First day away from Bogota

Quibdó, Colombia

Monday, 6.16.08

Quibdó is sitting in the middle of a department that became a battleground between government forces and paramilitary groups. The years between 1996 and 2008 saw
a huge displacement of 90,000 within Choco. This was coupled with huge displacements of people from the department of Antioca, east of Choco. CRS and Caritas have worked together to help people return to their original home regions.

We land at the airport and catch a cab to the hotel we’ll call home for the next couple of nights. The ride from the airport wasn’t too long but it was rough! The roads aren’t paved
in most parts of Quibdó. We pass all kinds of housing on the way, from tumble down shacks with rough plank floors and no windows in place to stucco homes with masonry walkways and lawns. 

A Room with No View

At the hotel we go to our rooms to settle in but we can’t get too settled in—we have a meeting at 6p.m. Our meeting is at the Bishop’s residence with Padre Jesus Albeiro Parra Solís. We meet in the lobby and walk over to the Bishop’s residence just a couple of blocks away. The humidity has now become a steady drizzle and the town silhouettes of the buildings are defined against a darkening sky.

As we walked down the ramp to a patio entrance we can’t help but notice a sign, it’s an international emblem, recognizable anywhere, it says no automatic weapons.  Now I know why I’ve been asked to where the tan field vest with CRS and Caritas boldly embroidered on the back and front. They told us in Bogota at the briefing that morning that it would be recognizable and many factions had a respect for our joint efforts.

I looked at the inky Atrato River reflecting the lights of the waterfront walk and saw a hollowed log boat crossing to the far side of the river. Bogota seemed like a distant memory, yet I had been in Colombia for a little over 24 hours.

A receptionist showed us into a room where Padre Albeiro Parra was already seated at a table in a large air-conditioned room. When we exchanged business cards I noticed Padre’s was beautifully designed, bright orange with an image suggesting a sun, a visual play on his last name Solís. His title was Director Pastoral Social—Diócesis de Quibdó.

We were joined shortly by Yesenia Cordoba Cordoba, and Yaneth Moreno Rodriquez as Padre Albeiro began telling us about some of the people we’d visit the next day. They are displaced peoples he said, Afro-Colombians, campesinos, and indigenous peoples. They were from the region of Choco. I asked him how CRS and Caritas help them when they arrive in the area.

They are given aid and legal advice that can help them qualify for governmental aid as a displaced person. This process is often lengthy and but entitles a qualified person to three months of housing and food aid. The housing stipend is less than adequate and often people live with extended family.

Photo Web Album - Soacha, Colombia 6.18.08

Photo album: Soacha Colombia 6.18 Soacha Colombia 6.18 Soacha, Colombia - Jun 18, 2008 by Guy Arceneaux Photos from CRS trip, June 2008 View Album Play slideshow

© Copyright 2009 Guy Arceneaux All rights reserved

Notes from my trip to Colombia

The sense of a town under siege is shown by this photo taken on a Monday afternoon. Colombia was a very tense place but the people were very friendly.

Photo: Guy Arceneaux, taken in Soacha, Colombia, June 16, 2008

Bogota, Colombia: Monday, June 16^th, 2008

The Bogota, Colombia CRS office was first established in 1959 and demonstrated continuous service until 1990 when the office was closed. In 1992 the office was reopened and is now involved in extensive human rights awareness efforts and partnering with groups involved in the considerable problem of displacement of people throughout Colombia.

Partner organizations within Colombia are the SNPS, Caritas and Colombian Dioceses as well as other ecclesiastical agencies. Working with this coalition CRS has developed a common set of programs and policies.

The office is in the midst of a 3-year program focusing on this issue with an annual operating budget of approximately $1 million dollars. The primary efforts are, peace-building, human rights, building solidarity and advocacy in the United States.

Soacha: A common displaced background, but life at two extremes

After a briefing at the CRS Bogota offices, Jim Stipe, CRS photographer, Matthew Bristow and myself accompanied Maria Elisa Caresani to Soacha, an area that has seen explosive growth due to the influx of desplazados (displaced persons).

Our first visit was to a housing complex in Soacha inhabited primarily by families of desplazados. We met with Aminta Baquiro and her children. They were very welcomingvideotaping an interview with Aminta and her son Diego Armando Escobar.

Their home was very comfortable with tiled floors and nice furniture, the neighborhood felt secure and quiet. This family had made the adjustment very well, but it was evident they harbored insecurities about their standard of living. Diego, the son was especially intent on making things better by becoming a policeman, securing a salaried position of power.

We were taken to visit a woman, Luz Miriam Anzola, who lived in Soachea with her two daughters aged 15 and 6. We took a cab to their habitat, which was in a very desolate part of Soacha. The woman's living quarters were at the end of an alley paved by loose rubble including broken tiles, brick fragments, stones and concrete chunks.

It was typical of the type of dwellings desplezados in Soacha build, using land on which they are squatting. Entire neighborhoods have sprung up, some become established and housing develops over time.

The cab driver waited for us at the entrance to the alley as we walked towards a patchwork home of plywood, corrugated metal and scraps of plastic sheeting situated
next to a marshy field filled with marsh grasses and bushy growth. The shack was situated across the alley from a soap making operation that was belching an acrid smoke that drifted into the open door as we were greeted.

Truth be told, we were not expected, this woman was obviously not feeling well, coughing intermittently while making quite a fuss about clearing a space for us to sit.

We wanted to hear her story and I spent a good twenty minutes interviewing her through
our interpreter, Matthew Bristow, in Spanish. We heard a very sad tale of displacement and loss and an existence that at this point in time seems uncertain to her.

During the interview she revealed how her asthma is aggravated by the smoke that drifts into their home. Even with the door closed the smoke comes through the cracks between the ceiling beams and the gaps in the metal siding. That day was dry, clear and windy, but I wondered how different things might be during the rainy season when the waters from the nearby marsh rose, easily turning their earthen floor to a mud.

She described nights when young men prowled the alley and sometimes banged at their door, frightening them all, keeping them from sleep, in fear of their safety. She does not work, afraid to leave her young daughters alone, consequently, she can't afford the tuition for her daughters' education.

Despite the grime that covered almost everything inside the house, the cheerful girls were
clean, well dressed and certainly loved by this single mother of two.

The Director of Pastoral Social Caritas, Fr. Ricardo Martinez Gonzalez, told me that they were trying to place her and her daughters in a more suitable shelter. The temporary shelter was built by acquaintances of the woman when she first arrived in Soache.

It was time to leave Soacha for the airport, but we would return in a few days time. Jim Stipe, Rigoberto Patino, our CRS host, and Matthew Bristow, intrepid translator were off to a very different environment—hot and steamy. We were headed to Quibdo in Choco on the Atrato River in western Colombia, the jungle!

© Copyright 2009 Guy Arceneaux All rights reserved