While I am in Colombia and I am not going to talk about my experience but I am not going to name names or tell you exactly where I am for the protection of the people I meet. I will create false names of both places and people.
We have been in Colombia for three days now and it feels like much longer. We have been staying busy and the heat just makes us tired. We arrived in Johnstown and while we were riding in the bus from the airport all I could think was how familiar it all felt, I felt like I was home. Everyday I miss the smells of Guatemala, even the stinky ones. I miss the architecture and materials used in the houses and buildings. I miss the mountains and the greenery. Johnstown is a mountainous region in Colombia it all looked and smelt the same as my experiences in Guatemala. Two days ago we arrived in the region of Frankfort, where we are spending the month. Frankfort is at sea level and is a tropical place. That is my nice way of saying it is hot. They have two "seasons" here: windy and rainy. It is super hot during the rainy season and slightly less hot during the windy season. Right now we are somewhere in between the two, so it is only uncomfortable not miserably hot. But really Frankfort is beautiful. It is so green and the people I have met have been so accommodating and want to make sure we are well taken care of and comfortable.
Currently we are located in the town of Bethany, which is in the region of Frankfort. Today we walked around a local barrio of Bethany and spoke with many families of the children in a project of the church here. Many of these people are displaced. I have seen and experienced extreme poverty during my travels but this felt different. We stopped and chatted with one lady who did not have a home. She had erected tarps and set up a makeshift tent that has become her permanent home. She was a cheerful lady who was full of smiles and warm words of welcome. We continued on to visit several other families with varying family issues and different types of homes. We stopped and chatted with one lady who told us about a problem that occurred in the barrio last night that included her son of 15 years. Last night two boys of about 15 or 16 years old were killed and 4 others went missing. The two boys that were killed were tortured first, one had half of his face burnt and the other had his fingers cut off. Her son was friends with all of these boys and had been out wandering the streets last night. This mother has been trying to keep her son out of trouble, sometimes she sends him to work with his father at night so he can't get into trouble but she can't control his every move. She would like to send him to live in a different area so he will stop hanging out with his friends that
get into troubled but she does not have the economic resources to send him away. I can't imagine the
fear this mother lives with everyday. Everyday she is fearful that her son will be tortured and killed.
It would be easy for us to say this young boy has made bad decisions and he can change his ways, straighten up. However then we would be ignoring the inescapable economic and social situation. First, Framkford is one of the most violent areas in Colombia, mostly because it is so rich in natural resources. This violence is manifested in the community and it is not such an easy thing to ignore or rise above it. Especially when there are no economic resources. This boy can't move away, his parents can't financially provide a better life for their children. These children have no choice button live in a community surrounded by violence that they can not control. This violence is an effect of the political situation in frankford and Colombia.
As I mentioned above, Frankford is rich in natural resources, making it a political and economic center, which also creates violence. Frankford is militarily controlled, although you won't see the military in the streets. Mostly it is controlled electronically although the presence and fear is felt among the people. The people here are accustomed to living surrounded by violence, which one pastor claims it is one reason the people are so kind and accommodating. If they keep their head down and behave, no harm will come to them. Generally, people don't talk about the violence especially if they think it has political ties.
This violence is exactly why I am here this month. There are three objectives of the program: 1. To see 2. To be seen 3. To take what I see and hear back with me to the US.
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