Newsletters

Date: March 16th 2010

By Liz and Bill Branch
March 13, 2010

This week we have continued our process of getting to know the Presbyterian Church of Colombia (IPC) and its mission. On Sunday we visited the Presbyterian Church in Cartagena. Several things stood out for us. The structure itself was physically open to the street and to the neighborhood. A large percentage, 1/3 or 1/2, of the worshipers were children and youth. Even the worship leaders appeared to be in their twenties.

Milton Mejia (who is not in his twenties) preached and presided at the table. Liz and Bill (who are far from their twenties) introduced ourselves. We celebrated the sacrament with everyone standing in a circle around the room. Bill passed the bread, "El cuerpo de Cristo, partido por ti." We were indeed sisters and brothers in Christ.

During the week we attended a political rally for senatorial candidates. This election (to be held March 14) may give us some indication of the outcome of the presidential election to be held this coming May. Everyone is expecting a run-off since President Uribe can't run for a third term and there is no clear favorite.

Our most moving experience came in an interview with a leader of the displaced. He has been thrice displaced because of his work and leadership among the community of workers. Because his family returned to a town where he is a "marked man", he is separated from them and was, for a time, homeless, sleeping in parks and eating the fruit that he could gather from trees on the grounds of the Universidad Reformada.

He has very little to look forward to, but he has found a ministry in working for and giving leadership to the internally displaced persons who have gathered in and around Barranquilla. This leadership has brought him in touch with the IPC and their advocacy and accompaniment program. There are now over 4.5 million people who are displaced inside Colombia (out of about 45 millions altogether). These are often former farmers or farm workers who have been forcibly evicted from their lands for no other reason than that someone wanted the land they were working. This is part of the pain and the shame of current-day Colombia.

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