The SEED Learning Tour

Ok, Josh here to give you some more details on the beginning portion of our time with the SEED learning tour. I want to start by saying that Krista gave a LOT of info in the previous post, and I'll do my best to keep up, but no promises. I'll give an overview of each day and some highlights and things to think about, and we'll see where that gets us. 

On Thursday, we were given a general overview of what MCC Colombia is and does. MCC Colombia works with Mennonite, Mennonite Brethren and Brethren in Christ churches here in Colombia, and has connections to MCC USA and MCC Canada. The MCC office in Colombia opened in 2002, which makes it relatively young. MCC Colombia does not run its own projects, but partners with Colombian Anabaptist churches in their own projects, as well as with Colombian peace organizations such as Mencoldes and Justapaz, which Krista wrote about in her post. MCC Colombia supports these organizations and church projects through physical workers, financial support and political and international advocacy. MCC Colombia's mission is as follows (more or less):

- To empower Colombian Anabaptist churches

- To accompany communities in peace work, relief work and development work to break cycles of violence. Peace-building and development work are interconnected in Colombia (as in other places); a community cannot have peace without bread

- To help develop the church as a healing community

- To address both the result and the causes of violence in Colombia

MCC Colombia works at a loca, regional, institutional and international level. They work with a theological rather than a political agenda, focusing on nonviolence and mutual accountability from a theological perspective as opposed to from a political or ecumenical perspective (although often the goals are the same for both). Another important piece of MCC Colombia is distance from the culture of proselytization. That is not MCC Colombia's goal. Politically, they are not neutral, but they do not takes sides. They have a biblical agenda, which allows them to agree and disagree with things on all sides of the Colombian conflict. 

(Sorry for how disjointed this is, I'm working from bullet notes, and I'm paying for internet time, so I"m trying to be fast. Feel free to ask us questions when we get back if you want clarity on something).

It is important to recognize that Colombia is not in a state of "post-conflict," but in a state of current, active conflict. Colombia has the largest population of internally displaced persons in the world (4.5 million displaced persons), and this continues to be one of Colombia's biggest problems. The means of the conflict has shifted (more of a focus on kidnapping in the 80s, now violence comes more in the form of displacement), but the conflict continues to exist, despite the claims of the Colombian government. The process of internal displacement is exactly what it sounds like; armed groups (guerilla or para-military) come to a town and threaten the lives of the population unless they leave, often immediately. These town populations are forced to leave their land for an indefinitely period of time, sometimes forever. This creates huge squatter communities, often on the outskirts of large cities, that have no infrastructure, no means of earning money, and no financial security whatsoever. These communities are either assimilated into these cities in the form of very poor barrios, or they attempt to return to their land, where there is often nothing for them anymore.

MCC Colombia works with these situations through Justapaz and Mencoldes projects, as well as through the SEED program. They work with local churches and communities to develop sustainable living practices and community infrastructures, as well as working with political advocacy for the communities. 

So that is a very basic overview of what MCC Colombia does in-country. More specifically, for more information on the SEED program and its various projects, go to their website: seed.mcc.org On the left, you will find links to the various projects (the website is available in English and Spanish).

This was pretty much our Thursday; developing a background knowledge and context for what we then went to visit on Friday, which was the barrio of Cazuca, a very poor neighborhood in Soacha, just outside of Bogota. Two SEEDers live and work there, an aspect of MCC Colombia's work that sets it apart from other NGO work: the SEEDers live the experience of the people that they are working with, giving them both more insight into the lives of those they are working with, as well as developing a deeper level of trust with the community. After arriving in Cazuca (where we were clearly out of place), we toured the school and church where Daniella and Erika, the two SEEDers, work and live. After a lunch of arroz con pollo y platanos fritos, we were treated to a very high-energy program for the children of the community. After this, we took a tour of the neighborhood. This tour was very striking for a number of reasons. We could only walk around the neighborhood when David, the pastor of the church, was with us, and we could only go so far (essentially around the "block") before reaching what were called the invisible borders. Different armed groups control different parts of Cazuca, and when we reached the end of the territory that the church was in, we had to turn back, because David was not "known" in other parts of town, meaning we would not have the protection that his company afforded us. It was clear that, while the situation never felt dangers, that we really were relient on David's presence, which is a common situation across Colombia. Pastors are often the most respected people in a community, as armed groups often have family members that attend their churches. There are plenty of situations where pastors are not treated well (even killed), but that was not the case with David in Cazuca. To summarize his thoughts on the situation: while he does not support or praise the para-military group that patrols his community, he does know that they will not give him trouble, and that they will protect himself and his home from other armed groups or gangs, so long as he does not cross them. It was a very powerful experience to see more tangibly how the armed groups are working in Colombia now.

Saturday morning, we went to Cresciendo Juntos (Growing Together), another project that the SEEDers are working with. Cresciendo Juntos works with children from internally displaced families, giving them education, food, and often just something better to do after school than join an armed group. Cresciendo Juntos has been working in Cazuca for 12 years; in that time, some of the original kids in the program are now teachers. In this way, the program is sustaining itself. Delinquency is the biggest problem that the project faces. The community fears deliquent groups (gangs) even more than the armed groups. Cresciendo Juntos works to combat gang strength by teaching their kids nonviolence and pacifist values. Everything that Cresciendo Juntos has in terms of resources is donated; they are currently working on a few incoming-earning projects, including a piggy-bank project, where children will give out "piggy bank" cans to organizations and people outside of Cazuca; when they are full, they are sent back to Cresciendo Juntos. Krista and I both have tin cans that we hope to fill and send back to the program (ask us if you are interested in donating).

Saturday afternoon, we headed to northern Bogota, the wealthier side of town, for a "tour of contrasts." We ate at a nice restaurant and walked around the park in the neighborhood of Usaquen, one of the nicest tourist barrios in Bogota. While we were eating (burrito for me, falafel and hummus for Krista), we talked about the differences we observed between Usaquen and Cazuca. One of the most shocking contrasts was that our budget for that meal was 20,000 Colombian pesos (COP) (about $12 USD) per person, and our budget for lunch, supper and breakfast in Cazuca was 15,000 Colombian pesos total. This was such a telling contrast, revealing the massive discrepancy in money and general quality of life between two parts of the same city. This really brought home the level of economic disparity present in Colombia, and we also reflected on how we saw that in our own countries (the delegation had members from Canada, USA, Honduras, and Bolivia). We then went up to Monserrate, a church on top of a mountain that borders Bogota's northeastern side, for an incredible view of the city and some more thinking about economic disparity (Monserrate is a very touristy spot, costing 8,000 COP just for the ride up the mountain in a cable car, half of our food budget in Cazuca for 18 people).

On Sunday, we split up into 3 groups to visit three different churches and visit with the pastors to talk about how they work toward peace in their churches and in their communities. Krista and I attended Berna Mennonite church, which began in the 1960s. From the pastor Roberto and an elderly woman named Elvya who is one of the original members of the church, we learned about some of the history of Anabaptism in Colombia. Anabaptism began to develop more in Berna in the 1980s. In the early 1990s, Colombia reformed their constitution, including in it a clause on conscientious objections. It was about this time that the themes of noviolence and human rights became more prominent in the church. John Drive played a significant role in developing these themes of peace. Roberto made the comment that they as a church absolutely need to remember that the conflict is still active and present in Colombia. Because the conflict has been going on for so long (50-60 years), complacency is a constant danger that the church faces. He said that they need to remember continually that conflict is not "normal."

Sunday afternoon, we went downtown again and visted the Gold Museum to give our minds a bit of a breather. We had some coffee at the MCC office and relaxed before going out for dinner. We were treated to dinner at a restaurant owned by a friend of one of the SEEDers from Colombia. We had a delicious meal and reported to the group about our different church experiences that morning. It was a nice time to decompress a little bit and talk in smaller groups about what was on our minds. 

So there you have it, a brief, discombobulated and incomplete account of our weekend time with the SEED learning tour. There is so much to say, and even more than is difficult to put into words. This learning tour was an extremely valuable learning experience for me. It gave me context for my experiences over the previous 5 weeks, and it offered so much insight into the history and current context of Colombia, a country that is often very misunderstood. On one hand, Colombia is not the openly violent drug country of the 1980s, when Pablo Escobar was prominent; at the same time, Colombia is still a country of active conflict, despite the image of serenity and perfection that the government tries to sell to the international community. Colombia is a country of complexity, like any other, that takes much time to get to know. It is both a beautiful place and a place of difficulty, a place of love as well as a place of violence. SEED has given me a much better understanding of this dichotomy and a much better understanding of the various different Colombian contexts. 

Justapaz

I (Krista) had first heard of Justapaz from Janna Hunter-Bowman who co-taught one of my classes at Goshen College. After learning a bit about the organization in an academic context in the U.S., I was very excited to actually visit the organization here in Colombia. While sitting out on the patio drinking coffee that our hosts had warmly offered us, the Justapaz staff shared with us about their work.

Justapaz is a Mennonite organization that started in 1990. It focuses on peace, nonviolence, and conflict resolution. It works with churches of different denominations including Catholic and Evangelical, as well as secular organizations. It first began with working on the issue of conscientious objection, and has now expanding to include several other projects.

Justapaz still works with conscientious objection. The program includes training/education, political advocacy, and accompanying cases. In 2009, the consitution changed to acknowledge conscientious objection as a legitimate and legal possibility for religious or conscience reasons. This has opened the door for Justapaz to accompany people who do not want to do the required military service, though it still is not easy. They are currently accompanying 4 cases. In a context of armed conflict, the military is idolized. Because of this, part of Justapaz's job is to educate about nonviolence. As in many countries, the poor make up a large part of the military. It is possible and legal to buy your way out of the military. A person can pay a fee to avoid military service. Of course, only the rich can afford this.

Another area of work for Justapaz is the recruitment of minors (which is illegal). This includes recruitment by both legal and illegal armed groups. They have a network of connection to protect children from being recruited that includes both educating families about the issue and how to avoid it and physically removing children from situations of illegal recruitment (this sometimes involves relocating the child to a different city to protect them). They are part of a coalition working against the integration of boys and girls into the war. This coalition reports cases of child recuitment and violations against children to the UN to try to put pressure on the government to stop. Some children are recruited to be soldiers, but there are also other ways of using children. These uses include, as messangers, trafficking drugs (children are less likely to be stopped and searched), carrying threats, and sexual slaves.

Youth are required to register with the military when they are 17-years-old. When they are 18, they have an appointment. However, for anyone who might try to avoid military service, there are trucks at strategic locations (bus stops, universities, etc), where a young man who has not fulfilled his service can be detained and taken to the military. He can be taken against his will and suddenly moved across the country.

Justapaz also works with documentation. This project tells the stories of victims. This program is especially important because many people do not report cases to the police out of fear. They fear retaliation, and they also do not trust the authorities. It is known that the police and other "authorities" work with illegal armed groups. Justapaz works with investigation and advocacy. They document violations of human rights against people connected to churches, as well as experiences of hope in churches. They have a publication called "A Prophetic Call" that is a summary of these cases. They gave each of us in the delegation a copy of the most recent publication, and if you will be geographically near me in future you are welcome to borrow it. You can also find an electronic copy on their website (www.justapaz.org).

While visiting Justapaz, I was delighted to be unexpectedly reunited with a good friend from high school, Becca Kragt! She is doing the SALT program (a Mennonite 1 year service term) with Justapaz in Bogota. She has been working with the sister  church program. This program encourages churches from the North (U.S. and Canada) and churches from Colombia to build relationships with each other. They are intended to be relationships in which churches can support each other and feel connected to each other, as well as learn about each other's situation. It is not intended to involve financial support (this is strongly discouraged). Churches learn about each other and share prayer requests. Sometimes members from congregations are able to visit their sister church (both from the North to Colombia or from Colombia to the North). The Sister Church Program is hoping to build more focus on political advocacy in the future.

Goodness, once again, a lot of information. The crazy thing is that everything in this post and my last post was just one day of learning during the Seed delegation. (Be grateful that Josh is covering more days than I am. ;)) I know that it is a lot of information, but I think most people who are reading this blog are from the U.S., and it is important that those of us from the U.S. learn about what is going on in Colombia because our government's policies to very greatly affect the situation there.

To speak more generally of Seed delegation, I have greatly enjoyed the experience over the past week. I am so glad that the leaders were kind and flexible enough to let Josh and I join the group even though we could not stay for the whole time. Josh will write more about what we did during the other days, so I will not say much more about our other activities, other than to say that it was a great mixture of learning/education, meetings with organizations and churches, discussion, fellowship through eating together (so important!), exposure to poverty and wealth, free time to explore a bit of Bogota on our own, and simlpy singing and being together as a group and with our host families.

Being part of the Seed learning delegation was a powerful experience. Even though we were only able to be with the group for half the time, I was amazed by the genuine relationships we built with the Seeders and other participants. The Seeders offered a great amount of time and energy to educate us and invite us into their lives and work here in Colombia. Their passion for their work and compassion for their communities was obvious. I owe them many thanks for all that they shared with us. They are truly an inspiration to me and I will not quickly forget them.

Well, I'm afraid I've used over 2 hours of internet time at this internet cafe between the last post and this one. While of course there is more to say, my stomach is reminding me that it is time for lunch, and I'm sure your eyes could use a rest. Josh will be posting later today on more of Seed (really, break up reading time over a few days or something), and we will post one more time when we get back to the U.S. to put on pictures and say a word or two of closing thoughts. Today we will be packing and doing last minute things to get ready, and then we will leave tomorrow morning (at 5am!) to begin traveling back to the U.S.! It's crazy to think that our time here is nearly done, and to be honest, I don't think that reality has quite set in yet. But I am also excited to be going to Oregon upon our return to spend time with my family and for my sister's wedding! There is a lot to think about and a lot to do. So much beauty we have experienced over these past weeks and so much beauty yet ahead of us. Gracias a Pachamama.

Until next time,
Be well,
Krista

Hospitality, Context, and Mencoldes

Hermanas y hermanos,

I hope all is well with each of you, wherever you are reading from in the world. I have not written in a while, so am excited to share with you again. I am grateful to be healthy again and full of energy. I will warn you now, this is going to be a long post. I tend to be long-winded anyway, but on top of that we received an incredible wealth of information during the Seed delegation, and so much of it is very worth sharing. Feel free to read it in chunks, leave and come back. I hope that this post gives you some idea of the Colombian context, but I also offer the disclaimer that I have only been here a short period of time and am no expert. Of course, this is by no means a complete history or reflection of the current context, so I encourage you to do more independent reading. I also wrote a paper last year offering a *brief* history of the conflict in Colombia, and am happy to send it to you via email; all you need do is ask. In this post, I will try to relay as accurately as I can what I have learned from people here who are living in this context.

First I want to introduce you to our wonderful host family (we do have pictures with them that we will post when we return to the U.S.). Jonathan was our host father, and he had two absolutely adorable 3-year-old twin sons. Jonathan was incredibly hospitable. He cooked us a delicious breakfast each morning, making things like eggs, french toast, and arepas with a different hot drink each morning: coffee, hot chocolate, cafe con leche, aguapanela (a sweet drink made with a kind of sugar cane and lemon juice). Jonathan spent time talking with us about his work protecting a nature reserve (complicated work. People who have been living in the mountains outside of Bogota have children and want to expand and build more houses for their families, but the nature reserve also needs to be protected and so no building is permitted), the reality of paramilitaries in the form of gangs in Bogota (playing an interesting role of both protecting and terrorizing the community), and Colombian food (after 6 weeks here there's still so much more to try!). His sons, Jacob and Nicolas, were two of the cutest kids I've ever seen. They entertained us with their funny faces, calling for their father (in unison, over and over until he would go to them and tickle them), and young-style Spanglish (Jonathan is bilingual and is raising them to know both Spanish and English). This family was truly a joy to live with for a week. We were honored to get to know them. (And for you Mennonites out there, he is the son of Peter Stuckey.)

Mencoldes (Fundacion Menonita Colombiana Para el Desarrollo) is a Colombian Mennonite Development Foundacion. I will share with you what they do as an organization, but first I want to share with you what they taught us about the Colombian context more generally. Much of the conflict in Colombia today and over the past 50 or 60 years is related to land ownership. To put it simply, very few people own the vast majority of the land. Many of the people who owned even a little bit of land had to leave their land because of the violence of armed groups (paramilitaries and guerillas) and "land grabs." They make up the approximately 4 or 5 million people who are internally displaced in Colombia, which is now the country with the largest internally displaced population in the world. Many leave food cultivation in the campo (rural areas) for poverty in the cities because of violence and threats from armed groups. Big companies who want the land for a variety of reasons (territory control, drug trafficking, mining, agriculture, etc) give legitimacy to the armed groups. A commonly known example is the Chiquita banana company, who started paying paramilitaries to protect its interests in the 60s and is still doing so today.

The guerilla groups (insurgencies) have been around since the 50s. Some of the larger and more powerful groups are FARC, M-19, and ELN. These groups started primarily out of a desire for more equal land distribution, but I have heard from Colombians that, while guerilla members probably used to have those goals when they were younger, guerillas no longer seem to be fighting for such just causes (different Colombians have different opinions on this, of course). The paramilitaries have been active since the 80s to get rid of the guerillas. They are often connected to the military and government, and funded by the rich land owners.

In 2005, the Uribe government passed the Law of Peace and Justice. This law stated that the paramilitaries must demobilize. The goal was for paramilitary members to integrate back into society peacefully and for victims to receive reparations. Shortly following the passing of this law, there was a wave of accusations and it became clear how much the government was involved with the paramilitaries. Approximately 35% of the Congress is believed to have been involved with paramilitaries. The passage of this law in 2005 is supposed to show that Colombia is in a post-conflict stage. This is not the case. Many parts of Colombia are still in active conflict (don't worry, parents and other loved ones, Josh and I have been traveling in areas that are not in active conflict. We have felt quite safe while here in Colombia). The paramilitaries never demobilized. They converted into what the government calls "criminal gangs." When these highly organized groups are viewed as simple criminal gangs (instead of the paramilitaries that they still are), they are not seen as part of the conflict that has been going on for over 50 years. This offers impunity to those in power who are connected to these armed groups. This adds layers of complexity to the current situation.

Last year, the Law of Victims and Restitution of Land was passed and supposed to fill the gaps of the law passed in 2005. However, it is difficult to try to work toward restitution when the country is still in active conflict. This law was another attempt to show that Colombia was in a post-conflict stage. The law is not helping, because post-conflict tools are not very effective in a situation of active conflict. No one has yet receieved reparations through this law. The law also makes no attempt at land reform, which is what is truly needed to work at the source of the conflict.

The current Colombian president, Juan Manuel Santos, has recently signed a free trade agreement with the U.S. (Tratados de Libre Comercio, TLC). The agreement was signed May of this year. The Colombians I talked with said that they have not necessarily noticed direct effects of this trade agreements, but are expecting disastrous effects on the country, particularly for the poor and middle class. I will not go into details here of how free trade agreements are great for the more powerful country and catastrophic for the less powerful country invovled.

60% of Colombians do not vote. It is common knowledge that whoever is elected is elected through arms. However, Colombians are resilient and creative. Many choose to work to influence politics through community organizing, and these groups (including groups of students and indigenous people) are gaining strength.

That is a very brief explanation with many holes, but hopefully it gives you a bit of context for the situation in Colombia.

Now for Mencoldes. As I mentioned above, Mencoldes is a Colombian Mennonite development foundation. MCC is it's primary funding source. It's guiding principles are dignity of life for all, non-violence, social justice, truth, and holistic peace. The organization began 35 years ago and has had 110 projects throughout that time. They work on issues such as rural development, forced internal displacement, humanitarian attention (responding to flooding, etc), housing, emergency assistance, community organizing, public education, economic development, and political advocacy. They provide direct support to victims in the legal process.

One of Mencoldes' programs is the Programa Bancos Solidarios (Program of Solidarity Banks). This program provides loans to small business owners who are not able to access other lines of credit. Participants work in groups. There must be 8-9 small business owners in each group, they must all live in the same community, and they must know each other. They are given a small loan and then pay it back over a period of 16 weeks with very low interest. The groups meet every week. During these meetings, a Mencoldes staff is present to provide some kind of educational piece or workshop. Each group has a board with it's own president and treasurer. The group treasurer is responsible for collecting the money (not a Mencoldes staff). Group accountability is an essential part of this program, because if a member defaults on the loan, the group has to take responsibility. The program includes training in accounting, conflict resolution, leadership, and job-training. In Colombia, it is difficult to access credit if you are not rich, so this program provides an alternative. Many of the participants are women are are the head of household, and some are also people who have been displaced.

CAID, Center for Holistic Attention for Displaced People, is another Mencoldes program. They work with people who have been displaced within less than a year and are in a stage of emergency. They provide assistance including legal attention, group accompaniment, and psychosocial attention.They provide emergency humanitarian aid including hygeine kits, school kits, mattresses, and blankets. These are things the state is not doing.

The last program I will talk about that Mencoldes runs is the Center for a Culture of Hope. It works with youth and children. There are four parts of the program: healthy life, with a focus on sexual and reproductive rights and health; culture and territory, including art, recognizing rights, theatre, dance, expressing vulnerabilities of that territory, and forming community leaders; productivity and self-managment, including income-generating projects in the community; and political advocacy, indlucing working with the local municipality.

Well, I believe that is enough information for one post. I will post again shortly about Justapaz, another peace-building organization in Colombia.

Blessings,
Krista

Some Final Thoughts (part 1)

Howdy folks, Josh here with some final thoughts as Krista and I have now finished our time with the SEED learning tour and are preparing to return to the States in a couple of days. Krista will post at some point as well.

To put it simply, SEED was easily my favorite part of this trip. We had a very enriching, challenging, and in a lot of ways unique experience over the past week. 16 people made up the learning tour delegation, and we were joined by 4 SEEDers and 2 SEED administrative-type people. We arrived Wednesday evening at the MCC office in downtown Bogota, introduced ourselves to the group, who quickly became good friends of ours, had some pizza, and then we were off to our host family's house. On Thursday, we had a number of presentations about the SEED program and and their various projects. It was a very info-heavy day, but a great intro to both Colombian context and the context of SEED work in Colombia as well. This prepared us to some extent for our trip to Cazuca on Friday, a very poor barrio just outside of Bogota in Soacha, where two of the SEEDers work. We experienced a little bit of what the SEEDers do there firsthand, as well as seeing some of the more extreme poverty present in Colombia. We spent the night in Cazuca, visited another project in the morning, and then headed to northern Bogota to contrast that poverty with the more wealthy side of town. We ate at a nice restaurant and walked around Usaquen, one of the richer barrios in Bogota, and then reflected on the differences we felt and experienced in each place. On Sunday, we split into groups to visit three different churches, visiting with the respective pastors to talk about their work with peace in Colombia. We spent the afternoon in downtown Bogota, and then went to a wonderful dinner at a restaurant owned by a friend of the one of the SEEDers from Bogota. On Monday, we heard presentations from Mencoldes and Justapaz, both partners with MCC Colombia who also work with SEED. These were very informative and challenging presentations as well. Tuesday evening, we had dinner together, some final singing time, and then said goodbye to both the SEEDers who hosted us here in Bogota as well as the rest of the learning tour, who left for the coast this morning.

So that is a very brief overview of our time with the learning tour. Krista and I will both be posting again on more specific pieces of the tour, but I wanted to give a general overview of our time there. So yes, more specifics to come, and know that we very much enjoyed our time there, though at times it was both physically and mentally exhausting. For now, ciao!~

-Josh

Back to Bogota

Hello folks, and greetings from Bogota. We returned to Bogota last Thursday to spend the rest of our time here. We were happy to return to the cool temperatures of Bogota, although we perhaps got excited a little too soon. No sooner did we get here, Krista and I both developed head colds (which is why I"m blogging alone today: Krista is taking a nap). As such, these past few days have been fairly uneventful, as we"ve been trying to recoup before starting the SEED learning tour, which begins tonight. While we have not necessarily done much that would be considered exciting, we have been entertaining ourselves. We have cooked a number of times this week, which has been extremely refreshing after having to go out to eat almost continuously for 4 weeks. I wish I could put up the pictures now; without being too immodest, I think we made some pretty impressive dishes, given our situation. We also discovered Glenn and Glenda"s copy of The Lord of the Rings, so we spent the past 3 evenings watching the trilogy. This morning, we went to Zipaquira, a town north of Bogota, where there is supposedly a really beautiful cathedral in an underground salt mine. Unfortunately, when we arrived, we realized that it was VERY expensive to visit the cathedral, so we explored the town instead, enjoying some time in the massive Catholic church during mass (a really interesting experience). Tonight, we head to the MCC office for dinner, which officially begins out SEED learning tour. After dinner, we"ll be heading to the homes of our host families, whom we will be living with until Tuesday morning. Krista and I have really been looking foward to this part of the trip, and we are really excited to finally be at its beginning, even if we are feeling a little under the weather. This will be a short post, as this week has been fairly low-key thus far, but we will blog again after the SEED tour is done, and we should have a lot more to say.

On a different note, we leave for home a week from tomorrow, which seems kind of crazy, but also an inviting prospect. We have really enjoyed our time here, but I think we will be ready to come home in a week, which is a good feeling.

Until Tuesday,
Josh

Santa Marta

Greetings from Bogota. Krista just ran to the bathroom, so while she's gone, I'll fill you in on where we are right now. On Thursday, we flew from Santa Marta (on the coast) back to Bogota, where we will be for the next two weeks (flying home less than two weeks from now, crazy!). We are staying at Glenn and Glenda's house again, who have graciously lent us their space while they are in the States. Krista wasn't feeling so hot yesterday, so we spent the day relaxing at home, her sleeping and me hanging out (and going to the store a TON of times to get various things that we needed). Krista is back now, so we can tell you about Santa Marta.

(One other thing, my camera turned itself on in its case a couple of days ago, and is now dead; Krista decided that it was a good idea to leave her cord at home. So, between the two of us, we have no way of uploading pictures at this point. We'll keep taking pictures with Krista's camera and upload them when we get back, so make sure to check it out after we return!)

Santa Marta is a city of a little less than 500,000 people that sits right on the Carribean coast (we walked to the ocean pretty much every day). The temperature there was much more agreeable than Cartagena, but still plenty hot. We spent the first couple of nights in a hostel right by the beach, and then spent our last 3 nights with Glenn and Patricia Davis, who kindly offered up their home, their delicious food, and their wealth of knowledge to us. We had some of the best Colombian food we've had thus far in their home (Busma, their helper, and Patricia were phenomenal cooks). Glenn and Patricia were extremely helpful in finding places to go, giving us directions, and showing us around their favorite beach, which was magnificent. We owe them many thanks for their kindness.

Highlights:

-The hammocks out on the roof of our hostel were awesome. We spent a good amount of time reading and journaling out on the hammocks. It made us really happy about our most recent purchase (a hammock!)

- Nearly every night, we went to the beach to watch the sunset. It was awesome. If you've never seen a sunset from a westward-facing coast, I highly recommend it.

- Not really a highlight, but I  (Josh) was sick for about 72 hours, so went spent some time laying low. Krista did a great job taking care of me, going to the store for granola, juice and medicine for my bowels (sort of like bad-tasting Gatorade).

- We spent a day in the fishing village of Taganga, where we relaxed on the beach in a beautiful Carribean bay and got some sun (a little too much for the both of us, but worth it). There we had awesome fresh fish for lunch and enjoyed the clearest ocean water I've ever seen.

- We went exploring in Santa Marta and saw another beautiful, really old Catholic church. We also went to the Museo Archeologico, where there was a really cool picture exhibit on the history of Colombia from the 19th century to present, and well as some sweet pre-colonial pottery and a real mummy! (very different from how they are portrayed in movies). 


- More football. All of the team we rooted for lost, which was a bummer, but the games were exciting. Final is tomorrow....


- We spent a morning in the small village of Minca, high up in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, which is famous for organic coffee and a beautiful landscape, as well as birdwatching (not really our thing, though). We had a couple cups of wonderful coffee, and went for a short hike to los Piedras (literally, the Rocks). It was a beautiful river with lots of large rocks to climb on. Of course, Krista had to take of her shoes and walk in the stream for a while (while I had to run off in search of a bathroom....). It was marvelous there, and much cooler than Santa Marta. A nice change.


We really enjoyed Santa Marta, but we were happy to be back in Bogota, where there is less heat and far fewer bugs. Krista left the coast with a few massive bug bites on her thigh, which swelled up quite impressively, but are now much better. We'll hang out in Bogota this week, and then this Thursday we start the SEED learning tour, which we are really looking forward to. That lasts until next Tuesday. We'll have the day Tuesday and Wednesday to savor last bits and pieces of Bogota, and then we fly back to the US! Time is flying.......


-Josh and Krista


edit: i don't really know about the white background on this post, google decided that we needed it, and i can't change it. highlight the text if you can't read it

San Gil and Cartagena

We write to you now from Santa Marta, which is testament to the fact that we are a little behind on our updates, but we´ll catch you up to speed on this past week or so now and then blog about Santa Marta this weekend (hopefully). We left off in San Gil, where we were thoroughly enjoying the tranquila atmosphere and the pleasant temperatures.
San Gil
We spent the last couple of afternoons of our time in San Gil watching football games (international football, so soccer to us norteamericanos) in a cozy little coffee shop that we found on the square. This was a wonderful way to slow life down a little bit and enjoy being in a Colombian city, surrounded by Colombians. It gave us a great opportunity to observe and appreciate how Colombians interact with each other (and with us) while watching the country´s favorite sport. One of our most memorable moments was close to the end of one of the games we were watching; there were quite a few of us gathered around the TV, watching an exciting end to the game. At one point, there was a phenomenal shot on goal that just barely missed. We all exclaimed (rather loudly) at the shot, so much so that a dog that was hanging out in the shop with us started barking excitedly. We all shared a good laugh at that.

Apart from the football, we also enjoyed the best arepas we´ve had thus far (absolutely delicious), as well as probably the strangest snack we´ve ever had, which is the regional delicacy: fried ants. While we weren´t the biggest fans, I´m sure they grow on you....

During one of our first days in San Gil we noticed a building that had a large words painted on it: ¨Inversiones y Planes de la Paz.¨ With my poor Spanish, I (Krista) thought, sweet, it must be some kind of peace-building organization. I thought it roughly meant ¨visions (like ideas) and plans for peace.¨ We didn´t have any contacts in San Gil to teach us about the conflict situation locally, so I was really excited. Josh was a little skeptical that it was what I thought it was, but I insisted that it was at least worth asking. Days went by and every time we passed the building I would say that we needed to check it out sometime. Finally we did. As we approached the building, we read a sign outside. I couldn´t understand all of it, but it did sound suspiciously like something to do with caring for the dead. Still stubborn and hopeful, we walked inside. There were pictures of coffins on the wall. Not a good sign. I asked the woman at the desk what they do, and sure enough they were a funeral home. It was disappointing that it wasn´t an organization working for peace in Colombia, but made for a good laugh.

We also had a bit of a change of plans in San Gil. Our original plan was to go to Sincelego for a week, where our main SEED contact lives, and see her city, as well as visit the campo and get a picture of more rural Colombian life. Unfortunately, things did not quite work out as planned. Sincelego ended up not working out, and we ended up going straight to Cartagena, which ended up working out great. We got to connect with a SEEDer (Larisa Zehr) and spend the afternoon with her gaining insight about what she does in a rural Colombian setting (more on that later). Just another reminder of the necessity of a little flexibility in life.

Cartagena


After a 15 hour bus ride overnight through the foothills of the Andes, we arrived in the coastal town of Cartagena, where I´m sure the first thing we noticed was the heat. It was SO hot. After sweating out all of our body water on the bus into the city, we arrived at our hostel. To orient you a little bit, Cartagena is an old Spanish colonial town, known for it´s historic Spanish forts and the Spanish Old City on the peninsula, which is where the vast majority of the tourism is located. Just outside of the old city is a neighborhood called Getsamani, where there is a huge number of hostels. We were staying in Getsamani, about 5 minute walk from the Old City.

Some highs and lows of Cartagena:

-Heat: To reiterate, it was SO hot. Our first night in our hostel, the electricity stopped working in our room, so we had one meager fan to get us through the night. It didn´t go very well. We went through a lot of water in our two days there.

-Vendors: Being a popular international tourist city, there were plenty of people there trying to sell us things (mostly stuff we didn´t really want). And for those of you who have not yet had the pleasure of interacting with vendors abroad, it is an entirely different experience from what we know in the US. In Cartagena especially, vendors do not hesistate to call out to you, follow you, shove their wares in your face, and then try again later, even after you´ve clearly expressed disinterest. Suddenly, we had a lot of new ¨amigos¨ all wanting us to buy their stuff.

-Beauty: For as terrible an institution as colonial was and is today, the architectural legacy left behind in Cartagena is simply astounding. The Old City is a beautiful collection of Spanish-style buildings and narrow streets full of Venician houses, all surrounded by fortified stone walls. We walked along the stone walls and checked out some churches in the Old City.

Food: The coastal fruit has been delicious as well. Fresh mango, watermelon and bananas just don´t compare with what you get in the States, mainly because it´s usually picked that day. We also had the best ice cream we´ve had in Colombia thus far: arequipe (sort of like caramel, or dulce de leche) and coffee, a wonderful combination of flavors.

As we mentioned earlier, we met with Larisa, a SEED participant, while in Cartagena. Over coffee, she gave us an overview of some of the conflict issues going on under the surface in Colombia, as well as some things more specifically related to Berruguita, the small village she lives in. We learned a great deal from Larisa and we won´t try to share all of it with you now, but here are some pieces...

-30% of Sincelejo´s population are displaced people. They are campesinos (people from the rural villages) who were kicked off their land by guerillas and/or paramilitary groups. With such a fast influx of people, Sincelejo´s infrastructure has not been able to keep up. Already an underdeveloped city (as is most of the coast), water shortages are an issue. The displaced people live in the slums on the outskirts of the city, and along with water shortages, live with lack of electricity and poor housing.
-Villages are invaded for different reasons including regional control, drug trafficking, and land grabs.
-There is no state presence in these villages. No police and no health care.
-The violence seems arbitrary. Campesinos do not know why they or their neighbors are threatened, attacked, or told they must leave their homes. They do not even always know if the attackers are from a guerilla or a paramilitary group. They are vulnerable to violence from both sides.
-There is a lot of injustice in the mining business throughout Colombia. The government recently passed a law that gives foreign mining companies more power than domestic mining companies. There are land grabs, particularly along the Magdalena river, to aquire land that has oil (Christian Peacemaker Team is doing accompaniment work to protect farmers in this area). In Choco, the gold mining is run by internationals and people from Medellin. Regional racism is at work, with wealthy white people running the business and poor black people working the mines.

There is so much more to share, but that is all for now. Talking with Larisa definitely made us excited to join the SEED delegation during the end of our trip and learn more about the conflict and efforts being made to help create peace. Until next time, buenas noches.

-Krista and Josh

San Gil

We have been in San Gil for four days now and are loving it. San Gil is in the Santander region of Colombia and has a population of about 50,000 people. This is our favorite city so far, muy tranquila. A nice break from the larger cities we´ve been in. This city reminds me (Krista) of Caraz, the town in Peru where I did my service during SST. One of our favorite parts of the city is the parque principal (main square). There is a large fountain in the center, a sculpture, lots of trees and green, stone paths, and plenty of benches. This is definitely the central hub of the city. Families hang out here in the evenings and it´s a great place to just sit, relax, and people watch. :) There are plenty of good places to sit and drink cafe or jugo, it´s much easier to find places, we can walk everywhere in the city, and we feel safer staying out after dark. And there is so much natural beauty here! Which brings me to some highlights....

-Parque Natural El Gallineral: It´s hard to describe this park with words. And even the pictures don´t do it justice. It is truly one of the most beautiful parks we have ever seen. Our guide book said ¨it´s like a scene set in JRR Tolkein´s Middle Earth,¨ and that´s no exageration. There were flowers that were huge and brightly colored that can only be described as ¨exotic.¨ The trees were the most amazing part. They were incredibly tall with thick trunks and you could see part of the root system above the ground. The most unique part was the hanging vine-like ¨hairs¨ that hung down from these trees. They are called barbas de viejo (old man´s beard). With sunlight shining through the hair-like vines, the forest looked absolutely magical.

-Cascadas de Juan Curi: On June 15 Krista turned 23 and we celebrated by going to a waterfall (cascada). It was about 180 meters tall. We hiked a half hour trail to reach the base of the waterfall. We swam in the small but deep pool at the bottom of the falls, played under the falls, hid in the small alcove created by the water repeatedly spraying the adjacent cliff, and spent some time reading and sunbathing on the rocks (and getting sunburned). Other things we did to celebrate Krista´s birthday were getting jugo (of course) and dessert at the nearby panaderia. We also spent some time sitting in the plaza, one of Krista´s favorite places. It was a beautiful day.

¨It´s my birthday!¨ 

-Barichara y Guane: We took a day trip to the nearby city of Barichara. From Barichara we hiked the ¨Camino Real,¨ an ancient stone-paved road built by the indigenous Guane people. It was about a two hour hike with a beautiful view of the mountains. We passed many grazing cows and goats, as well as a few trees. We also saw many fossils in the stones on the path. As you can see in the pictures, there were stone walls along much of the path. We could only wonder at how long it must have taken to stack the many rocks on top of each other. The path ended in Guane (tiny town, about 1,000 people), where we chatted a bit with some of the locals and explored the local church before taking a bus back to Barichara. We spent the rest of the day exploring Barichara, including a couple more churches and some artesan markets, before it started to rain and we took a bus back to San Gil.

Until next time,
Krista and Josh

Mining and Disparity

Hopefully by now you have caught on to the fact that we are having a lot of fun during our time in Colombia. We are seeing and experiencing some beautiful and amazing things. A lot of our experience of learning about Colombia has been fun, but some of it, like any other country, is also sad.

While in Medellin, Jessica (the MCC SEEDer) was a great source for learning about some of the injustices going on. We noticed that in Medellin, there were some pretty impressive social resources. There was a big library, a large "stadium" area that had lots of exercise resources (multiple swimming pools, soccer fields, etc), and an excellent public transportation system, to name a few. We commented to Jessica about how impressed we were with the public services, and she said that it is not as simple as it appeared. On the one hand, she really appreciates the services that are free of charge. She went on to explain how the Choco, located on the Pacific coast, is the poorest region in Colombia. She told us that it is also one of the richest. Choco has a lot of gold and other minerals and oil. Mining is a big industry there. When minerals or oil are mined from the land, regardless of who does the mining, the region that it comes out of is given monetary compensation (from the government or the company, I'm not sure). Antioquia is one of the richest regions in Colombia (Medellin is in Antioquia). Somehow, people in power in Antioquia make it seem as though the gold that actually comes from Choco is coming from Antioquia, and then the Antioquia region receives the money from the gold instead of Choco. While eating breakfast one morning with Dhira (Jessica's roomate who is from Choco), she told us about how her home is very beautiful but also very poor. She confirmed that many people mine for a living there, but although there is gold and other natural resources, they are still poor. After this, we viewed the rich resources of Medellin in a different light.

Jessica had also recommended that we take the metro to the metro cable, and take the metro cable to the end of the line to La Aurora. She told us that it would take us through the poorest part of Medellin and we would be able to see the disparity in the city. We listened to her advice and were indeed stunned by what we saw. There was indeed some extreme poverty in this area. We saw houses cramped together on a sharp incline that were made of many different random things, but nothing terribly secure. What was most shocking was what was at the top of the hill. We had been confused when we only saw people who looked middle class using the metro cable (since we thought it only went through poor parts of town). We realized why when the line ended and we found large, modern, and new apartments, with more new apartments in construction. We realized that the metro cable was only made because there were wealthy people at the top of the hill that needed to get down to the city. The metro cable passed not through the poor part of town, but over top of it, a literal and physical separation. A second physical separation was on land. The poor houses ended and then there was a large green area with no buildings before the new apartments started. It seemed clear that the city had gotten quite full and needed to expand, but the outskirts were poor. So what do you do? Make a big enough land gap between the rich and the poor so they don't have to see each other, and then make a way for the rich to get back to the center of the city without ever interacting with the poor. The disparity was tangible and shocking.

We know that the country we come from also has great economic disparity, and in that context, we are the middle class who benefit from the disparity. This is not an injustice that only exists in far away lands, but also in our own home. We were challenged to think about the gaps between rich and poor in our society as well. There are many questions and few answers.

-Krista and Josh

A "Cultural Experience"

Sometimes, when you're in a place that is foreign to you, some things happen that you don't entirely understand. But your instincts tell you to go with it and see where it takes you, because it might be normal, excepting that you don't understand the cultural circumstances. Thus was the case in Guatape, when Krista and I sat down on a bench in a garden to rest a little bit and see what else we wanted to do with our day. A little to our left, there was a small alcove, where a small, older woman had just gone. She reappeared a couple minutes later, and told us that we should go in. Thinking it was just another part of the building we were in, we said, "sure" and headed that direction, only to have a priestly-looking man come out of what was apparently a room there and greet us, telling us to come into his office. Unsure of what to do, we went in. We introduced ourselves, told him where we were from and what we were doing in Guatape and made other small talk. He asked us questions, which Krista answered in Spanish, and he was very nice. We talked for maybe ten minutes (at which point Krista and I were sort of looking for a way out of whatever situation we had gotten ourselves into), and then he offered us coffee or pop. We politely declined, but he insisted, and went to get someone to get us something to drink. Krista and I were very confused, but again, we decided just to go with it (and really, what else could we do?). He came back with our beverages, we talked for a little while longer, he gave us a small tour of the building we were in and the garden in the courtyard, and then we parted. It was only a 15-20 minute exchange, but because we had no idea what was going on, it felt really out of our control. Of course, it wasn't a big deal. We just seemed to have stumbled upon a kindly priest-man who wanted to talk to some gringos. Cultural experience #1 survived, and a lesson reinforced. Even when you don't know entirely what's going on, go with the flow. 

-Josh

Bits and Pieces

Here are a few tid bits from our trip so far....

-Bugs: One evening in Cali, Josh and I were sitting in a room that had open spaces in the walls to let in the fresh air. It never really gets cold here, so many rooms have these wonderful open spaces in walls. I commented on how amazing it was that there were so few bugs. We had seen very few and didn't have any bug bites even though we'd been in Colombia for over a week. I told Josh how wonderful it was to be in such a temperate climate and still have so few bugs. Of course, the very next morning I woke up to my first round of bug bites. I cursed my stupidity in jynxing myself. And since then, I have been steadily collecting bug bites, while Josh has only had two. Clearly, the bugs here have something to prove.

-Walking patterns: I can't seem to understand the walking pattern here. It may seem silly, but you notice when you're off. Generally people all walk down the street in a way that avoids ramming into each other. The same is true here, too, of course. But I'm missing something. I intentionally try to stay out of people's way, at times going out of my way to avoid running into them, and still manage to find myself in the way. And yet when I observe Colombians walking, they seem to just walk their own path, not jumping out of or in the way, just effortlessly walking, and they don't run into each other. Maybe after six weeks I'll get it right.....

-Food: Josh and I keep trying new types of fruit juices. We were buying avacodo from a street vendor, and we pointed to one of the kinds of fruit we didn't recognize. We asked if it was good for juice, and he assured us it was. So we tried it. Later we learned that it is called guayava and have deemed it one of our new favorites. Other kinds that we have tried (though not yet made) include lulo, guanabana, and mola.
        Since we were staying in Medellin for a while and had access to a kitchen and fridge, we decided to make a big batch of rice and beans to last us for the week. They turned out pretty good, except that we never could get the beans to get past the still-mildly-crunchy stage. Later we made some of the beans into refried beans, which helped.

Guayavana

Drinking mola juice

Our very own beans and rice with avocado and fried plantains. I've been working at improving my plantain frying skills, and this was definitely my best batch yet!

Papas criollas y queso costana (made by Dhira and mentioned in the Medellin post)

-Balcony: Jessica and Dhira's apartment has a balcony with a beautiful view of the city. We enjoyed several evenings out on it, admiring the view, studying Spanish, reading, talking, drinking coffee, and eating dinner. If only the city sounds came with the pictures....

Yes, Dad, that's a bowl of fresh pineapple! It's just as amazing as you say it is!

-Shoes: People like to keep their shoes clean here. We were told this before we came to Colombia. While we were walking down a street in Cali, sure enough, there was a man with a shoe cleaning kit who offered to clean our shoes. When thanked him but declined, and he said (in Spanish of course), "oh, of course, you clean your shoes at home." Josh and I pulled out the nod and smile response. We had a nice chat with the man and walked on. Looks like we have some work to do to measure up to Colombian shoe standards.

-Coffee: We love it. Plus we are tired more often here because of trying to adjust to a different culture and language. So we drink coffee 1-3 times a day. You cannot buy good coffee here by the bag (that common injustice where the people who live in countries that produce coffee usually can't afford to buy it, and instead it is shipped off to us rich folks in the north), so Josh and I bought a little jar of Nescafe (crappy instant coffee, but the smell and taste brings back fond memories from SST in Peru and Senegal). We far prefer the coffee you can buy by the cup at panaderias (bread stores) and restaurants. The coffee here is smaller portions and usually very dark. Yummmm.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading!

Peace,

Krista

Medellin: Salpicon and Sunshine

Hola amigos! We are writing you now from Medellin, the third city on our national tour of Colombia. We are actually leaving Medellin tonight (our first overnight bus) for San Gil y Barichara, so we thought we would update you all on what we've been doing here. So, Medellin, a city of 2.5 million people that historically is known for the drug violence in the 1980s. Let us begin by saying that Medellin is no longer the city that it was in the 80s. It is a beautiful place, the people are wonderful, and the city felt very safe This has been our longest stay so far (a whole 6 days!), and we've really enjoyed it here. First and foremost, we had wonderful hosts. We stayed at the home of Jessica Sarriot, an MCC SEEDer here in Medellin, and her roommate Dhira. While Jessica was only here for 2 of our six days, she made us feel very at home and gave us a number of good contacts, including her friend Jaime, who we quickly became friends with as well. We had a lot of fun with Jaime. He showed us his university (although we weren't allowed inside due to high security), took us to a great place for fresh juice and salpicon (a Colombian treat, fresh fruit chopped up in fruit juice with a sweet sauce and ice cream on top), took us to a Colombian brewery, and played some mean ping pong with us at the Estadio. He was wonderful at answering our questions about Colombian culture, society and history, as well as helping us find things in the city. We were very grateful to get to know him while here in Medellin.

Our other main host was Dhira, Jessica's Colombian roommate. She was another wonderful source of information and good conversation. Dhira teaches English at a local school in Medellin, so she was awesome for helping us practice our Spanish. We had breakfast with her nearly every morning (usually eggs, and pancakes and sausage on Sunday!), which always led to a good talk. Dhira is from the Pacific coast of Colombia, and one morning we made a more traditional coastal meal called Papas Criollas y Queso Costena (fried potatoes and fried cheese). It was delicious. She has also been a great resource in general for things in Medellin. We were happy to have her as an impromptu host, and we appreciated greatly her hospitality and kindness.

Highlights from the trip:

El Penol, which is a massive rock about 2 hours from Medellin. You climb 659 stairs to the top for a wonderful view of the surrounding area. We had a lovely bandeja lunch afterwards.

The rock:

The view: 

Bandeja paisa pequeno:

From El Penol, we went to the small town of Guatape, which was very tranquilo and quite nice. We walked around the town, admired the artwork on the buildings, visited the beautiful Catholic church (including watching a baby get baptized), and got some good sun.

Salpicon

-Museo de Antioquia: A wonderful collection of contemporary Colombian artwork, as well as some international works. We really enjoyed walking through the galleries, and not just because they were air-conditioned.

For lunch, we had bandeja paisa, the real deal. This is a traditional Colombian dish from this region, and it is probably the meatiest dish we've ever eaten. It had rice beans, platano frito, papas fritas, fried egg, arepa, sausage, pork, some kind of meat that came from a cow, coleslaw.

Jardine Botanico: Beautiful botanical gardens near the University. We took our time enjoying looking at the many different kinds of plants that we'd never seen before.

So that's a brief summary of our time in Medellin. We love this city, and it is sad to leave, but we are looking forward to the more tranquilo setting of San Gil (a town of 50,000). Much love!

-Josh and Krista