Martha Gil

“I learned how to transform my pain.”

It has not been easy for Martha Gil to learn how to forgive. During guerrilla occupation of her village in 2002, her son was killed. She told me the story with obvious pain still penetrating her body. She fidgeted and stared at her hands while telling me hurriedly that her son is gone. She would quickly look at me, touch my shoulder, then continue her story.

When she decided to take a course on mental health from Survivor Corps partner ConCiudadania, it was very therapeutic. Upon graduation from the course, Martha returned to her village of San Francisco and now herself leads therapy groups for adults and children as a Promotora de Vida y Salud Mental, in English: Life and Mental Health Promoter. “I learned how to transform my pain.”

Martha’s diploma from ConCiudadania which certified her to lead the groups is proudly hung on her living room wall next to two photos of her receiving the certificate at a ConCiudadania ceremony. These three pictures take up half of the photos in the room. She is proud.

…and so much to do.  After my interviews in San Francisco this week and from a conference a few weeks ago, I’m trying to get everything done while soaking in Bogotá as much as possible.  Stay tuned for the Reconciliation Project Fair video which I will finish today.  I wish I had gotten about a million more pictures from that event, but so it goes.  Ok, I’m going to get to work now on my profiles and video.  I’ll be back soon.  Also, my Australian friend who doesn’t speak Spanish needs to go to the visa office and guess who gets to help translate.  What seems to be a simple trip can often end up being a bureaucratic nightmare.  She did say she’d buy me some delicious ice cream from the beloved Crepes and Waffles (a chain which gives opportunities to low-income women).  Not sure if it’s going to be worth it…

I’m here in a small town only reachable by gravel roads after winding and winding around the Colombia mountainside to meet and collect the stories of the people who are making reconciliation happen.  This town, people tell me, was unwalkable at night just 5 years ago and has been transformed.  Heavy military operations in 2003 cleared guerrilla forces from the area, leaving this municipio to improve in security each year.  I’ve been greated with the utmost openness as is customary I’ve found here in Colombia.  I even met the mayor of this town of 6,000 (down from 12,000 when the violence occured in the early 2000s) (the mayor is now seated in front of me at this internet cafe.  Having heard all the stories about how you could hardly speak in your house without being spied on by rebel forces let alone play in the street just 5 years ago, I’m impressed and surprised to see what seems to be the entire child and adolescent population of San Francisco out and about at 8:30pm on a Monday night.  What transformation!  My interviews with victims and excombatants tomorrow will help me delve into how this transformation occured (and continues to occur) and deepen my understanding of what reconciliation means from both sides of the conflict.  I hope my Spanish can stand up to emotional stories which don’t slow down for gringa comprehension AND I hope I can articulate my emotions in an appropriate manner.  My fears are sounding like a child, insincere, naive or just plain dumb.  These previous 8 weeks have been great practice, and I will say I sort of felt like myself speaking in Spanish today.  Progress!

Watch Alirio’s Story of Survival here

Herminia Vargas

Herminia showed up to the hotel for lunch about a half an hour late (still on time in Latin America), and immediately lit up the room. She is in her mid 60s, soft spoken, has a great sense of humor, and blunt about the reality of her current condition.

Our conversation started off on the history of her organization, CoLoReSA (Corporación Local para la Rehabilitación de Discapacitados de Santa Fe de Antioquia), of which she is the president. The name of the organization at first caused the skeptic in me to raise questions, “Rehabilitation? It’s not like one’s aim should be curing a disability of a child. Discapacitados? (Eng: Disabled, handicapped) I thought everyone in the special needs community knew it was more dignified to address the human side of the person and then the disabilities, like children with disabilities. I suppose that word mix couldn’t create such a catchy title and probably these considerations have not yet made their way to the countryside north of Medellin.

As Herminia and I talked more, I realized what an enigma she is and perhaps why my hasty hotel manager was so eager to hook us up. Hers is the only organization in the region offering services to children with disabilities. When her accident occurred 9 years ago, she was not sure what to do. Then she started getting more and more involved in the disability community. She was incredibly moved by learning more about the almost clandestine nature of children with disabilities. They aren’t allowed a place in most “regular” schools in Colombia, and most parents can’t afford the special needs schools or institutes. With some money left by a deceased relative, Coloresa was opened 5 years after Herminia’s accident, offering school, physical therapy, psychology, and a community of special needs families supporting one another.

Coloresa is still needing support. Herminia says she knows there are non-governmental organizations with money to donate to organizations like hers and she’s sure there are government grants for children with special needs, but she doesn’t know how to access these channels. I’m hoping to hook up Herminia with the saavy Juan Pablo from Fundación ArcÁngeles for support.

Herminia humbly tells me that Coloresa and her kids give her a reason to wake up in the morning. I can see in her face that it is exponentially more than this. After our talk she and I took a stroll around the little Santa Fe de Antioquia, talking about the points of interest and waving at Herminia’s friends. As we went along, Herminia, gracefully cruising down the cobblestone streets without breaking a sweat, shared with me her vision of Santa Fe de Antioquia as a major tourist destination. The slow lifestyle, the Puente del Occidente, birds, butterflies, the status as former capital of Antioquia department, and…the slow lifestyle were all reasons why tourists would be interested in this small town, Herminia informed me. Herminia is a woman with a vision; a vision for her slow moving town and its children. Though her semantics may not be up to my sensitive standards, Herminia’s dedication and vision is groundbreaking in her region. Herminia lives Rise Up, Give Back.

Rosalba Belebilla

Rosalba Belebilla lost each of her 5 children one by one sixteen years ago.  She’s alone now.

Rosalba participated in Santa Fe de Antioquia’s reconciliation mural on which survivors and ex-combatants worked side by side.  They designed and constructed a wall depicting the names of Santa Fe de Antioquia victims.  The names on the mural were victims of the conflicts between paramilitaries and guerrillas (and a possible social cleansing by the police).  Rosalba painted 5 names on the wall.  She is still unaware of who or which group killed her children.  The process of creating the mural was very helpful for others but may have left many questions unanswered for Rosalba.

CIREC is one of the leading organizations working with Colombians with disabilities in the country and even Latin America. Their facilities are state of the art and innovative. I was very impressed by the “Walking Room” where the floor was wired to tell where pressure and tension is being put in walkers’ legs. There are also lasers which track the walker’s steps to measure stress. The goal would be to help walkers to develop “normal” strides or learn to walk with a prosthetic with greater ease and comfort.

CIREC creates prosthesis and orthesis products on site. They also showcase a museum of old prosthesis some of which the owners rigged themselves with what materials they had. It was so interesting to see how far technology has come.

Dedicated to a healing the whole person, CIREC offers services that go beyond the physical. They have social workers and psychologists available for patients as well as a job development program.

CIREC is a International Committee of the Red Cross model organization for countries in conflict. Living up to this level of distinction, CIREC really encapsulates the psycho-social approach with its Seeds of Peace program which it co-sponsors with Survivor Corps. This program to respond to the needs of persons with disabilities and more specifically to landmine and UXO survivors. It seeks bio-psychosocial (which I’m still learning about) recovery to improve quality of life of this population and help it achieve its reintegration into society. The Seeds of Hope program is implemented in 5 provinces and 23 communities in Colombia.

Maximus Miami Quad Rugby

This promo video for quad rugby in Miami has everything…laughs…action…MY voice!  Not only was I impressed to be able to watch the creation of this video at Fundación ArcÁngeles in Bogotá, I was able to contribute.  The media team needed a panicked reporter, I walked in to take a tour of the facilities, and bingo!  A gringa to pose as a panicked reporter.  Enjoy the survivor action!

The term “displaced” has always seemed very callous to me…as if a group of people just got lost one day and displaced themselves in another city or village.  To me it would be more appropriate to say “people who have fled from their homes…the place where they were waking up in the morning, making breakfast, returning after work, at times crying or laughing, talking with friends and family, raising children, cleaning, turning out the lights at night, dedicating countless hours to maintaining…because that was preferable to a situation; often violent and traumatic.”  Of course, the situation of displacement is different for each of Colombia’s 3.1 – over 4.6 million displaced persons (depending on the source).  Rural Colombians who have fled from their homes due to massacres or fumigation are returning at very low rates which has left many communities virtually empty.  I guess if we keep in mind the stories, for example read here (from the UNHCR site) and listen here, here, and here (from idpvoices.org), of the “displaced” and how we would feel running away from our homes, the word can mean more than just “lacking a home.”

Adam Isacson is the director of the Center for International Policy’s Colombia program.  Here’s a video of him speaking about the partial return of displaced people in rural Colombia around 10 years after massacres.  Check out his blog Plan Colombia and Beyond.

From Plan Colombia and Beyond:

“Here’s a 100-second video I recorded from the back of a pickup truck on the road between Macayepo and Chinulito, both of them sites of massacres in 2000, and both of them experiencing a partial return of displaced people.

Some of you may recognize Nancy Sánchez of the Colombian human rights group MINGA (winner of the Institute for Policy Studies’ 2003 Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award). It may appear that I have Nancy in an affectionate embrace; actually, I’m clinging desperately with my free hand to the roof of the truck in order to avoid flying out. The road is in terrible condition.”

Watch: Adam Isacson on the return of displaced Colombians

To learn more about Colombian’s who have fled their homes due to war, check out this clear and concise Reuter’s AlertNet briefer on this issue.

I was fortunate enough to watch Colombia’s only Quad Rugby team practice yesterday.  I also interviewed a soldier who through battles with guerrilla group, the FARC, was left quadriplegic and without part of his right leg.  This video is coming soon.

Quad Rugby is intense and fast.  These guys are not afraid to crash into one another at high speeds and stick their hands down by the metal wheels of their chairs to scrap for the ball.

The US, UK, Colombia, Argentina, Venezuela, and Brazil faced off in a tournament last month in Rio de Janeiro.  The UK took home the trophy, but the guys were eager to inform me that the Brits had 3 former quad rugby Olympians on their team.  These teams will face off again in October in Argentina.  Having met their match with the more experienced teams, they’re ready to take them on again with a better idea of the competition.  This highly motivated team has a great time during practice; laughing, yelling, poking fun at one another.  I had a great time myself joking around with the guys after practice.  What a friendly group of guys!

Coliseo Campín: HQ of Quad Rugby practice

Quad rugby practice is fast-paced and high impact

Quad rugby scrimmage

Coach William gives some pointers

Coach gets in on the action