home for christmas, but only for about 2 months. i accepted the position as co-facilitator of the seed program next time around. this means a commitment of another 2-3 years in colombia with mcc. its been a long process of thinking and praying about whether this is what i should do or not. i'm not TRYING to stay away from home, and actually now that i've accpeted the position, i'm a lot more homesick than i ever was before. logical, i think. :) but i am excited about the job. i have a lot of passion for this program. i think it has important goals and aspects to it and i'm really excited about the different parts of this job. i'll be working a lot with relationship building and being the liason between mcc and different partners, seeders and different partners, etc, which i think feeds into a gift of mine in terms of relationships. the job will also include a lot of travel, visiting participants, working on group dynamics within the multi-cultural, very diverse group, and doing all organization for orientation and continued learning for the group during their 2 years here in colombia. i'm very excited to start conversations about what it will look like and see how it all goes. i'm very open to more conversations about what this looks like, why i am staying, etc. please feel free to send me any thoughts, questions, concerns, etc. the more time i'm here, the more chance you have to come VISIT ME in colombia!!! :)
i'll leave it at that for now. i think of you all often, miss you dearly, and love to hear from you when you make the time. a few fotos of the audiencia en mampuján:
campesinos from mampuján, listening to the hearing...
working on registration with the team
problem solving with torin and ricardo
recording lunches: how many, from which cook, what kind, for who it goes, etc..
welcoming more volunteers! :)
more problem solving.
saray, the daughter of juana (community leader). one of my favorite people in mampuján
taking a break at the local raspao station
lots of problem solving we did...it looks like rest. don't worry, its not!
counting lunches. total: 800/day. yikes.
juana (community leader - PHENOMENAL woman) listening as her husband testifies in bogota.
waiting for the lunches to arrive...
registration.
the hearing. quite an experience.
No comments:
Post a Comment