Life from Canada to Latin America, one word at a time.
The mood in the Bogota plaza was more sombre than excited during the ceremony marking the FARC’s final disarmament. There were a few balloons, flags, and the vegetable mandala folks, but everything felt muted in the face of uncertainty. Recent judicial decisions have challenged the government’s ability to rapidly implement the accords. Social leaders continue
I can’t stop thinking about a story Larisa told me at the end of November. I was about to leave on a work trip and the conflict in the Montes de Maria in the early 2000s was furthest thing from my mind, but I ended up carrying it with me through Central America and back.
On street corners and under shade trees, functionaries from Bogota held court almost everyday in Mampujan. Dressed in vests proclaiming their identity as members of the Unidad de Victimas, or the Organization of the American States, or the Sena or universities or whatever, they passed out attendance sheets and lectured the community on how to
A year ago, I officially moved to the city and started my new job. A year ago, Jorge Montes was arrested. A year ago, I met Jhonatan Vargas on a quick work trip to Barrancabermeja. A year ago, I visited the Canadian embassy and wrote letters to try to resolve our visa situation. Many things
The Septima is one of my favourite places in Bogota. Every Sunday, the street down to the centre comes alive with performers, vendors, llamas and even guinea pigs. The excitement is quadrupled when seen through the eyes of Costeños, however. A group of youth leaders from the Alta Moñtana came to the city for the
Español Last night a bomb exploded on the veranda But sounds of birds sweeten the earth this morning. I hear the fragrant trees, look in the garden, Find two silent clusters of ripe guavas. -Lam Thi My Da (translated from the Vietnamese by Martha Collins and Tay Dinh) In days of protests and surveillance, of
Para leer en Español When I first heard that Jorge had been arrested, I set up a shrine in my house. It reminded me that although I was not there physically, I could have a tiny piece of the coast in my home as a sign of the life and hope that exists all over
I was invited to share with Langley Mennonite Fellowship for Peace Sunday. Here are some of my thoughts. Forgiveness and kindness are political acts of peace, which I have had the privilege to witness in Colombia over the past two years. For many, especially in Colombia, the Montes de Maria region of the Caribbean coast
Español Prison missives, authored by Saint Paul to Martin Luther King Jr, have power. When the normal liberties of life have been stripped away, all that remains is the humble authority of conviction and the truth of an unbreakable spirit. From his maximum security prison, where he spent the first month sleeping on the cement
I´m sure you are all familiar with those email alerts or posts on your Facebook newsfeed from Syria, from Palestine, from Guatemala and even from Colombia calling on you to take action about some human rights crisis somewhere. I don’t know about you, but I often feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of crisis in
Anna L. Vogt 