South America Log - No. 10

Dear Friends and Family,

We are back from our trip to Garzal where we enjoyed experiencing a rural Christmas. Click the picture below to see some of our photos from the trip:

Garzal

We were relieved that it was a quiet week given the communities concerns about increased violence during the holidays. Since we have only recently started working with this community, we spent much of our time visiting families to introduce ourselves and CPT, and to learn a little about their life and experiences.

We found many of the Christmas traditions to be familiar. Families were enjoying out of town guests. A common meal was prepared and shared by many families before going to Christmas Eve church services. Some families gave small gifts to their children. We enjoyed special foods that are usually only prepared at Christmas, including tamales and a spice cake baked over a wood fire. And, some in the community celebrated with drinking beer all through the night and into the next day.

A memorable part of our stay in Garzal was the Christmas Eve vigil at a small evangelical church in the community. (The pastor’s family was our main host for the week so our decision about whether to spend Christmas Eve with the church-goers or beer drinkers was clear.) The pastor, perhaps running short on music to keep the 4-hour vigil going until midnight asked us if we would sing a song. We agreed and sang ‘Joy to the World’ and ‘Silent Night’, explaining that in many churches in the US on Christmas Eve, the lights are extinguished and Silent Night is sung by candlelight. The pastor decided to end their vigil in the same way, so they passed out candles, turned off the generator, and we all sang ‘Noche de Paz’ at midnight. It made us both a little teary to enjoy a tradition from home and to think of many of you singing the same song that night.

We also enjoyed swimming in the Magdalena River, which is the color of chocolate milk, with our host’s family. And, on our last night with the family, we sat around joking and singing before going to bed. They asked us to sing for them and said they would sing for us in return. We sang Jingle Bells and then taught them the chorus. Several people caught on quite quickly while some of the grandchildren got the tune but used the typical “shwah, shwah” sounds to imitate the English words. I imagine we will still be hearing the grandchildren sing “Jingle shwah, Jingle shwah, Jingle shwah, shwah, shwah” to the tune of Jingle Bells when we return to their home.

While this Christmas was free from violence for the people of Garzal, our many conversations with families reminded us that the threats they are facing continue to be very real. Although many have farmed the land for 40 years, they are in the midst of a 6-year-long struggle to gain titles to their land, titles they have a right to under Colombian law. In the past few months the struggle has intensified with increased pressure from illegal armed groups for the families to abandon their farms. Fortunately, more human rights workers and a lawyer have joined with the community to work on their behalf. As we listened to the worry of so many farmers about the possibility of losing their land and their livelihood we were reminded of the words of a Colombian mother we met on our first visit to Colombia. She described peace as “going to bed at night with a roof over your head, food for your family, and freedom from fear”. We pray that 2008 will be the year the families of Garzal receive the titles to their land, and we all can rejoice with them in being just a little closer to Peace on Earth.

May you and your community have a roof over your head, food for your family and freedom from fear in 2008.

In Peace,

Michele and Nils

Bonus Christmas Song -

People who live in rural communities have access to an abundance of fresh food and are happy to share, but by the end of our time we were beginning to feel like we were in a food-themed ‘Twelve Days of Christmas’, which inspired the following:

Seven Days of Christmas in Garzal:

On the seventh day in Garzal, a neighbor gave to me

Seven cups of coffee

Six coconuts

Five kilos of oranges

Four cups of tamarind pulp

Three sour guavas

Two ripe bananas

And a chicken tamale wrapped in banana leaves!

CPT MISSION STATEMENT: Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) Colombia is a
community made up of trained volunteers from different cultures that forms part of the international, ecumenical organization, CPT. Our work is based in, though not limited to, the Middle Magdalena region of Colombia. We work together on grassroots initiatives to expose and transform structures of domination and oppression through active nonviolence in order to make possible a world grounded in respect, justice and love, even of enemies.

Read more or make a donation at www.cpt.org.

South America Log - No. 9

December 19, 2007

Dear Family and Friends:

The season of Advent is one of anticipation, as we look forward to celebrations together with family, and think about our hopes for the coming New Year. This year in Barrancabermeja we also wait in anticipation, or perhaps trepidation, for news from the community of Garzal. This pastoral farming community along the banks of the Magdalena River is named for the many herons and egrets (“garzas” in Spanish) that populate the riverbanks. There’s no electricity or running water in Garzal, but there’s a strong sense of community among the 136 families that live there; many of them have farmed this same land for 40 years.

The peaceful life of the families in Garzal is under threat. The community has been engaged in a decade-long bureaucratic process to register the titles to their land; they are legally entitled to the land under Colombian law due to their long residence. In recent years, members of the illegal paramilitaries have tried to take control of the land for drug trafficking or cattle-ranching. Most recently they have threatened to evict the community or make them sign over their land titles, by armed force if necessary. The community is particularly worried about the holiday season; they feel more alone over the Christmas and New Year's holiday when many government and human rights offices will be on vacation, allowing the illegal armed groups to move through their communities with few repercussions.

Michele and our teammate Rachel recently spent two days with the residents of Garzal as they met with Colombian government, United Nations and human rights organizations to develop a plan to fight for their land rights and to ask the government to fulfill their obligation to prevent displacement. As one leader of the community stated, “A farmer without land is like a fish without water.”

Displacement is not a new problem in Colombia or in the world. Displacement has been going on for decades in the area surrounding Barrancabermeja, and a recent report by the government Human Rights Defender's office indicates that displacement in the region has increased by 89% in the last year.

2000 years ago, after Jesus’ birth, instead of returning home, Mary and Joseph were forced to flee to Egypt with their newborn son:

When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him." So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt. (Matthew 2: 13-14)

Joseph, Mary and Jesus knew what it was like to live as displaced people, fleeing violence and leaving behind their family, friends, jobs and possessions in order to start a new life in a strange place that, hopefully, would offer safety. This experience of being displaced by violence is one shared by more than three million Colombians. Our hope is that the families of Garzal can avoid this fate and continue to farm the land they have peacefully lived on for generations.

This Christmas the two of us will experience a glimpse of the rural lifestyle that the families of Garzal are fighting for. In a few days, we will load up our backpacks and travel three hours by boat to Garzal to spend a week with the community. Unfortunately, we won't be able to call or respond to e-mails in the days around Christmas, although we will be in daily cell phone contact with our teammates. However, we are always glad when we get the opportunity to work together, and by the warm reception we've received in the past in Garzal, we are confident that spending Christmas with the families there will be a rich experience.

This Advent season please keep the people of Garzal in your prayers as they attempt to hold on to their homes and livelihood. And, may we all find small ways to build peace in our homes, communities and the world in the coming year.

Love and Peace,

Nils and Michele

P.S. We’ve put some more photos up on our blog – dancing salsa with our teammates, as well as pictures from our vacation to San Gil in November. Check them out at http://nilsandmichele.blogspot.com/

Salsa dancing!

I (Nils) am back from Nariño. My stay there ended up being just three weeks, but I had to turn right around for another five-day accompaniment almost as soon as I arrived back here. Now at last Michele and I have been able to spend some time together.

Click on the photo below for some pictures from a recent evening of dancing with some of our teammates at Las Cotorras, a favorite salsa bar. It was a supremely fun night, and a reminder that we need to get out more and enjoy Barrancabermeja’s nightlife.

Salsa Dancing