wfn.org | LWI FEATURE: Colombia - Pilgrims in Their Own Land

["Frank Imhoff" <FRANKI@elca.org>]

FEATURE: Colombia - Pilgrims in Their Own Land
Lutheran Church Collaborates with NGOs and Government in
Resettling Displaced Civilians

BOGOTA, Colombia/GENEVA, 14 October 2003 - "Get out; there's
going to be trouble and we will not be answerable," warned a
guerrilla command that arrived in the area at midday. "We respect
your lives, but grab your things and leave," ordered several
paramilitaries a couple of hours later.

And Abel Buitrago, all too familiar with the consequences of such
orders complied, as did 40 neighboring families, abandoning their
homes and animals. From a distance they heard what was probably
an exchange of fire between two groups. They learnt later that
two civilian boys had been killed. It was not clear how many
combatants had gone down in the fray, because such bodies
normally are dumped in a muddy marsh, then gradually dragged
toward the river until picked up by fishermen. They are then
catalogued as NN (no name) in what has now become routine
practice in the history of a half-century of Colombian war.

Buitrago, a carpenter, is one of nearly three million people (in
a population of 40 million) compelled to leave their homes since
forced displacement began in Colombia in 1985. Displacement is no
longer just a collateral effect of the country's decades-old
conflict, - revolving around narcotic trade, the peasant's
struggle for land reform and political control - but one of the
central strategies of those who are sponsoring, leading and
profiting from the confrontation. These statistics are in a
recent report of Consultancy for Human Rights and Displacement
(Codhes), a well-respected non-governmental organization. The
report is considered as important, as the figures compiled by the
government's Social Solidarity Network account only for the
officially registered families, leaving out many who do not come
out in the open for fear of subsequent persecutions.

Over 1,000 People Displaced Daily

It is now three years since Buitrago, his wife and three
children, came to Nueva Colombia, a squatter settlement some 14
kilometers from their first place of refuge, the northeastern
city of Bucaramanga. 

Nueva Colombia is community of shacks on the foothills of a
mountain that rises from Guatiguara valley, a landscape of
sugarcane and tobacco crops, and luxurious high-society clubs.
Electricity is pirated from the valley below, and water comes
from springs high up in the mountain. There is no sewage system.
This housing panorama is not rare in Colombia. According to
Codhes 1,144 people abandon their homes daily. Last year, 955
localities*85 per cent of the over 1,100 such administration
areas * had part of their population expelled. While 152 of them
suffered a drastic reduction of inhabitants, another 124 grew
atypically due to the untimely arrival of new people. 

There are several local and international NGOs working with
displaced people in Colombia, as the government cannot cope with
the overwhelming numbers. The Buitragos received assistance
toward shelter construction, food, and other basic needs from the
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Colombia (IELCO), which has been
carrying out development programs for 20 years. Support to IELCO
comes through the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Department for
World Service (DWS) and the global network of churches and their
related agencies, Action by Churches Together (ACT)
International. The church's work among displaced people is
limited, as funds are not always available to target all the
people in need. Co-operation agreements have been signed with
both NGOs and government agencies to complement activities in
this area. The government targets the return of 30,000 families
annually but security, protection and sustainability are not
assured, and there is a high level of repeated displacement. 

After February 2002, when peace negotiations between the previous
government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC,
broke off, and especially after August the same year, when
President Alvaro Uribe Vilez took office, there has been an
upsurge of fighting due to a political shift toward "democratic
security," including a strong emphasis on military intervention
to end the internal conflict. The new focus brings with it an
important cutback in social spending, and exposes the population
to higher security threats and violence. 

Other IELCO projects in Nueva Colombia include a multi-purpose
hall used as a church, children's dining hall, drug store,
nursing post, radio station, school, theater and meeting room.
The church's philosophy is perhaps best portrayed in this
building: to accompany the community in issues of health, safe
drinking water, energy, risk management, tree planting and
education, with the aim to achieve self sufficiency and progress.
Eighty-five per cent of Colombia's displaced households include
children and adolescents with little or no formal education.

Working atop one of the walls of the tank that will provide water
to nearly 300 families, Abel Buitrago takes pride in having
experienced change in his neighborhood thanks to IELCO's
psychosocial and development work. "It was our job to change the
thinking of many hardened people," he says. "Today there is
community. We never imagined there would be so many people
helping with the tasks of the water tank, women carrying
materials on their shoulders, and men breaking rocks."

The 3,000-member IELCO was founded in 1958 and joined the LWF in
1966. Its social development office began in 1982, with a mission
to promote integral development projects for families and
marginalized communities. (877 words)

(Material provided by LWF/DWS and IELCO)

(The Lutheran World Federation continues to uplift its Tenth
Assembly theme, "For the Healing of the World." The "Healing
Features" series will continue to be a major highlight in LWI.)

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the
Lutheran tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund (Sweden), the LWF now
has 136 member churches in 76 countries representing over 61.7
million of the 65.4 million Lutherans worldwide. The LWF acts on
behalf of its member churches in areas of common interest such as
ecumenical and inter-faith relations, theology, humanitarian
assistance, human rights, communication, and the various aspects
of mission and development work. Its secretariat is located in
Geneva, Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is LWF' information service.
Unless specifically noted, material presented does not represent
positions or opinions of the LWF or of its various units. Where
the dateline of an article contains the notation (LWI), the
material may be freely reproduced with acknowledgment.]

*	*	*

LWI online at: http://www.lutheranworld.org/News/Welcome.EN.html 

LUTHERAN WORLD INFORMATION
PO Box 2100, CH-1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland
Tel: (41.22) 791.63.54
Fax: (41.22) 791.66.30 
Editor's e-mail: pmu@lutheranworld.org