soacha

The last time I wrote, I was preparing for a weekend with Father Carlos Guevara (Episcopal priest in Soacha) and his family . On Friday, Father Carlos and I took a bus to his apartment and met his wife and 3 kids (Christian, Miguel, and Sofia). We arrived there at about 4pm and we spent the evening reading to Sofia (5) and Miguel (7), at the library . They are so cute! Saturday was an early morning. At 6am we woke up and ate breakfast. Then we all took a bus to Bogota, where we attended a 'human rights' class from 8-12. It was really interesting and I was able to start learning about the rights of Colombians.

Later that day, we went to a 'centro commercial' (mall) to let Sofia and Miguel explore the 'divercity'. It's basically a city for kids, where they have to manage their own money and get to try out different professions. There were even buses and traffic jams. Christian (their oldest child) and I were put in charge of the kids in the 'city'. We were given wristbands that had a built in GPS to find them if we ever lost each other. Luckily for us, it wasn't hard to find the two of them. Until about 830pm, we could find Miguel with the 'bomberos' (firemen) and Sofia in the 'safari' section. It was a great night, and then we had a 90 minute trip home by bus. It was a long day, but was so great to spend with a loving Colombian family. They invited me to spend Christmas with them, so I'll probably take them up on it. I am so lucky to have such wonderful people in my life here.

We were up early the next morning to leave for the 'mass' (Episcopalians here say mass) in Soacha. We arrived around 830am and had to clean up the church. We swept, mopped, organized and cleaned off the seats, etc... By 1015, the church was ready to go and people started arriving. The first woman I met (in the blue jacket to my right in the picture below) was displaced from her town, and moved to Bogota a year ago (Sept 29 was 1 year!). She is a single mother of four and told me a little bit about her story. Basically, she and her kids would have been killed if they hadn't left. She showed up on the streets of Bogota with her 4 children, the clothes on their backs, and 20,000 COP (about 10 dollars). She was able to make it to Soacha and has started a new life there. The next lady that came in was also displaced, from a different area, but in almost the same fashion (lady in the picture below with the cane). Their stories are like so many others. Right now, there are about 4 million internally displaced people living in Colombia since 1985. That is second only to Sudan in the number of people displaced from their homes due to violence and war. And people keep showing up, every day. The church service in Soacha was great. It's not a big church, but everyone there was so welcoming and excited that I would be joining them. In the middle of the service, out of the blue, Father Carlos asked me to say something about myself (thanks for the heads up...not!). Afterwards, he welcomed me into the church and said 'this is your home' and a man in the back said, "and Colombia is your country" with a big smile on his face. It was so nice to be welcomed into such a loving community of people. They may not have much in the way of material possessions, but they have what I see reinforced in the amazing people I meet here each day: a wealth of spirit and huge hearts...I am learning so much from them.

After church, and a little bit of coffee, we walked around Soacha. And this is what we saw:

As you can see from these pictures, displaced people move in and build houses wherever they can find space. Houses are built on top of each other, with whatever they can find. As you move up the mountain, it gets worse. 'Houses' are made out of green tarp and cardboard, as you can see in the background of some of the pictures. It was a quiet walk, and I was able to take it all in. Towards the end of the walk, we started to talk about the troubles and problems the internally displaced people face. Most of them don't even know that they have any rights. They don't have identification, and therefore, they basically don't exist according to the government here. If they register, they do have rights to emergency medicine and health care.

I would love to help these families realize their rights and help them to register, but human rights activists have been facing tough times in these areas. Recently, I've come across many articles that acknowledge increasing concerns about humanitarian efforts in Colombia: article. I will definitely have to talk more with the Bishop and Father Carlos to find a way to help, without putting myself, and others, at risk. I do give so much credit to those who are addressing the issue and willing to risk persecution to help others. These scared, displaced families are alone, trying to find their way in a new place, and they need help. They need to know their rights and to be welcomed into their new community.

After our walk, we took a break and grabbed lunch at a cafeteria. We ate a typical meal from a city call Medellin. There was a ton of food; rice, beans, avocado, fried egg, arepa, chorizo, shredded pork, fried plantain, and best of all....a pig's hoof. mmm delicious.... haha

After a wonderful weekend, I took a bus back to the church apartment. I was pretty exhausted, and had a lot to think about. I spent Monday and Tuesday with Laura-Catherine, the bishop, miriam, and some priests in the area representing the Episcopal Church at a "Confelirec"conference for peace among all religions in Colombia. It was pretty interesting and we even got to see Colombia's President, Alvaro Uribe, speak to us (see picture above...he's on the left).

Wednesday, I went to the National University to take a placement exam, but everyone was leaving the school when I arrived. There were guards preventing anyone from entering and I soon figured out that there was a 'distubio', or disturbance, going on in the school. It was probably some kind of political protest (apparently this happens a lot at the university) and all classes were cancelled for the rest of the day. Sooo I have to figure out when I can take that placement test, because classes start next Monday!

Unfortunately, Brittany can't take the class with me because of registration issues. The good news is that we pick her up from the airport tonight! I'm really excited to show her around all of the missions and help her get comfortable living here.

I'm headed to Usme this afternoon to be with the kids and I'm going back on Saturday to teach English to teachers and other adults in the area. Sorry that this blog was so long, but hopefully the pictures kept it interesting!! I'll keep you all updated! Love, Kate

ps. Please keep the people in the Philippines and Indonesia in your prayers! We are thinking about you Melanie (fellow YASCer in Besao, Philippines)