2009-08-10
Accompaniment Report from Barranquilla, Colombia
by Bob Leslie and Andrew Patterson
We have been here for slightly more than a week and have been able to video quite a few things in relation to the accompaniment program. We have had interviews with several of the leaders here in the Presbytery of the Coast and the Universidad Reformada.
The Presbytery appears to be vibrant in its work. Yesterday, Sunday, we went to a celebration of the 153rd anniversary of the founding of the Colombian Presbyterian Church organized by the Presbytery here in Barranquilla. The preacher was Helis Barraza, the current moderator of the IPC. In his sermon he asked the question: what would be the nature and character of the church in today's world and what kind of spirituality would we seek as Presbyterians today? His answer was clear. We have a reformed theology and that defines our nature and we recognize that God calls us in community. So our spirituality is not so much an individual one but rather a collective one as a community of faith acting in the world to respond to God's call of mission.
We plan more interviews this week to learn the story of these institutions.
Last week we were able to meet with various representatives of displaced persons here in Colombia. They were meeting on campus at the invitation of the Presbyterian Church. Since our major objective here is to be in solidarity with the Church in its mission of support to those displaced by the violence in Colombia, we were pleased to be able to interview some of them about their work. They meet here every two weeks to plan strategies of how to work together to succeed in their goals of organizing the displaced in their efforts to secure their rights under Colombian law. We hope we have a chance to follow up on this meeting the next time they arrive to the campus.
This past week we undertook an overnight trip to the farm of displaced persons at Mate near the town of Piojó. This farm of about 200 acres is located about two and a half kilometers out of Piojó on a high promontory from which you can see the Caribbean maybe 10 miles away. We walked for an hour or so along a dirt path and led a burro and mule carrying food and other supplies for the 13 families now living there. Right now it is dry and although the path was steep in some places, the footing was good and we arrived not too tired. We discovered that right now there is a drought occurring so some of the farmers were at their homes in Barranquilla, because without the rain the work is on hold. Soon however they will be planting yucca, corn, and beans. They also grow fruits like papaya and mango and will be planting lemon and orange trees. The housing is quite primitive even for Colombia. There is one building with a zinc roof of several walls but mostly open on the
sides. This is from a previous owner. We saw nearby two small one room houses with mud dried exterior walls and zinc roofs. In one Pablo is finishing a living space in which he lives during his time working and in the other Oscar lives with his wife. In another area down the hill we could see the house of Robinson and his wife, which appears to be larger, although we did not visit there.
Our guide, Antonio, from Barranquilla, has formed a strong bond of trust with these families. He is a legal representative of ANDESCOL, an acronym for the National Association of Displaced Persons of Colombia and he himself is displaced, having formerly been a farmer. His work is mostly to assist these persons and others like them to find land to which they can relocate from the refugee camps around Barranquilla. He works in conjunction with the Presbyterian Church where he has been offered office space.
We have talked a good bit with Antonio during our time here. He told us that the legal papers have been completed for the purchase of the farm property from the former owner. The government will pay the negotiated price under the terms of Colombian law regarding relocation of the displaced. There was one caveat. The government apparently insisted that they split the land into two pieces, one "public" and one not. As we understand it, this means that they will work part of the land communally and another part separately. We think that this is a manifestation on the part of INCODER, the government agency in charge, to not appear to be in support of cooperatives. Under their philosophy, they would rather award the land to individuals. Right now under the initial negotiations one part of the land is owned communally, but if all the negotiations go through it appears that the group formed by these farmers will be able to own the land as an association. What is imp
ortant is how they will decide to work together. Right now each farmer has a small plot for his private use and then some of the days each week is working with the others on community projects. One thing that seemed to be working very well was the management of the milk cows. We saw maybe 40-50 head of cattle and got to watch the milking of a few. They use the milk only for local consumption and are raising the cattle eventually to sell.
Clearly there are details to be worked out, but we were very impressed with the farm. We interviewed all there individually. In our interviews, to a person, all were optimistic about the future and the potential of the farm. Vamos a ver. (We'll see).
Outside of this news, at the national level we are following the story of U.S. military personnel coming to work at seven Colombian bases. This has provoked a huge reaction in all of South America, including many in Colombia. We observed a march and demonstration against this development here in Barranquilla on Thursday. It appears that many consider this a threat to the stability of the region or at the very least a provocative act which will be resisted in one way or another. Already Venezuela has recalled its ambassador from Bogotá and stopped the sale of petroleum to Colombia. Today begins the meeting of UNASUR in Ecuador which all the South American presidents will attend, except Uribe of Colombia. This forum will focus quite a bit on the proposal of the seven bases here. So the tension mounts and we see nothing in the papers here about U.S. opinion nor of Obama regarding this matter. So it appears from here that even though the U.S. has had military in Colo
mbia for a while, there is uncertainty as many do not see any reason for this change. The underlying question is, what will be the mission of an expanded military presence here and will it be the U.S. who is calling the shots? If so, many here will see this as an invasion of national sovereignty and it may be that the U.S. may have misjudged the reaction to this situation. We'll have to wait and see.
The Presbytery appears to be vibrant in its work. Yesterday, Sunday, we went to a celebration of the 153rd anniversary of the founding of the Colombian Presbyterian Church organized by the Presbytery here in Barranquilla. The preacher was Helis Barraza, the current moderator of the IPC. In his sermon he asked the question: what would be the nature and character of the church in today's world and what kind of spirituality would we seek as Presbyterians today? His answer was clear. We have a reformed theology and that defines our nature and we recognize that God calls us in community. So our spirituality is not so much an individual one but rather a collective one as a community of faith acting in the world to respond to God's call of mission.
We plan more interviews this week to learn the story of these institutions.
Last week we were able to meet with various representatives of displaced persons here in Colombia. They were meeting on campus at the invitation of the Presbyterian Church. Since our major objective here is to be in solidarity with the Church in its mission of support to those displaced by the violence in Colombia, we were pleased to be able to interview some of them about their work. They meet here every two weeks to plan strategies of how to work together to succeed in their goals of organizing the displaced in their efforts to secure their rights under Colombian law. We hope we have a chance to follow up on this meeting the next time they arrive to the campus.
This past week we undertook an overnight trip to the farm of displaced persons at Mate near the town of Piojó. This farm of about 200 acres is located about two and a half kilometers out of Piojó on a high promontory from which you can see the Caribbean maybe 10 miles away. We walked for an hour or so along a dirt path and led a burro and mule carrying food and other supplies for the 13 families now living there. Right now it is dry and although the path was steep in some places, the footing was good and we arrived not too tired. We discovered that right now there is a drought occurring so some of the farmers were at their homes in Barranquilla, because without the rain the work is on hold. Soon however they will be planting yucca, corn, and beans. They also grow fruits like papaya and mango and will be planting lemon and orange trees. The housing is quite primitive even for Colombia. There is one building with a zinc roof of several walls but mostly open on the
sides. This is from a previous owner. We saw nearby two small one room houses with mud dried exterior walls and zinc roofs. In one Pablo is finishing a living space in which he lives during his time working and in the other Oscar lives with his wife. In another area down the hill we could see the house of Robinson and his wife, which appears to be larger, although we did not visit there.
Our guide, Antonio, from Barranquilla, has formed a strong bond of trust with these families. He is a legal representative of ANDESCOL, an acronym for the National Association of Displaced Persons of Colombia and he himself is displaced, having formerly been a farmer. His work is mostly to assist these persons and others like them to find land to which they can relocate from the refugee camps around Barranquilla. He works in conjunction with the Presbyterian Church where he has been offered office space.
We have talked a good bit with Antonio during our time here. He told us that the legal papers have been completed for the purchase of the farm property from the former owner. The government will pay the negotiated price under the terms of Colombian law regarding relocation of the displaced. There was one caveat. The government apparently insisted that they split the land into two pieces, one "public" and one not. As we understand it, this means that they will work part of the land communally and another part separately. We think that this is a manifestation on the part of INCODER, the government agency in charge, to not appear to be in support of cooperatives. Under their philosophy, they would rather award the land to individuals. Right now under the initial negotiations one part of the land is owned communally, but if all the negotiations go through it appears that the group formed by these farmers will be able to own the land as an association. What is imp
ortant is how they will decide to work together. Right now each farmer has a small plot for his private use and then some of the days each week is working with the others on community projects. One thing that seemed to be working very well was the management of the milk cows. We saw maybe 40-50 head of cattle and got to watch the milking of a few. They use the milk only for local consumption and are raising the cattle eventually to sell.
Clearly there are details to be worked out, but we were very impressed with the farm. We interviewed all there individually. In our interviews, to a person, all were optimistic about the future and the potential of the farm. Vamos a ver. (We'll see).
Outside of this news, at the national level we are following the story of U.S. military personnel coming to work at seven Colombian bases. This has provoked a huge reaction in all of South America, including many in Colombia. We observed a march and demonstration against this development here in Barranquilla on Thursday. It appears that many consider this a threat to the stability of the region or at the very least a provocative act which will be resisted in one way or another. Already Venezuela has recalled its ambassador from Bogotá and stopped the sale of petroleum to Colombia. Today begins the meeting of UNASUR in Ecuador which all the South American presidents will attend, except Uribe of Colombia. This forum will focus quite a bit on the proposal of the seven bases here. So the tension mounts and we see nothing in the papers here about U.S. opinion nor of Obama regarding this matter. So it appears from here that even though the U.S. has had military in Colo
mbia for a while, there is uncertainty as many do not see any reason for this change. The underlying question is, what will be the mission of an expanded military presence here and will it be the U.S. who is calling the shots? If so, many here will see this as an invasion of national sovereignty and it may be that the U.S. may have misjudged the reaction to this situation. We'll have to wait and see.
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RED ECUMENICA DE COLOMBIA.
Dirección Postal / Postal Address: Cra 46 No 48-50 Barranquilla, Colombia.
Teléfonos / Phones: (575)349 0680
Email: redecumenica@redecumenica.org
Dirección Postal / Postal Address: Cra 46 No 48-50 Barranquilla, Colombia.
Teléfonos / Phones: (575)349 0680
Email: redecumenica@redecumenica.org
