Reflections on Lenses

Dec. 27,2010

Ok, week and a bit being back home. Dad and I went picture taking today at Lonsdale. I reflect on the similarity between taking pictures and living life. You can take pictures with different lenses, analyze perspectives and come out with several different results of the same object or scene.








In returning from Colombia, I am seeing 'familiar' scenes and people but am able to see them in a different, a fresh light. I am asking questions about our way of being, analyzing our Canadians' way of interacting with others, and I must say that coming back has been a light of encouragement. The Christmas season has been warm, avoiding any sort of shopping mall and investing in true family time. In returning to church, some people are truly interested in hearing about my experiences. My parents are receptive, Keenan and Meredith, Nana. Although I really have not braved many other manifestations of Canadian life (malls, schools, restaurants – Tim Horton's is the exception!!), I have felt the necessary support to not feel completely disoriented here. This yet again reinforces my belief that we are profoundly influenced by our families.



I continue with the tense feeling of not wanting to lose my critical and reflective outlook on life that has been strengthened in Colombia. I still do not know exactly how to involve others in my experience and in Colombia, and I fear losing this desire. However, in reflecting today, I feel an assurance: God has guided me to experience what I did in Colombia. As long as I have the desire to share this experience, I am not alone. I have not done a 180 in my life, depicting the black and white contrasts that many often express after overseas work, however I am more committed to putting all of myself into exploring, analyzing and supporting initiatives in Colombia, and put all my efforts into my next job.

Christ needs you to love

Here's a song we've started singing in the church. It's actually Catholic. People have surprisingly really taken to it!

CHRIST NEEDS YOU TO LOVE

Christ needs you to love, to love
Christ needs you to love, to love

Chorus: Never mind their race
Nor the colour of their skin
Love all people as brothers and do what's right
Never mind their race
Nor the colour of their skin
Love all people as sisters and do what's right

To whom suffers and the sad
Show them love, show them love
To the meek and the poor
Show them love

To whom lives right beside you
Show them love, show them love
To whom comes from far lands
Show them love

To whom speaks another tongue
Show them love, show them love
To whom thinks differently
Show them love

To your never-failing friend
Show him love, show him love
To whom doesn't address you
Show them love

Yesterday I should have heard this song. I was so frustrated and felt ready to lash out at anyone who irritated me. One of the preschool teachers was supposedly sick (I don't know if she really was or was faking it) and I got stuck with the class. They're the worst of the 3 classes and I didn't have anything prepared. God, in His grace, gives us chances to return to the love He has for us, and also shows us this love through others. Therefore, I dedicate this song to the frustrated people of the day (including me).


CRISTO TE NECESITA PARA AMAR

Cristo te necesita para amar, para amar
Cristo te necesita para amar (BIS)

CORO: No te importe la raza ni el color de la piel,
Ama a todos como hermanos y haz el bien (BIS)

Al que sufre y al triste dale amor, dale amor;
al humilde y al pobre dale amor (BIS)

Al que vive a tu lado dale amor, dale amor,
Al que viene de lejos dale amor (BIS)

Al que habla otra lengua dale amor, dale amor;
Al que piensa distinto dale amor (BIS)

Al amigo de siempre dale amor, dale amor
Al que no te saluda dale amor (BIS)

Microempresa learnings

As many of you already know, I'm accompanying a small microempresa (microenterprise) with women and teens from the church. We make various dolls and seed jewelry which generate a small alternative income for the participants. More than explain what I do, I want to share what I have learned during this accompaniment...

1.Relationships and trust are key. People are sensitive due to personal or family conflicts/instability. The microempresa has served the participants as a space to listen to and encourage each other. We continue working on this part because there is still lack of trust between some members.

2.You have to be careful with the 'rich foreigner' image. Participants were used to selling their creations to delegations and didn't think about selling them in Colombia too. We're now looking for sales opportunities on a local and national level: this involves the participants themselves as vendors, a valuable element of the microempresa.

3.You can't beg someone to do something they don't want to. The women making the dolls are very committed but the teens in the jewelry are more unstable. It's important to encourage and support people but in the end, they decide whether they want to continue or leave.

4.You have to establish and know how to handle commitments with everyone. When someone stops coming regularly, we refer to these commitments to be fair in our actions. You have to understand the person without giving in to any excuse.


5.Networking/sharing with other groups helps generate ideas and encourage. During Holy Week we visited an association of artisans in Agua de Dios [2 hrs from Ibague]. We sold our goods with them and in the meantime talked and shared about our organizations. In June these same women are coming to Ibague to sell with us in the festivals (oo!)

(picture on left: visit to Agua de Dios with microempresa)

6.You have to believe in peoples' abilities and create spaces to put them into practice. Microempresa members use their talents, at the same time earning a small income. It's a space where we laugh, share our frustrations and discover our God-given gifts.

Conflict in the church

In the past week, I've seen 2 opposite ways of resolving conflicts in the church (neighbourhood Modelia)


Conflict Resolution 101: Rocky and Bullwinkle (names may have been changed to hide identities!) are teens in the church. Rocky is a fun-loving 18-yr-old who loves to make jokes: sometimes people don't take it well. Bullwinkle is a super-dedicated and sincere teen. He speaks with a lisp and some people have made fun of him for it. Both teens have been in the church for 1 year. Last week, Rocky started joking around, poking fun at Bullwinkle for the way he prayed. Bullwinkle (rightly so) got offended. 'I'm serious, Miriam, I was about to up and storm out of the church, I felt humiliated!' Bullwinkle later shared his frustrations and we all were able to talk directly with Rocky about what had happened, and Rocky promptly apologized to Bullwinkle.

Bullwinkle shared what had happened with his dad, who advised him to simply not talk with Rocky. 'Just don't say hi to him. Don't talk with him: if he asks you a favour or invites you out, say no. I don't like it one bit how he treated you.'



This happened a week ago. Yesterday it was his birthday and I suggested the 3 of us go out to celebrate (Nacho, Lucho and myself), forgetting about their recent conflict. Bullwinkle again expressed how hurt he had felt, but in the end thought it out level-headedly: 'I don't hold a grudge against Rocky, I know he's a good person. Yes, I was real embarrassed but I'm not going to hold it against him. He's been good to me and I have no reason to not talk with him. Yeah, i'm ok with Rocky coming.'

Conflict Resolution 102: Martha and Miguel are 2 teens dating in the church. They dated for 10 months, and appeared very serious, committed in the church too. A month ago, another chica caught Miguel's attention and he ended their relationship. Martha took it super hard: she didn't eat, decided to quit her part-time job, and in general was in the pits. Her mom and 2 sisters also took it hard: they didn't want to see him any closer than a mile away. Her youngest sister has friends in a neighbourhood gang and it got to the point where she was going to send a friend to stab Miguel. The pastor caught wind of this and was able to talk with this friend, and calmed the situation. Who knows if he really would have gone and stabbed Miguel, in revenge for what Miguel did to Martha?

Everyday conflicts in Modelia are commonly resolved with violence: verbal abuse, physical abuse, threats, knives, guns. Simple conflicts turn into unforgivable offenses. Last week in the School of Leaders we started talking about peacebuilding: how do we achieve peace in the church and the neighbourhood. Participants emphasized that we have to start within the church: learn to deal with conflicts in a healthy way. If not, we'll never reach that peace we desire to see in the neighbourhood.

There's lots of work to do in Modelia: through the School of Leaders, we're studying Biblically how to be leaders but are also working the area of peacebuilding: how can we be church and community leaders, being examples in the community of and advocating for healthy conflict resolution?

Thinking of peace seems like a far-off dream, especially in a country tangled up in a 50-year armed conflict. How can we work to break this vicious cycle of revenge, grudges and violence? School of Leaders participants put it simply: we must learn to resolve interpersonal conflicts within the church before thinking of big-picture peace in the neighbourhood or country. It's exciting to see church members reflecting and discussing these issues. I hope and pray people continue to work on this peacebuilding with energy.

The call to peace in the Bible...

Isaiah 2:4 speaks prophetically to a reason to work for peace. Mennonite churches have taken this verse as a key justification for their peace work.

4 He will judge between the nations
and will settle disputes for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war anymore.

5 Come, O house of Jacob,
let us walk in the light of the LORD.

What's peace to you?

I see peace as 'healthily resolving personal conflicts'; 'equal access to basic needs (food, work, health, education); 'understanding your community' ; involvement in your community' ; 'one of God's desires for His creation'; 'speaking out in love against injustices'...Whaddyou think? What's peace to you?

Why not work for peace?

Every year, Colombian pastors and local church members get together in Cachipay, about 1 hour away from Bogota, for the Colombian Mennonite Church Assembly. Amanda suggested I go to see how the church interacts on a national level and better understand the dynamics and issues the Mennonite church struggles with here in Colombia. Amanda and I got up before the crack of dawn to get a headstart, and arrived here to have lunch.

I retrieved a steamy bowl of ajiaco - a traditional Bogotano soup with corn, chicken and thick cream - and sat down beside a bubbly pastor from the Coast, entering into what appeared a one-sided conversation about the dangers of drinking.

As people began getting up from the table, the topic turned to presentations and 'oh, so why are you in Colombia?' I explained a bit about SEED and its emphasis on education, serving and advocacy. Thinking out loud, she remarked 'why don't they send one to our church? We could use a SEEDer, we need help with our activities too, you know!' Her pushy approach to the subject did not put me at ease.

I tried to explain the purposes on the program, especially about supporting peace processes, relating local experiences to big-picture issues and the importance of education, learning about the context before jumping into activities in the church. She reacted quite bluntly: 'I just can't do this peace work you talk about.' What can I say to that?

It turns out she was displaced by armed guerrilla members as a young child and witnessed images that no one wishes on others...friends being murdered, having to flee with her brother in the pitch-dark...not knowing if they would kill her or spare her life.

After she shared these horribly real memories, I started thinking: What are other reasons or excuses people have to not work for peace, healthy communities?

...maybe because of horrific things they have lived, they are afraid of the consequences.
...maybe because they think peace is just the absence of war.
...maybe they're disillusioned with peace and think there's no point.
...maybe because they think we're in the end times and this world is going to hell anyways.
...maybe it takes too much time. Or too much effort.
...maybe some people have money and can pay their way out of conflicts or war.
…why else?



It's easy to get discouraged, especially in a context where people sometimes struggle to put food on the table or find bus fare to get to work. Intense domestic conflicts or violence is common in Modelia, and single mothers is the norm. But why should I continue?

I could answer many ways, but what keeps me going is seeing peoples' gifts in the community. We are God's creation and He has given us talents to contribute to our communities, our churches, our country.