Newsletters

Date: April 22nd 2010

by Bill and Liz Branch

On April 7, we left Barranquilla for an 11-hour car ride to Apartadó. For 6 days we stayed in Apartadó, from which we took side trips to churches in the area. We visited churches in El Trés, Turbo, Currulao, Apartadó (where Bill preached), Carepa, Chigorodó, and Dabeiba. Most of these churches are made up of displaced people. Not only are they poor but they have been treated poorly by the rich and powerful. Yet they are among the most resilient, generous, gracious people we have ever met. Even though they are poor, they are willing to share--even when that means giving up essentials in life.

Many lost their small farms when it became too dangerous for them to stay in an area where paramilitaries were fighting for control of the territory. They were given the options to sell their property at about 20% of the property value or to leave. And so they left. In other cases, guerrillas were fighting with the army for control of the area. In either case, life was cheap and the displaced farmers and their families had to "run for their lives". Many of them arrived in the communities of Urabá Presbytery with just the clothes on their backs.

Now the displaced live in shacks built of rough-hewn boards. Light shines through the cracks in the walls. There are no interior doors; a blanket hanging in the doorway might provide the only privacy. The floors of some houses are concrete, but many floors are dirt. One man showed us the farm tools he was able to bring with him when he left his farm years ago. The only problem is that despite government promises and the right to reparations granted in the Colombian Constitution of 1991, the man still has no land to farm.

In their small back yards, several families keep chickens which provide eggs to eat and to sell. One mother offered us a half dozen fresh eggs, eggs which would have fed her family for a meal or two. We are sad to see such beautiful people in such a hopeless situation. Yet we rejoice with them in their faith and hope.

Unless the Colombian government can redirect much of the money which now goes to the military (80% of U. S. aid to Colombia goes to the military) into social and infrastructure projects, these people will never enjoy the education, health and land that are theirs by right. They ask only for what is theirs by constitutional law.

When we traveled from Apartadó to Dabeiba, we felt as if we were traveling through a war zone. Along the way, we passed checkpoints manned by soldiers and saw numerous armored personnel carriers with heavy caliber machine guns. This we saw in the midst of rich farmland and idyllic mountain vistas. Colombia is a rich land populated by many very poor people.

One rich part of the land which we enjoyed greatly was Medellin. While narcotraffickers still live "high on the hog" there, the public part of the city is very modern. It has a state-of-the-art transit system, including cableways up two of the highest mountains flanking the city; it has a modern central plaza, fine museums (we especially enjoyed the Palacio de Cultura in memory of Rafael Uribe Uribe, the Catholic politician who was assasinated in 1914 and whose ideas underlie the Colombian Constitution of 1991), and a wonderful botanical park. Highlights of the park were the little monkey and the huge iguana which came near our path.

There were times of joy on our trip through Urabá Presbytery. It was exciting to share worship and to preach in Apartadó and Medellin. It was a joy to be present and preach for the celebration of Diego Higuita's father-in-law's 88th birthday. We were also touched by the ministry of a retired man in the Dabeiba congregation who visits the elderly daily, checks their blood pressure, and leads them through exercises. What a delight it was to see so many children in the churches and to observe their curiosity and their growing faith. It is exciting to be in Colombia. We in the U.S. can learn much from our brothers and sisters here.

erwwbranch.blogspot.com

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