Tuesday in Bogota

The Bogota Conference is amazing!  The presentations and workshops so far have been interesting and challenging - giving me new ideas about mission projects at home as well as with our global mission partners.  Worship on Sunday in the Episcopal Cathedral in Bogota was wonderful, joyful, and uplifting.  Our small group reflection times have given me the chance to get to know about ten of the participants much more closely, and their sharing has enriched my understanding of mission in beautiful ways.

Today we had our first mission site visits.  I chose to go to La Iglesia del Espiritu Santo - The Episcopal Church of the Holy Spirit in Soacha.  This is an area to the south of Bogota - or at least on its southern edge.  This is a very poor area with an exceptionally high number of displaced persons - 400,000 or more, I believe.  Colombia has more internally displaced persons than any country in the world - except South Sudan.

Espiritu Santo is located in a residential-type neighborhood, with a small, but lovely church on the ground floor.  I was especially impressed by the large print of a mural of Latin American people carrying the cross of Jesus - being led by the risen Christ.  It reminded me that these are the crucified peoples of Latin America.

Upstairs, we met with six or seven women who are leaders in the large community of Soacha - leaders in the empowerment of women.  We were entranced and moved by the stories of these courageous and inspiring women.  They have all been displaced from their homes - some as many as three times - by violence, threat, degraded environment, and land grabs for mining and other industrial uses.  They fight for the human rights of women: rights to live in peace, to be educated, to be free from violence aimed at them, to have access to work with dignity, to health.  These basic human rights would allow them to raise their children in a peaceful and healthy community.

It seemed to me, from their stories, that they were drawn into this work by simply wanting to protect their families.  "It is the women who hold the families together," the leader of the Mesa de Organizaciones de Mujeres Soacha (Women's Table) told us.  As leaders who are willing to stand up to unjust societal and governmental structures, these women are targets.  They are followed, photographed, videotaped - spied upon.  One woman was murdered last month.  And several of the women who spoke are still homeless, having been displaced once again.

My heart was greatly moved in solidarity with these wonderful women.  We were witnesses today of their pain, their struggles, and their successes.  They have hope and they have faith.  I hope that all who heard them will be able to pass along some part of their story, to help us and those we touch have a better understanding of some of the struggles and victories of these amazing women.  As our hearts are moved and opened, there is room for El Espirtu Santo to enter our lives and show us how to accompany our sisters and brothers in Christ.