The Pain by Laura Kasischke Like the human brain, which organizes The swirls and shades of the bathroom tiles Into faces, faces With expressions Of exhaustion, of disdain. The Virgin Mary in the toast of course But also the penance in the pain, and the way My mother invented Plums and tissue paper, while My father
(This video is about 4 years old, but still gives a good glimpse into why the community had to leave) I am doing a giant survey of families who want to return to Mampujan Viejo, the original site the community was displaced from 13 years ago. Here is a glimpse into some of their answers
Español Aqui! I woke-up on Sunday morning to a higher-than-normal feeling of activity and tension in the air. I popped my head around the corner into Juana’s house, and interrupted her cleaning frenzy to ask what was going on. “The MAPP OEA (Mission to Accompany the Peace Process of the Organization of the American States)
These days, I am engaged in a massive survey of community members who want to return to live in Mampuján Viejo. One of the questions asks about the work that each member of the family was doing before and after the displacement. When I interview men, they state that they were engaged in agriculture, and
It has been an unexpected delight to discover the writing and work of Wade Davis this year. He is an enthobotanist and anthropologist, whose writings about culture serves as a helpful lens through which to view my own experiences. Through his travels in Colombia, Peru, Canada’s Arctic, Tibet, Kenya, Haiti and many more, Davis explores
The Caribbean coast is probably the least private, least polite place in Colombia. Don’t get me wrong, that is part of why I love it, even when I get overwhelmed and cry on top of a bag of cabbages during a giant non-violent march or go hide in my house every night. People yell, demand,
They’re awkward, angular, abstruse, the great beak on a head so narrow, a kind of weird Jurassic goose lurching into the modern era. But the blue arc of sky lets loose– look, now!–the brown, unerring arrow! And see how beautiful, how grave, the steady wings along the wave. -Ursula K. Le Guin
Excitement: Attending a meeting about people who want to return to Old Mampujan. Perhaps, just perhaps, now is the time! Frustration: I have an ambiguous role in this community and am never quite sure how I fit in or what I am supposed to be doing, or how. Accompaniment is a very fluid job description.
I’m happy to introduce my first ever guest blogger, my mother Lucy, who shares some reflections on her recent visit to Colombia. Together with our daughter Bonnie and her husband Jonathan, Jack and I had the privilege of spending three weeks in Colombia visiting Anna. We spent some time doing “touristy” things but mostly traveled
I could post a thousand links or write a thousand well-reasoned rants, and perhaps I will in the future, but for now, this is my prayer for the country I still call home and for all of us who are part of Canada. O Great Spirit Whose voice I hear in the wind Whose voice
Anna L. Vogt 