Blessed are the peacemakers…

Allow me to introduce you to some people:

My host in Bogota and a fellow CPT reservist, Alix Lozano, took me under her wing as if I were her daughter, helping me navigate the city of 8 million and the Colombian context in general.  Bless her.

Another CPTer, Jenny Rodriguez, kindly spent her precious time with me (she works and studies full time) to shepherd me from office to office, meeting with CPT partners and giving me an introduction to life on team in Colombia.  Bless her.

On April 9th I marched with over 1 million people for peace.  I marched with grandmothers and granddaughters, blacks, whites, and mestizos, heterosexuals and homosexuals, farmers and businessmen, Colombians and foreigners.  CPT accompanied over 400 people on a 24 hour bus ride from the province of Antioquia to Bogota in order to march for peace.  There was an energy for change.  Bless them.

Two campesino leaders from Las Pavas stayed at the CPT house the past two nights, meeting with a round table of organizations accompanying them in their fight for their land and sharing with me their stories of struggle.  We also shared breakfast, laughs, and hugs. Bless them.

One of my afternoons was spent at a meeting with the OFP (Popular Women’s Organization), where I met many women leaders, some who have had their lives threatened and have had to send their sons abroad for safety.  These women have no fear and refuse to give up.  Bless them.

Caldwell, Stuart, and Pierre, my cohorts in this wild thing we call advocacy and accompaniment for peace and social justice.  They work tirelessly to build relationships and raise awareness of the injustices that occur daily to the people of Colombia.  Bless them.

These are a few of the peacemakers I have met in the past couple of days.  May they be blessed as they strive to find creative ways to confront the atrocities they face and may they find strength in the Creator who has called them to this work.  May they be blessed.