A Little Bit About Anabaptists

“Millions are waking up to the truth that followers of Jesus are called to love the unlovable, serve the oppressed, live in solidarity with the poor, proclaim Good News to the lost, and be willing to lay down our life for our enemies.  Multitudes are waking up to the truth that the distinctive mark of the Kingdom is the complete rejection of all hatred and violence and the complete reliance on love and service of others, including our worst enemies.  Masses of people are waking up to the truth that followers of Jesus aren’t called to try to win the world by acquiring power over others but by exercising power under others—the power of self-sacrificial love.”  - Greg Boyd

In January I did not know what “Anabaptist” meant.  Honestly, I don’t think I had ever heard the term.  When I applied to be a part of the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) in March, I did not know what being Mennonite entailed.  When I arrived in Bolivia in October, all I knew about Anabaptism was what I read in a book called The Naked Anabaptist by Stuart Murray recommended to me by a friend. (It is a good introduction to Anabaptism if anyone is interested!) 

I got the feeling that I wasn’t the only one who didn’t know much about Anabaptism since most people asked me if I had to wear a bonnet when I told them I was going to serve with the MCC.

However, in the past two months I have learned so much about the history of Anabaptism, the convictions that come along with Anabaptism, and the role of Anabaptist churches in Colombia.  I hope to synthesize some of that information for you here.

First of all, Anabaptism is not a denomination of Christianity, but rather it is a perspective on beliefs, a vision on how to live, a type of theology.  Many different denominations embrace Anabaptist beliefs, including Mennonites, Mennonite Brethren, Brothers in Christ, Amish, Quakers, and many other people who identify as Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, or any number of other denominations. 

Similar to other protestant groups, Anabaptists trace their roots back to the Reformation in Europe with Martin Luther’s 95 theses in the 1500s.  The Anabaptist movement was a movement by people in the countryside, basing their divergence on three main ideas:

1. Discipleship- People make their own decision to believe in God and grow in relationship with God.  It is a decision that one has to make every day and act on.  It is not just following rules, going to church on Sunday, and taking communion, but rather basing one’s lifestyle and actions on the example lead by Jesus.  This is also where the decision to baptize as adults (when an individual can make the decision to be a Christian) instead of infants comes from, as well as the name “Anabaptist” which means to re-baptize.  This was a reason for much political and religious persecution during the formation of the theology.
2. Community- Church is not a structure, a set of rules, or a hierarchy.  Church means a group of people believing and growing together in which everyone has access to reading and interpreting the Bible together in community.
3. Peace- Love and reconciliation with each other and with God is an essential part of faith.

Because Anabaptists have a strong focus on peace, many Anabaptist organizations focus on the construction of peace, especially in Colombia.  In 1948, Mennonites began to arrive in Colombia and form small church communities.  In 1976, MENCOLDES, a Mennonite organization that focuses their development services on displaced people, was formed.  In the 1990s, Justa Paz, an organization that documents injustices and human rights abuses in Colombia, began its work.  In 2000, the Mennonite Central Committee started its work in Colombia under the approval of the Anabaptist churches in Colombia.  Two more organizations, Edupaz and Sembrando Paz, were created to focus on supporting communities affected by violence and building peace.  All of these organizations are places in which my fellow workers and I will be serving.

Supporting peace in Colombia is no exception to the theme of the complexity of life.

A common response from churches when confronted with issues concerning peace and reconciliation is silence.  For one thing, it can be dangerous to work towards peace in the Colombian context.  In Colombia it is against the law to dialogue with illegal armed groups.  Should the church risk prosecution by the state because of a conviction to pursue peace in the country?  Do they risk persecution by other illegal armed groups if they enter into conversation with one group?  How does a church react with demobilized paramilitary members arrive at their doors?  Many churches are comprised of people who have been victims of violence or displacement.  What should the church do when guerrilla members and perpetrators of violence ask to be a part of the community as well?

These situations bring up many questions and challenges to living out Anabaptist values. 

But questioning is important.  I feel that I must constantly question and process what I’ve been taught, what I am hearing now, and where I hope to be in the future.  Through listening to new ideas, thinking about what they mean and how they affect me and others, trying them out, and feeling comfortable discarding what doesn’t work and incorporating what does, I can continually grow in faith, love, compassion, determination, and security that peace is possible in this world.

These are Anabaptists:

And these are Anabaptists.

Got to love diversity!  J

Addendum to Colombia's Conflicts

"The truth is rarely pure and never simple." - Oscar Wilde

I wanted to add an addendum to my post from last week.

Reading over it I realize there is so much information missing, so many questions provoked, and so many different sides to the stories.  I wish I were more articulate in being able to share all of the information that I am learning here with you.  I hope over the next two years to be able to go more in depth and share more about what I learn with everyone.  If you ever have any questions, please ask and I will do my best to explain what I know or find someone else who can.

My sister showed me a good reminder of the importance of being able to live and listen in the complexity of situations and to remember that nothing is black and white.  There are always other factors and other points of view.  It is good for all of us to remember that circumstances, politics, history, and conflict cannot be simplified down to being a "good" or "bad" thing.

Take a look:

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-october-29-2013/good-badfellas---good-thing-or-bad-thing-

Life is complex and confusing.  But it is so beautiful!

A Little Bit About Colombia's Conflicts

"De donde vengo yo                    "Where I come from
La cosa no es fácil pero                Nothing is easy but
siempre igual sobrevivimos           Still we survive
Vengo yo                                       I come
De tanto luchar siempre                From the fighting we always
con la nuestra nos salimos            Come out with what's ours
Vengo yo                                       I come
Y aquí se habla mal                      And here everyone speaks bad
pero todo está mucho mejor         But everything is so much better
Vengo yo                                       I come
Tenemos la lluvia el frio el calor"   We have rain, cold, heat"

            -"De Donde Vengo Yo" by ChocQuib Town

Whenever someone asks me about Colombia, I always begin with how much I love it for its diversity.  Colombia is incredibly diverse in geography, ethnicity, language, and culture.  It is the second most biodiverse country in South America (after Brazil).  The country has mountains, ocean, desert, and jungle.  The population (around 46 million) includes over 100 different indigenous groups representing about 2% of Colombians.  There is also a large AfroColombian population, mostly living on the two coasts (Pacific and Caribbean).

Unfortunately, Colombia is also one of the most unequal countries in the world, with the gap between the wealthy and the poor increasing.  Currently, roughly 60% of the population on the coast is in poverty.  Those numbers increase when looking at the AfroColombian population (roughly 80%) and the indigenous population (roughly 75%).  While Colombia is rich in natural gas, petroleum, and many other resources, much of these materials are extracted and exploited by foreign companies.

When many people outside of Colombia think of the country, I would guess that they think of conflict.  Following the diversity trend, Colombia also has a diversity of conflicts within its borders.  The history of conflict in Colombia is long and complex, but it mostly revolves around land, power, and resources.  While there are many negative stories of conflict, there are also many stories of resistance, revolutions, and resilience- stories involving people such as Benkos Bioho and Maria Cano.

In the 1950s and 1960s, illegal armed groups began to form in Colombia.  Some had political goals, some were promoting land reform, others were for self defense.  Some of the groups also became involved in the narco economy.  Guerrilla groups included the FARC, ELN, M-19, and EPL, among others.  Many of these have since been disbanded, but two main groups remain:

1. FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia) is the largest group.  At its creation, the FARC had ties with the Communist Party and was developed as self defense of the farmers in the country side against the military.  While the group is no longer tied to the Communist Party, it continues to have political goals.  The FARC and the Colombian government have been in peace talks since November 18, 2012 in Havana, Cuba. (Happy Anniversary!)
2. ELN (Ejercito de Liberacion Nacional) began with connections to Cuba, but is not dependent on them and is very nationalistic.  While the ELN is still present in Colombia today, the peace talks in Havana are only between the FARC and the Colombian government currently.

Paramilitary groups also formed in Colombia.  This is a complicated concept: as far as I understand, these are unofficial groups that began aiding the military in under the table business.  When first formed, they were focused on harassing and eradicating leftist political and social advocacy groups, but have currently shifted their focus to economic control in Colombia, such as casinos, prostitution, and land for large companies.

No one knows the actual number of people involved in guerrilla groups and paramilitary groups, not even the groups themselves.

"Social cleansing" is another aspect of conflict and violence that has been a part of Colombia's history in which "disposable" or "undesirable" populations have been and continue to be persecuted by guerrilla groups, paramilitary groups, and public forces alike.

Because of these conflicts, a large number of people have been forced to leave their homes and their lands.  The estimates of the number of displaced people in Colombia range from 2,650,000 to 4,360,000 (as of 2009).  That calculates to about 8.6% of the Colombian population are people who have been forced to leave their homes due to violence and conflict.  With these numbers, Colombia ranks second in the world for number of internally displaced people, after Sudan.

This mass exodus from the rural to the urban centers creates many difficulties for the country.  The people suffer both economic and emotional hardships, and while there are services available to assist them, they are neither sufficient nor well known.  

Recently, two major laws have been passed to initiate reparations and reconciliation as a transition into a state of peace in Colombia.  One called the Justice and Peace Law which aimed at demobilizing paramilitary groups and another called the Victims and Land Restitution Law which is for speeding up the process of reparations to victims affected by the violence and displacement.  While these appear like pleasant steps to peace, the more I learn about them the more I feel like I’m eating mud… Not only are they complicated and convoluted, but many parts of the laws don’t make sense to me and there seems to be little follow through so far.  

Despite this complicated history and complex present day situation, there is plenty of HOPE.

I have met amazing people working for CEPALC, MENCOLDES, JustaPaz, SembrandoPaz, Minga, and MCC Colombia who continue to have faith and confidence in a future of peace in Colombia.  It has been an honor to spend these weeks in Bogota listening and learning from them.  I am excited to learn more and be a part of changes in this beautiful country over the next two years.

And in case this entry was too heavy for you, I'll post the awesome song I quoted at the beginning again here.  If you skipped over it at the beginning, listen now!  And dance!

And pictures just for kicks and giggles.  I am surrounded by wonderful people here!

A Little Bit About the Team

“I know there is strength in the differences between us. I know there is comfort, where we overlap.” -Ani DiFranco

The SEED program at MCC is unique in that it gathers participants from around the world to serve together.  Building relationships with the communities we will be going to is important and one focus of our training, but building community with each other is also a large component of the program and our time together in Bogota, where we currently are.  The SEED website says this about the group:

"This multi-cultural community allows people to see each other not as other or different, not as distant or disconnected, but as brother and sister in one same body of Christ that walks together towards building the Kingdom of God. With trust built within the group, each person learns to see differently, from the eyes of other community members, like a mirror that they give each other to see themselves and the world from a different perspective. Participants learn to talk together, seeing each person as an integral part of the community and looking at how each person is part of a connected life, each of their lives affecting the other. In community, Seed reflects on topics of economy, politics, war, culture, power, geography, and theology and they analyze together how these things at a macro level affect local communities where each are working, as well as the local communities each one comes from. They also put into practice this reflection at a micro level, talking about the same topics within the group, the intentionality of the group breaking down barriers of language, culture, theology, economy, politics, and more."

I am happy to say that our group has quickly developed into a tight knit group of friends.  We come from five countries, three languages, spread the gamut from 20-29 years old, and have ten different life stories.

I'd like to present to you...

SEED THREE TEAM!

Name: Jhon Henry

Country of Origin: Bogota, Colombia

Community where SEEDer will be serving: Barranca, Colombia

Fun Fact: Jhon Henry loves to dance and he is fantastic at it!  We have had many nights in our apartment in which salsa music is blaring and poor Jhon Henry is trying to teach us how to move our hips.  Once he gets his feet moving, there is no stopping him!

Name: Kelly

Country of Origin: Chicago, IL, USA

Community where SEEDer will be serving: Usme, Bogota, Colombia

Fun Fact: Kelly is finishing her master's in social work at the University of Puerto Rico.  She loves reggaeton and Marc Anthony.  She is a regular in Jhon Henry's dancing lessons.  This is her favorite song now: Vivir mi Vida

Name: Godswill

Country of Origin: Bulawayo, Zimbabwe

Community where SEEDer will be serving: Cali, Colombia

Fun Fact: Godswill is one of a kind with his sense of humor; one can never tell if he is joking or serious.  He is just learning Spanish, but he already speaks 12 languages so he is picking it up quickly.  However, sometimes he spouts out things that don't make sense or are taboo without knowing it, and we always end up laughing until it hurts.

Name: Rut

Country of Origin: Piura, Peru

Community where SEEDer will be serving: Ibague, Colombia

Fun Fact: Rut loves to dance (also one of Jhon Henry's students), listen to music, cook Peruvian food (so yummy!), and correct people's Spanish if they use vocabulary that is different from her Spanish which always leads to plenty of laughter and jokes within the group.

Name: Simon

Country of Origin: Bogota, Colombia

Community where SEEDer will be serving: Medellin, Colombia

Fun Fact: Simon grew up in Bogota, but he was born in Medellin and he is very excited to return there for the next two years.  His favorite activity is to joke around with people and his second favorite activity is to play games that require speed.  My favorite activity is to beat him at these games.

Name: Giles

Country of Origin: Harrisonburg, VA, USA

Community where SEEDer will be serving: Choco,Colombia

Fun Fact: Giles is the tallest in the group and one of the quieter members.  However, Giles is still getting comfortable with Spanish and once he masters the language, he says he'll be much more outgoing.  Giles is a nurse, a cyclist, and a husband (see next group member).

Name: Amy

Country of Origin: Harrisonburg, VA, USA

Community where SEEDer will be serving: Choco,Colombia

Fun Fact: Amy is an English literature teacher, a wife, and a master of ironic jokes.  I also believe that she makes up phrases and calls them "American sayings."  She says things I have never heard of in my life!  Or perhaps it is just that I am uneducated in American phrases.

Name: Pedro

Country of Origin: Managua, Nicaragua

Community where SEEDer will be serving: San Nicolas, Bogota, Colombia

Fun Fact: Pedro has the largest smile of anyone I have ever met and he is always wearing it.  He brings joy to the group just with his smile, but also it is very easy to convince him of anything and we often end up laughing with Pedro once he figures out he has been tricked.

Name: Alejandra

Country of Origin: Cali, Colombia

Community where SEEDer will be serving: Pichilin, Colombia

Fun Fact: Alejandra also recently earned her master's in social work and has done work with Afrocolombian and indigenous communities in Colombia.  She is tremendously intelligent and dedicated, but she also comes up with the sliest, most hilarious comments out of nowhere.   

Last but not least, our two fearless leaders: Nate (USA) and Carolina (Colombia).  They do so much to teach us, build community among our group, and keep us safe (we can get a bit crazy and not make the best decisions... like crossing the street without looking, which can be very dangerous in Bogota).

I am so grateful to be a part of this group.  I think I conveyed more or less how much we laugh together, but it is rare that even a serious conversation doesn't end in us all laughing together.  I am excited to have this network of friends here in Colombia as support for the next two years!

Exploring Bogota 

(and taking pictures with random tourists)

Celebrating a Birthday in the Group

A Day in the Park

Watching Futbol

Just Being Ourselves!

A Little Bit About Me

"Not all those who wander are lost" ~J.R.R. Tolkien

One might think that Colombia is a strange place for a girl from Minnesota to end up living, but this is exactly the right place for me. Before I go into writing about what I am doing here and the crazy adventures I am sure I will experience, I figured I should let you know a little bit about how I got here.

When I was 11, my parents brought my siblings and me on a trip to Bolivia and Peru to experience something completely different from what we knew in Minnesota. I remember eating empanadas, naming dirty dogs in the streets, sitting on the floors of trains when there were no more seats, hiking beautiful ruins, renting bathing suits to use in hot springs, being amazed by a foreign language, and loving every minute of it. When we returned to Minnesota, I started the sixth grade and I started learning Spanish. Ever since then I have done everything to continue developing my language skills and returning to Latin America with every possible opportunity.

The Pickards at Lake Titicaca, 1997

Climbing Machu Picchu, 1997

Nine years later, after changing my major about seven times at Hope College, I finally decided to create my own major and called it Latin American Humanities. It included a little history, politics, religion, and language, as well as a semester studying abroad in Buenos Aires. Finally I returned to Latin America! I loved navigating the crazy bus system, sharing mate with my new friends, and learning a completely different Spanish. After returning to the United States to finish my studies, I knew I needed to return to Latin America as soon as possible. The culture had stolen my heart completely and, while I love my home and my friends in the U.S., I felt lost and uncomfortable being back.

Mate in Argentina

The big city, Buenos Aires!

Just five months later, I had the opportunity to go to Mexico. This experience was incredibly different from Buenos Aires; I was in a small town named San Fransisco Cozoaltepec, with little communication outside of its community but lots of love. I felt so content to be back in Latin America and I learned so much about the diversity that is in Latin America; every country is so different and in every country, every area is unique. In Mexico I spent most of my time playing with kids and glitter, bubbles, mud, and hoses. I fell in love again with the community and the diversity that makes up Latin America. Luckily, I have been able to return to Cozoaltepec five times since 2008.

My best friends in Mexico

When I graduated from college in 2009, I was granted an opportunity to return to Latin America, this time to Colombia. As if it weren't enough to send me to this amazing country, my placement was on the Caribbean coast, in a beautiful city called Cartagena. I got to live across the street from the ocean for a year and teach English conversation in the University of Cartagena. I drank delicious juices, found an awesome community in the hotel where I lived, and discovered the fantastic game of Ultimate Frisbee. (See blog from that experience here.)

I spent many days on the beach playing Ultimate. It was through Ultimate that I figured out what I wanted my next step to be in life. To put it nicely, my Ultimate team wasn't very good... but the only other team in the city rocked! We played them every week (since they were the only other team) and so we got to know them very well. The team was comprised of youth affected by violence in Colombia and through our games together I got to hear some of their stories of loss, displacement, and recovery. Their situations and resilience impacted me greatly and because of them I decided that I wanted to start working with youth in similar situations. However, I did not feel like I had the resources or capacities to do that kind of work, so, once again, I returned to the U.S.

Ultimate team in Cartagena, 2009

Once in the United States, I applied to Master's in Social Work programs and finally ended up at the University of Denver in the MSW program for working with high risk youth, the certificate program for social work with Latinos and Latinas, and playing for their club Ultimate Frisbee team. I focused much of my research on trauma therapy with youth, more specifically ex child combatants.

Ultimate team in Denver, 2013

In one class, I was asked to research a global player in international social development. As I was one of the last people to pick an organization, there were not many options left when my turn came around. My friend suggested that I research the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), an organization that was not even on the list. I figured, why not? Through the project I familiarized myself with the group and their work and I realized that their values and attitudes toward international social development aligned very well with my own. I found a position through the MCC in Central America as an assistant psychologist doing trauma therapy with youth and decided to apply. Unfortunately, they had already filled the position.

A few weeks later, MCC sent me an email asking if I was interested in a position in Colombia... I was ecstatic! The chance to return to Colombia and work with displaced populations, victims of violence, and communities working towards peace had practically fallen into my lap! After a long process of applying, interviewing, and waiting, I found out that I was accepted into the SEED program and Colombia would once again be home for me from October 2013 to September 2015.

So here I am again, a Minnesota girl in Colombia, and I am ready for this new adventure!

SEED team, 2013