Thursday, December 17, 2009

Worries

A.J. gives volunteer leadership to displaced peoples now living in Atlanticó (Department). He’s a farmer, displaced twice. He’s been unemployed the last 2 years.
Today he received news that a long awaited family subsidy* arrived but was returned to Bogotá. He was advised not to contact the Bogotá office before Jan. 15 due to holidays.

ANDESCOL, The national association of displaced people of Colombia functions through the goodwill, passion, and volunteerism of thousands, from Human Rights lawyers to the many community leaders throughout the country who are the displaced.
Community leaders such as A.J. stay in touch through cell phones which can receive calls at no cost. One can make a quick call for equivalent of 10 cents from the multitude of street vendors.

I heard these worries in our conversation today:
• There’s no food in the house
• Christmas is coming; his 3 children don’t have shoes
• In a generation’s time the knowledge of family and community based agriculture may be lost. A generation of displaced farmers –Afro Colombians, indigenous people, and others, are in urban zones, separated from the work they know. Their children are growing up in urban settings, and will not know how to till the soil.
• Few people know their rights as citizens, or International Humanitarian laws, or Colombia’s laws regarding reparations for civilians displaced by war,and their right to lands that were –and are still being, confiscated.
• Where to get funds to carry out education workshops (capacitaciónes) to teach people their rights. The government funds many workshops for the displaced to learn new work skills, i.e., welding, furniture or soy yogurt making, etc., through contracts with training entities. Sadly, the people A.J.knows have not been able to find or generate income related to their various trainings.


*United Nations Development Office is highly critical that humanitarian aid for civilian displacement victims in Colombia requires an onerous registration process which obligates registrants to support and cooperate with government policies. (Recuperación military bajo la piel de lo social. Alianza de organizaciones socials y afines. Mayo 2008. Para publicación en “Hechos del callejon” del PNUD.)


“The [OT] prophets take us to the slums.” Rabbi Joshua Abraham Heschel

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