09 youth delegation

By Kristen Kuriga

Last night I dreamt I was in Colombia. I was walking down the street at
night alone and the lighting was dim. A man with a machine gun came out
from behind a building and forced me to the ground. He put his gun up
to my head and I could hear him slowly pulling the trigger back. My
heart was pounding as I lay with my face on the cold concrete. Am I
going to die? Everything was in slow motion. As I heard the bullet
coming out of the gun I grabbed the end with my hand and bent it. I
stood up, took the gun from the man, and broke it with my hands. I
threw the gun on the ground and walked down the dark street alone.

by Kristen Kuriga

When friends have asked me about my time in Colombia, my initial response is intense … full of life … big. In the span of ten days I witnessed and experienced the context of the conflict in Colombia, its effect on youth, and the creative ways that ACOOC and the Red Juvenil have developed an alternative path for youth built on the principles of nonviolence, conscientious objection, and art. And I met people who inspired me and filled me with a sense of possibility and resilience. In the midst of armed conflict and daily violence, poverty, and the repression of dissident voices, the youth that I encountered emanated love, life, joy, and celebration. What was at the core of this? I saw community, self-created family, vision, play, and most of all creativity!

Last Friday was over the top, the cup brimming full. It was fun, deep, emotional, and extremely creative. Besides for playing trust games, group rhythm exercises and silk screening t-shirts with messages like “No Army Defends Peace,” we used council practice to open up a space in which folks from the U.S. could share their personal experiences. Council practice brings with it certain principles: speaking from the heart, deep listening, and offering what you have to say spontaneously, without too much planning from beforehand. In the midst of the incredibly vibrant and energetic space of the Red Juvenil house, we created a quiet circle in which each person picked up a green plastic ball in the center when he or she was ready to speak. The question was: what has been your personal experience of violence?

[Ed. note: this brief reflection from San Francisco-based youth activist Rafael Moreno was sent from Colombia, where Moreno & other members of the Fellowship of Reconciliation's youth arts & activism delegation have been visiting young activists in Bogota & Medellin.] Yesterday's visit with members of Red Juvenil was one of the best days of the trip so far. Many of the youth and staff at Red Juvenil remind me of the organization I’m part of -- HOMEY’s (Homeys Organizing in the Mission to Empower Youth). I guess it’s because the youth are free to be themselves, have fun, and nobody is seen as more important to their organization than another person; everybody is treated the same.

Today I was handed a postcard that Lutheran World Relief recently sent to FOR, as part of this month's Days of Prayer and Action campaign, to bring attention to the four million displaced people in Colombia. The postcard, addressed to President Obama, is a way for people to highlight this humanitarian crisis -- which forces some 1,500 people from their homes every day -- and to call on the U.S. government to end all military aid to Colombia.

Thee first report has just been received from the Fellowship of Reconciliation's March-April 2009 youth arts & action delegation to Colombia. This reminds us to encourage all FOR supporters to sign up to participate in the upcoming Days of Prayer & Action for Colombia, which will be held on April 19-20. This year, thousands of homemade dolls will be given to U.S. elected legislators, as a means of encouraging them to remember the hundreds of thousands of Colombians who have been displaced and injured in the continuing conflict.

For the next ten days, I have the privilege of leading a Youth Arts and Action Delegation to Colombia, despite my aches, pains and old age of almost 32. Fortunately, at the Fellowship of Reconciliation we define “youth” very amply: up to 30 years old. So I’m just barely over the hill for this group of amazing young activists who arrive tonight in Bogota’s El Dorado airport.

Our participants come from a wide variety of backgrounds, parallel projects and represent a diversity of organizations and experiences. Documentary filmmaker Korey Oliver and Buddhist Colombia activist Sarah Weintraub from the Dar Papaya Project, will be filming the delegation, to explore the stories of the young activists from both countries who are participating and to bring awareness to the situation in Colombia.