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.
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