Mennonite
Central
Committee

Portraits in Cazucá: Families flee violence to begin again

January 25, 2007

CAZUCÁ, Colombia — Alicia has a stark explanation for how she and her family came to leave their home in La Palma and flee to this overcrowded, impoverished area on Bogotá's outskirts. One of the many armed groups operating in Colombia told her she needed to give them Claudia Patricia, her 10-year-old daughter.

"We said no, and they gave us 72 hours to leave," remembers Alicia, whose last name is not used because of safety concerns.

As government forces, guerrillas and paramilitary groups are vying for territory and power in a long-running armed conflict, young boys and girls are often at risk of being forcibly recruited into armed groups. The conflict has forced more than 3.5 million people to flee their homes. There are some 12,000 children who are soldiers in the conflict.

In this neighborhood on the edge of the capital city, families who have fled their homes work to piece their lives back together — many struggling to make ends meet and living in makeshift homes with few basic services. Every year, some homes collapse when rains turn the dusty hillside to mud.

Mencoldes, a Colombian Mennonite relief and development agency and partner of MCC, works in Cazucá with groups of women, including Alicia, 49, and with children and youth.

Youth programs seek to keep young people out of trouble and to provide respite for parents who fear for their children. Youth who are not occupied or involved in a program have the greatest risk of being recruiting into armed groups. Mencoldes provides more than simply a safe space though. It also gives youth a chance to develop their own lives and interests despite the pervasive violence in the area.

Women's groups help give participants space to talk about their lives and figure out how to move forward.

"I'm really grateful for Mencoldes," Alicia said. "It's here I learned to laugh. I learned to express myself. I was very shy and was afraid of saying the wrong thing and people making fun of me. I still have many problems but now I laugh and I can talk about things."

A major aim of the program is not only to help people change their outward circumstances but also to build relationships between neighbors and empower residents, said Blanca Camacho Sandoval, a psychologist and Cazucá program coordinator.

"It's a way of rebuilding a social fabric and trying to create a safe space for people," Sandoval said.

"People end up here because they have to. They have nowhere else to go. They come from all different parts of the city. They come having experienced trauma, all kinds of violence," Sandoval said. Then they realize in Cazucá they are still not secure — that violence and mistrust are all around them.

In this context, rebuilding relationships can become a way of rebuilding hope despite families' circumstances.

In the five years she's been in Cazucá, Alicia has struggled to support herself and her family. Her husband has health problems and can't be out in the sun or standing for long periods of time. A loan from Mencoldes helped her start a business selling snacks. But then armed groups in the area demanded protection money, drastically cutting into her income. When the price of corn and cheese went up, she could no longer make a profit.

She then worked in a family's home. "Sometimes they wouldn't pay for a week or two, then they would say, 'Look at all this money I'm giving you.' Then I have to come back and pay debts here. Immediately my hands are empty." She lost that job after injuring her leg so badly that it needed surgery. She's still saving money for the operation.

Yet through it all, Alicia has found hope and encouragement in Mencoldes and in the women she has met there.

Mencoldes' youth programs have also provided a safe haven for her daughter Claudia Patricia, who is now 16. Classes give students a chance to express themselves through drama and art. They provide a safe space for youth to gather and encourage youth to opt for peace over violence and to value themselves.

Amid violence and the danger of armed groups recruiting young adults and children, many parents keep tight reins on their children. "When we first got here, I didn't let her go to the corner by herself. I didn't let her out of my sight," Alicia said. "The group is a good space for her."

Claudia initially shied away from attending the program, telling her mother she didn't know anyone. Now, she talks excitedly of what she and others in the group have created and her vision for a future that's different from the world around her.

"As young people, we can move ahead. We don't have to use violence. We can move ahead without doing these violent things," she said. "It's really helped us to get to know each other better, our experiences, what each one of us is living with and to value ourselves, that we have value as young people."

In addition to supporting Mencoldes' efforts in Cazucá and in Bogotá, MCC through the Global Family program also supports a preschool and scholarship program founded by a Mennonite Brethren pastor in Cazucá. MCC's Global Family program also assists the Coalition for Conscientious Objection, which provides school fees, uniforms and educational and cultural activities for children in Cazucá and in other parts of Colombia. MCC resources such as canned meat are given to the preschool and a Mencoldes center for displaced people in Bogotá.

 

To read more about MCC's work in Colombia, see the upcoming March/April 2007 issue of a Common Place magazine.