Nobel Peace Prize Nomination

Thanks for coming back after my too-long absence. We are still enjoying the perfect verano weather, cooler in the mornings, hot in the day and chilly at night. Of course, my teammate Janice would argue that my version of “chilly” has long been corrupted by Texas living and these last (almost three!) months here. Janice arrived from the Bogotá office a little over a week ago to replace the vacationing Mireille. We attended the same volunteer training last October and it has been really lovely to spend these days with her and introduce her to daily life up here. She has less than a week left for now and then Mireille gets back and what promises to be an absolutely crazy next month will begin. We are preparing for the commemoration of the anniversary of the February 21st, 2005 massacre and then for the 10th Anniversary of the Peace Community, founded March 23rd 1997. Sprinkled throughout are visits from the SF office, new volunteer arrival and other accompaniment petitions. So instead of blogging I have been swinging in the hammock and playing with the kiddies in the swimming hole and accepting tough accompaniment assignments like that of last weekend to the nearby beach for a community outing. I know, I know…my life is incredibly difficult. So, lets get to it, shall we? I’ll be scattering some pictures throughout, although they are taken here in the community, they are completely unrelated to what I’m writing about. So, with no further ado, here is what you need to know:

Peace: Voted Best Hair in High School:
We have just found out that the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó has been nominated for the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. The nomination just went through yesterday and Janice and I were privileged to tell the consejo and community members today! The American Friends Service Committee, having been awarded the prize themselves in 1947, has the right to wade through the lengthy nomination process and bestow this honor on deserving recipients. AFSC also nominated ACIN (The Association of Indigenous Townships of Northern Cacua), a network of Indigenous communities, numbering about 250,000 people and bound together in nonviolent resistance to the war as it rages in the southern part of the country and threatens lives, livelihood and land. They are widely known for the Indigenous Guard, an inspiring group of 7000 unarmed men and women who offer themselves in defense of the Nasa Indigenous people.

I am incredibly giddy just thinking about the honor of the nomination as well as the good that this international exposure, not to mention, the potential prize money could do for both communities. I’ll keep you posted and will get more details up soon on the nomination.

Strangers on a Chiva:
Last Sunday, Janice and I accepted a petition to go the beach. We woke up before the sun and rambled down the hill to the awaiting hired bus where we joined folks from La Unión and San Josecito to began our hour and a half jaunt to the beach. We stayed for most of the day, community members soaking up sun and surf as Janice and I wisely kept out of the strong sun and instead enjoyed the many available hammocks and wondered at our luck to be able to call such an afternoon work. On our way back, the bus was stopped by Colombian military on the main road towards the community, about five miles away from San Josecito.

One soldier boarded the bus and informed us that we were to submit to a search of bags, IDs and in the case of the men, person. This quickly jolted Janice and I out of our excited reminiscing of the curse reversing World Series. As we disembarked, I caught the eye of one of the consejo leaders, enabling us to have a quick check in about this irregular search. We calmly filed off as Janice and I shifted into our most observant and International selves, no costume change required. I immediately recognized half the soldiers from a chiva ride home about two weeks ago. They had been returning from vacation and sharing the coveted rooftop ride with us. It was a ride I particularly remember as I spent most of it jockeying for rooftop position with the young soldiers and desperately clutching the better positioned Mireille as the chiva sped up and around curves as I laughed at one of my now frequent “There but for the grace of God go I” moments.

The soldiers recognized me too, one even remembering my name and asking after Mireille. He with the good memory turned out to be the commander in charge and while on the phone for most of the search, reassured me a few times that they didn’t need to see our bags or IDs and also asked if everything was going well with the search. I can’t even begin to describe how strange this was. The few times I have been in close and unexpected contact with armed men and the community I have automatically switched into high adrenaline, super-composed Amanda - and this time was no different. But I also realized we seemed to be receiving special treatment because these young men had been flirting with us on public transportation a couple of weeks before. Before starting my year here I thought a lot about how I would deal with the machismo that would most likely affect my work as an accompanier. I had counted on it being an obstacle and instead here it was, unseen, but leading the commander to make sure that all was on the up and up with the random and obviously targeted search his soldiers were under orders to carry out.

While on the chiva with the same soldiers, Mireille and I knew the out of uniform boy-men were military but to see those same smiles camouflaged and punctuated by large guns and official insignia made me ache for the victimization created by obligatory military service. Nothing is simple about this war, this violence. Not like this is any huge revelation, but an “Us vs. Them” dichotomy only takes us so far. The humanity of all sides catches up with you sooner or later. The search ended without incident and we boarded the bus as the commander shouted out a cheerful “Amanda, see ya soon”. I of course did see him soon, as there he was along the main road today as we went down to town; gun swinging off his shoulder and friendly smile mirroring friendly wave. What was there to do but wave and smile in return?

Pirates, Popcorn and Ptwizzlers:
Last night we organized a movie night for the kiddies. With kiddie input we decided on “Pirates of the Caribbean” and went about spreading the word over the last couple of days, creating both expectation and impatience among our young friends. Janice and I set up our small house to best accommodate the laptop viewing and the kids poured in right on time. I had managed to pop some “crispeta” and as each moviegoer entered the house I gave them a Twizzler courtesy of the ever-amazing Kathy Paglia of ODSD fame and recent care package splendor. All was set, until I searched for the subtitles and found them only offered in French. After consulting our guests, we decided to go with it anyway and as I ran to and fro rounding up more kids and arranging some final things Janice began translating lines for the kids. She managed to somehow keep this up throughout the rather long movie as I threw in an “argh” for good measure every once in a while. All in all it was a wild success and one I hope to repeat more often. There have already been requests for Elf, another care package gem from afar (very well done, Brienne, Esquire). And what’s more, I’ve checked and Elf has not only Spanish subtitles, but also a Spanish track. It can’t get much better than that.