Date: December 10th 2008

We are now in Advent and because of Friday, December 5, I have been giving particular thought to the Christmas story.

Last Friday was very special, both personally and here in Barranquilla. At 2:34 a.m., after a long, hard labor, Sarah and Kevin Sanderson-Doughty welcomed their daughter, Caroline Grace, into their arms and their home. A day for rejoicing and gratitude!

Later that day, I visited two families in Camelot, a community inhabited by desplazados, displaced persons. We sat and talked for quite awhile about things we had in common. Among them were love of family, appreciation for our faith community, and the desire for good education for our children. But one thing we didn´t have in common was feelings about our dwelling places. I live with Steve in Otsego, Michigan, a place where we chose to live and that we call home. These families, on the other hand, live in Camelot and do not call it home. It is in an undesirable wasteland outside of Barranquilla with few services and no opportunity to farm the land. Their true home is in a rural, farming area of Colombia where people grow crops and raise animals. Unfortunately, this same area has been popular with paramilitaries and guerrillas fighting each other for control. A little more than a decade ago when these families were still in their homes, one or another of the arm ed groups would enter their community, accusing the people of cooperating with the other side. There was harassment and threats and some of the community leaders were taken away and later found murdered. One day an armed group came and told the people to get off the land or they would all be killed. So they left their homes and land and came to the city to be safe. But it has been hard. They are farmers and have skills working the land which is what they want to do. But they can´t go back. The reality is that the area still remains violent, and while the government has worked to stop the guerillas, it has either been unable or unwilling to crack down on the paramilitary, often for political reasons.

The long awaited and joyful arrival of Caroline Grace is an easy connection to Advent. But as I spent time in Camelot with these families that same day and have had other conversations with people documenting human rights abuses, I see the story of the displaced people also linked to the Christmas story.

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. . . And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn.

Like the displaced people of Colombia, Mary and Joseph were forced to leave their home to travel a great distance and not at a time of their own choosing. Mary, who was great with child, would certainly have preferred to wait until after the birth, but that was not an option. They travelled to their destination through unfamiliar territory and reached Bethlehem with few resources and no lodging prospects. They finally found a place to stay in an area that others did not want and accepted it as the best they could do as strangers in the city.

Nowhere in the New Testament story does it tell of Mary´s labor to bring Jesus into the world. Traditionally, we envision her riding on a donkey. Was she in labor as they approached Bethlehem? This being her first child, was the labor long and difficult? Were there people who gave support and offered prayers during the labor as did family and friends of Sarah and Kevin?


Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, . . . to worship him. When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. . . . And when the (wise men) come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him . . And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.

And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.

When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt. . . . .Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men.


Those were fearful and anxious times as Mary, Joseph, and their newborn baby found themselves truly displaced, fleeing to a distant land for fear of being killed. And this is the same story I listened to the families tell in Camelot. They had to flee their land or be killed. And for those who remain in the home land, there have been disappearances, torture and murder, sometimes massacres.

The good news is that here in Barranquilla, I have met courageous desplazados, including the two families I visited, who are organizing and working together to change things. And I have met other courageous people, young lawyers, working at their own peril to travel and document human rights abuses and get the information out to the international community.

Jean McLeod Doughty (jeanmcleod@aol.com)
December 8, 2008