Thursday, April 23, 2009

Why am I in Colombia?

I´m part of a 9-person group called SEED (Semilla), which is a 2-year pilot program of Mennonite Central Committee. MCC is the disaster relief, development and peacebuilding organization of the Anabaptist churches in the US and Canada (for more info about MCC: www.mcc.org). The 3 key words chosen for this program are Serve, Reflect, Advocate: Serve: support local Colombian churches that are accompanying people displaced by the violence in Colombia. Reflect: through our daily community experiences and group meetings in these 2 years, deepen our understanding of the complex realities in Colombia and our home countries, and discover how these two are connected. Advocate: upon making these connections, advocate in concrete ways for social change in both Colombia and our home communities. This is not just a 2 year ´project´…it seeks to create stronger relationships both within Colombia and across borders that sow those seeds of social change that we desperately need in our countries.


In short, this program seeks to transform local churches, us, and our home communities.