Listerve Post Saturday, January 26, 2008 09:43 PM
We´re back in hot Barrancabermeja. We had our public action this afternoon, focussing on women´s rights and specifically trying to be as visible as possible showing international support for the OFP (Popular Women´s Organization), CPT´s partners here in Barrancabermeja. I can´t say much here... It went well, and I had some good conversations with onlookers.
Our trip to Micoahumado (¨Smoked Monkey¨ -- there´s a story behind the name of the
town) was wonderful!!! Spectacularly beautiful mountain scenery and butterflies, and the community there is amazing and wonderful and welcomed us in with open arms. We took a day trip (over 40 of us) in the back of a truck to a swimming hole in a mountain stream, while several people prepared a traditional lunch for us. I purposely ignored most of the lunch preparation since it included converting the numerous live chickens who traveled in the truck with us into sancocho, a traditional stew. They had an absolutely delicious salad and of course rice for me. We spent the day swimming and talking and eating, and of course riding home in the truck. It may not sound fun to crowd over 40 people plus a motorcycle plus all of the pots and utensils and food plus a bunch of chickens into the back of a truck for a 2-hour ride over what they call roads and what some in our country might call a dirt track (BUMPY), along cliff drop-offs (I´m told, but I was too scrunched to see them), but with this group it was extremely fun. I had a ball! We yelled and laughed together, and have a number of stories which set us all laughing over awkward
situations the bumps got us into.
Our delegation has commented over and over again how people at home think we´re being noble and suffering for the sake of others, while we´re all enjoying ourselves. It is sobering at times when we hear comments like, ¨We´re alive because you´re sitting here.¨
However, accompanying people means living life with people, and the people we´re
accompanying really know how to live! :)
The only down part of the Micoahumado trip was the mosquitoes and ticks. No one else got any. I told my group that my contribution to the team was to be so delectable that the bugs would avoid anyone around me and just choose me. I guess the DEET helped since I wasn´t completely covered in bites, just partially covered. To those of you who convinced me to take malaria med., thanks! It did put me more at ease. Its down side is that I am having trouble sleeping. I have had trouble for the entire time, so am quite sleep deprived now. The mountains and swimming and singing and fun community were wonderful, but signs of little sleep and its effects on my blood sugar are showing in my relations with other team members. Prayers for me to make it through the delegation without becoming completely obnoxious would be appreciated... I was able to take time this morning for prayer, and that helped, plus another Friend led the morning devotion time which included 10 minutes of silence -- much needed and quite helpful! I did warn team members about hypoglycemia at the beginning, and one person has helped remind me to eat more often.
Team members are great! I´ll tell you about some as I have time, and save the rest for later. One married couple brought a guitar with them. They perform music
together and they and I have had lots of fun swapping songs and singing together, plus leading others in song such as the imp round. It´s lots of fun (3-part round). Another on our team is the mother of one of the long-term team members here in Barrancabermeja. She came on a delegation last year, and there was so much information to absorb that she decided to come again. It´s been nice having another team member who knows the area a bit. Her specialty seems to be scouting out good ice cream places. Last night when a few of us went to the park downtown to plot
out our public action, she spotted all of the ice cream places and picked out which ones had the best flavors. A very useful teammate! :) I´ve indulged a couple of times in the two weeks I´ve been here. Not good for blood sugar control but still good for the soul!
The two women I mentioned know almost know Spanish, and the man knew none at the start of the trip, but all three jump right in and converse as best they can. It´s inspiring to watch them interact with the people around us. Quite a few of my teammates have been active in trying to close the School of the Americas, and one woman went to jail for it. One of our partner organizations here gave her an ovation when they heard this, and talked about how she inspired them. She is quiet and gentle and I think the team member I most look up to, someone I want to be like. She radiates kindness. The youngest person in our group is in his early 20´s. He´s from Winnipeg but recently moved to Montreal, so was just starting to learn French and is now speaking French with a Spanish accent (he doesn´t know Spanish). He´s another person who jumps in and acts. He was quiet for a while, but today we appointed him as our ¨choreographer¨-director for our action, and he did a splendid job! He seems to have opened up while here and done new things like leading worship and directing a bunch of older adults and introducing himself in Spanish like a pro. That is all for now. I am running out of time at this internet cafe (closing soon). Monday we fly back to Bogota to meet with embassy officials. On the way we´ll be working out our presentations at the embassies.
[To my monthly meeting, our team prayer time before we headed downtown for our action was the psalm for beginning work, a psalm which you gave me. They very much appreciated it, wanted copies, and asked me to thank you.]
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