Day 4: The (he)art of working hard (Jann)

Happy Tuesday! We had a phenomenal day today with exercise, homemade meals, and physical labor! I’m going to dive right in to today’s experience with Jann Pallazhco (11).

Ms. Martinez: Remember when I said we had an early start for the day? Today’s wake up was at 4:30am for a 5:15am departure for Usme, a locality on the outer edge of Bogota. This was a 1.5 hour drive without traffic and further up the Andes mountains- about 8,500 feet up. Today’s activity was a first for the CRJ-CASFA exchanges. We met with a leader of the Corporacion Sembradores de Identidad, an organization of women farmers that are working to keep the land rural and away from government hands. So many lessons to learn from these people. The walk to the house was mega-humbling, taking us through mud down a hill for a difficult and eye-opening experience. It took ten minutes to get down to the house which doubled as a restaurant. WILD. We split into three groups that helped with the planting process by tilling, planting, transplanting, and watering various parts of the fields.

Here are some golden nuggets from the tour:

• Free range chickens and all other life coming from farms are raised with love and respect because that will give us better nourishment.
• Some might consider us poor but we don’t see it that way. We have land, family, food, and something to do every hour of the day. We are rich beyond riches.
• The government discounted our livelihood one too many times and we had to get “political.” They did a census and didn’t count half of the people in our area just to show they could take the land freely but we are here and we are staying.
• We are not “just potato farmers.” There is dignity in all work and our hands provide for others. It is our job to protect this land.

As we prepared to leave, it was physical as well as mental preparation for the walk back up to the bus. As chaperones, we had to decide between going up to the mountain to a laguna overlooking the whole city of Bogota or heading back down to avoid traffic from the planned protests. Lucky for us, we asked for a sign and the Lord gave us rain. We couldn’t make the one hour walk up a muddy hill and back down in the pouring rain so our decision was made and it was the right one! We left right at 1pm and found our way blocked at many turns. Street after street were announced closed and the bus ride turned into 2.5 hours. The biggest impact of the protests were ending our day early and had us on a hot bus in the rain for a while. Tomorrow will be more of the same.

Pray for the people of Bogota fighting to make change for each other. Pray for the students affected by the government involvement and their strength to keep fighting. Pray for those participating in this exchange trip to find growth in each activity we experience without wishing for what we couldn’t do.

Jann:

The start was pretty rough for everyone this morning. We all got up early to get on the bus that would pick us up at 5:30 am. When we got on the bus, we were greeted by our thrilled Colombian partners who were fully awake. I honestly don’t know where they get their energy, but I’m certainly envious of it. The plan for today was to go to the rural area of Colombia, which I was hyped up for until I realized the bus ride was going to be two hours long. As we were on our way there, I thought to myself how I was going to be able to lay back and sleep for two hours more. This was until our partners had all types of dances for us to learn. Dances that would require me to transform into animals such as a baby chicken to a joyful duck.

Once we arrived there, we walked down all sorts of hills to get to the house/restaurant/tourist area of an amazing woman named Luz. There we ate breakfast that many of us described as a cleansing food because of how satisfying it felt to eat fresh vegetation. From there, we were divided into groups where some of us would go for a tour, or to the Colombian farming land to plant. This experience gave me the opportunity not only connect to the Colombian city, but also to its founding past. This had a major impact on me because of how much strength and love these farmers have to keep their ancestors’ stories alive. Luz talked about how it’s been more than twenty years now that she and other women have been fighting against the government to keep their land. She explained how the government hears their voices, but are so careless about it. A result of that was for her and various other women to come together and peacefully fight back. There we also ate lunch which was inexplicably good, making me leave my plate licked clean. We weren’t able to stay there and do other activities because of the protesting that would take place in the afternoon.

Although we didn’t spend as much time there as we had planned, I was still able to have some memorable experiences. A couple of these was as simple as eating eggs for breakfast. It just struck me how different and delicious the food was compared to what I eat at home in the U.S. It’s a big difference having farm fresh food compared to processed food we normally have. An event that connected Colombia to my Ecuadorian culture was when I picked the shovel and struck it down on the moist soil. It’s surprising how much I can connect to Colombia through not only the language, but traditions. A realization I was able to make was how I personally am not as grateful as I should be for the food I have. Today I have learned how much patience and dedication is needed for food to be produced that I simply obtain from running to a market.

On the way back I wish I could say that our ride home was of all of us sleeping, but I can’t. The bond that each of us have created with our partners have become so close that at times I don’t even feel like I’m not home because of how much they make it feel like home. When we got back to the convent we’re staying at, some of us went to the mall near us while others stayed to recover from our bonding journey. When we all reunited, we ate some ridiculously good food once again and ended our day with our daily reflection. The reflections were about the various topics we saw in this magnificent experience we got in the agricultural parts of Colombia.  To summarize the message I got from today was how the people here describe themselves as not rich but also not poor. The family, food, and will to pursue their dreams is what makes them rich by heart.

Hasta luego,

Jann (and all of Colombia Crew)