A Commemoration

“In every community, there is work to be done. In every nation, there are wounds to heal. In every heart, there is power to do it.” –Marianne Williamson

This past weekend we held a commemoration in the community of Libertad. I talked a little bit about the history of violence in Libertad in my entry A Little Bit about Libertad and I mentioned that the people of the community itself were the ones that rid themselves of the paramilitaries. Unfortunately, they were pushed to the point of fighting violence with violence and killed one of the paramilitary members. June 14th marks the day of this event and this year marks the 10th anniversary of this day, so the community wanted to do something to recognize this day. However, nobody wanted to celebrate the death of a person, even a paramilitary member, so it was decided that instead the event would focus on the ten years of freedom and resistance to violence and armed groups that the community has since lived. 

The day before the event we invited the community to clean the public spaces such as the cemetery.

The day started off with a blessing at the bridge where the paramilitary member was killed. 

A plaque was presented in honor of the community and the victims that lost their lives during the violence.

Then we all marched together to the main plaza with candles and pictures of the people who were killed.

Soup for everyone!

Peeling yucca for the community soup.  So much yucca!

A drama presented by victims of sexual violence.

One of several dances that were presented.

Here is a picture of the men playing Truco (see More Classes for Lani), a traditional game that I am still trying to understand.

Being a part of the planning of this event was entertaining (one has to have that attitude here or it would just be incredibly stressful). There was lots of drama, complications, and frustrations, but it was really neat to see all of the organizations of Libertad working together to plan something for the community. In the end it turned out to be a fantastic event filled with beautiful moments honoring victims, wonderful speeches of hope, fantastic time playing traditional games, delicious food, and excellent dancing!

The Cats That Came and Went… And Came Back Again!

"Compassion, in which all ethics must take root, can only attain its full breadth and depth if it embraces all living creatures and does not limit itself to mankind." -Albert Schweitzer

Some may know that I had been looking for cats for a while to help with the mouse problem. Even though many people promised me cats, what I ended up with were pigeons. But then they flew away. And I still had mice. And cockroaches. And toads. But I already told that story.

However, suddenly, everyone had a cat for me and I had to start saying no to cats!

My first cat came from my friend’s neighbor. He is scrappy and adorable… and was living three hours away! But the woman was so excited to give him to me, so I accepted and traveled with him in a box for two hours on motorcycle and an hour in a silent bus. The entire time we were on the moto he tried to jump out of the box and the entire time on the bus he meowed and meowed! I was so embarrassed! But we made it. And we had quite the bond by the time we got back to Libertad.

His name is Pichi, because he comes from Pichilin.

Pichi!

Then another friend told me that she had a cat for me and she was going to hand her over to me at the office… That meant another long bus and moto ride for me with a cat! Libertad thinks I’m crazy because I kept riding into town with boxes of kittens.

Her name is Carmita, because she comes from El Carmen.

Carmita!

This kitten was the complete opposite… she trembled the entire way and didn’t make a sound. When we got to the house, she hid in the corner while Pichi helped me unpack.

The difference between Pichi and Carmita at the beginning: notice Carmita hiding in the corner while Pichi helps me unpack.

The first night together they climbed up on my bed in the night and slept on my face. After waking up with swollen eyes and sneezing all morning long, I decided that that was not going to happen again. I remembered that when we had a cat while I was growing up, we would splash him with water when he did something we didn’t want him to do, so I decided to try that method. The next night I went to bed with my cup of water at my side and every time they tried to get on the bed, I splashed them. But, man, those cats are resilient! I just ended up with a soaking wet bed and an awful night’s sleep. The third night, I kicked them out all together.

Not only do they chase away mice, but they kill lizards too...

In the morning, I could not find them. I called for them and I put out food, but nothing!

Then my neighbor opened his door and the little buddies ran out! “Vecina!” he said, “Your cats slept on my head all night!”

However, unlike me, he loves it. So now every night, Pichi and Carmita go over to spend the night at my neighbor’s house and everyone is happy.

Carmita loves TIME and Popular Science.

Unfortunately, I travel a lot for my work and that makes it difficult to care for the cats. One time when I came back from a trip to Mampuján, the kittens were nowhere to be found. I’d only had them for a week or so, but it was very sad to lose my companions. 

Carmita gets a little more daring!

They were missing for about a week when, one day as I was walking down the street to find some mangos, Pichi came running up to me meowing! I scooped him up and he was purring like crazy! So I brought him back to my house and my neighbor said that he had seen Carmita down the street too. He thinks that the neighbors stole them. So he went down to get her back and when I returned home, both the kittens were there safe and sound.

Now when I travel, my neighbor keeps his eye on them… and lets them sleep on his head.

And I have no more mice.

;)

Carmita is very loving and loves to hang out as close to me as possible!

They love each other.

And they love Ken!

Kittens are so funny when they play!

 And even funnier when they have playmates!

A Little Bit about My Work

"One day work is hard, and another day it is easy; but if I had waited for inspiration I am afraid I should have done nothing. The miner does not sit at the top of the shaft waiting for the coal to come bubbling up to the surface. One must go deep down, and work out every vein carefully."

 -Arthur Sullivan

Many people have been asking me recently, “What is it that you actually do, Lani?”

Valid question. Looking back on my posts I have not really gone over at all what my day to day work entails. I suppose it is because it is a little bit hard to explain. But I’ll try.

I arrived in Colombia through the Mennonite Church and the Mennonite Central Committee (See blog on Anabaptism) with a program called SEED (See SEED website, our SEED blogs, or SEED facebook). After two months of a crash course in Colombian history, politics, and conflict, we were sent out into different communities to work with different organizations and churches that work for peace in Colombia.

I was sent to the Caribbean Coast to work with an organization called Sembrandopaz (website, blog, facebook). Sembrandopaz focuses on supporting four different communities in peace processes, social development, and economic advancement. I was sent to live in one of these communities (Libertad) and help support another (Mampujan). Living in one town, supporting another, and having the office in a third ,Sincelejo, definitely makes for a lot traveling.

My main community of focus is the one I live in, Libertad.

In Libertad my principle job is to support the Community Counsel. The Community Counsel is a group of people from the community that propose and carry out projects in the community, fight for the rights of the community and its advancement, and in general support the community. My job is to support these people. And these people are AWESOME! They are my group of friends here and they are pretty fun! I support them by organizing meetings, helping to write letters, reminding people when we have meetings, and helping to brainstorm ways to support, advance, and protect the community. There are meetings with either the entire counsel or small groups working on different projects pretty much every day. I am certainly learning a ton.

Consejo Meeting

Another way that we support the counsel is by doing workshops for them. Right now we are teaching a Transformative Education course that should last about a year. It touches on conflict analysis, identity, basic needs, human rights, and project implementation. It’s pretty awesome but I always finish the workshop exhausted.

An activity during a workshop with the Consejo

Because my background is in social work and therapy, I have been looking for ways to utilize these skills in the community as well. The school asked me to provide some support for kids who show little interest in school and display aggressive behaviors. I began meeting with two groups of kids in the school and now I am developing an official curriculum to go through with them that focuses on team work, affective education, conflict resolution, and self esteem. I am also starting to create a curriculum for the senior citizens focusing on storytelling in which they will have the opportunity to share their personal histories as well as the history of Libertad.

Another way that I am sharing my skills as a therapist is through supporting a few kiddos in the community that are going through some challenges and struggles. I don’t pretend to be holding official therapy sessions or anything, but we work through some things together while we bake or color. Or I share some different parenting ideas or tips with parents that are looking for some support with their kids. Sometime this is complicated or difficult due to differences in culture, parenting styles, and language, but it is always interesting!

Frisbee is an important part of my job in Libertad (at least from my point of view). First of all, Ultimate is an awesome game that teaches team work, respect, honesty, self control, and good sportsmanship. Second of all, it is new and different and gives the youth something to do. Third of all, it is fun. Fourth of all, I need to play in order to stay sane. The kids of the town have really jumped on the game and we have already split six discs. (Thank goodness Ken, Pete, Alison, Kelly, and the new MCC interns have helped me get more Frisbees because there was a time when we had broken all the discs in Libertad and could not play!) I have started a loaning system (like a library for Frisbees) and kids are consistently passing by to borrow a disc. Because of all the meetings that I have with the counsel, I don’t get to play that often any more, but I jump on every chance I get. The next goal is to plan a tournament… (Seriously, if anyone is interested in helping organize this and planning a little trip to Libertad, I’m listening…)

FRISBEE!

Once a week, I hop on a motorcycle and then grab a bus to go to Mampuján. In Mampuján my work is similar but a little more limited since I come and go. I still support the Community Counsel and help lead the workshops, but I am less involved. In Mampuján I also support the group of women who sew the tapestries telling the stories of their displacement and struggles. (See blog on The Tapestries of Mampujan). These women are really amazing and now are trying to convert their tapestry making from a way of processing trauma to a business (IF ANYONE IS INTERESTED IN A TAPESTRY MADE BY THESE WOMEN, CONTACT ME AND I CAN MAKE IT HAPPEN!) and to extend the project to youth, working with kids to process the trauma of living in a community with a history of violence.

Two Consejo members in Mampujan

Every two weeks, get back on the motorcycle and grab a bus heading in the other direction to go to Sincelejo, the location of the office and my coworkers. There I have meetings with the different teams within Sembrandpaz to plan activities, talk through problems, receive support, and learn about what else is going on in the organization and the other communities that we work with.

That’s a pretty good summary of it… there are so many other random things that I end up doing as well like attending other organizations’ meetings, participating in random workshops, trying to do the readings and homeworks from the SEED program…

Play practice for an event with the Consejo

However, I think that the most important part of my job is building relationships and being present in the community. It’s an every day every minute job- greeting people as I walk the streets, running in the mornings with a friend, making mango juice with my neighbor, playing cards on the street corner, watching telenovelas with my host family, waking up early to milk cows with a friend’s uncle, going swimming in the watering hole with a group of kids, helping a mom bake her daughter a birthday cake, sitting on the stoop and talking to a grandma, drinking coffee at every house I visit, knocking down mangos from trees, braiding kids’ hair, getting excited watching Colombia kick butt in the world cup…

Basically my job rocks. :)