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A child hits my door...
I just got up; it was 5 a.m…all was quiet; it seemed it was a peaceful night…I turned on the light of my room and I immediately heard somebody hitting the door of our house…I felt afraid, anxious…immediately my sisters came to see what happened…it was a small boy seated at the door, shivering of the cold, and with his big, dark eyes in panic… we understood it at once…we readied ourselves as quickly as we could, and left with him…There, in his house, at the floor where his parents were….they were assassinated.
A profound silence enveloped our town…the afternoon was sad and all of us marched with a white flag through the streets of the town; our walk was the voice of protest against these criminal acts that ended two lives, and which each day is breaking hearts painfully…
After the funeral, we went to meet with the commission on justice and peace, with the mayor and a group of persons committed in the defence of human rights…We will begin a process of conscientization in the town…we will let you… ( from a place in the world...) |
I am left without weapon…thus I go to the “only medicine”…
The clock showed the time at 4:15 in the morning of 1st August 2011. A loud bang followed by an impressive shooting interrupted our rest. Each one from his bedroom only implored the mercy and protection of God, as the shots were felt so close to our house...silence invaded the dawn…and we only managed to ask ourselves: what will happen???
With the light of day, one can sense the hustle and bustle of people, but nobody knew anything, nobody saw anything. We had no other way but to implore the Good Lord for his protection. That was when the morning prayer became a fervent supplication that violence may cease and that our faith and that of the people will not fail.
As the hours passed by and when going to our places of work, we learned something at last: a grenade was thrown at some checkpoint of the police in the town’s main park. Fortunately, it did not cause great damage, but fear was felt all around…the anxiety…and now what? We do not know…we can only pray and hope for the goodness of the Father. (In a small town of Colombia) |
Where have they taken him?
On 8th of August 2011 I came to the school where I work as a teacher. One of my colleagues approached me and with a face of anguish told me: “Sister, I am in pain, my son, my son…”. “What happened to your son?” I asked. She replied: “Sister, I will tell you something…my son and his friend were taken by the terrorists and said: `you are of the military.´ They were tied, crushed to the ground…but where? When? Where is he at this moment? I talked with these men (guerrilla). My son cried, begging them not to kill them but to inquire…call my father, he is a professor. Thanks be to God, there was a telephone signal in the place where they were, and my son was permitted to call me…You can imagine my anguish while I went to the place where they were captured…inside the forest…but I confronted them telling them: you are wild animals, risking that I be killed…Look, my son and his companion are doctors, newly graduated; they are visiting their families these days. I untied them and took them…they were so shocked.
Situations like these are present in Colombia among the youth who, after finishing their high school, go to other cities to become professionals, but in returning back become strangers in their village due to physical change, making them vulnerable.
This is the moment where one feels the sadness…an immense powerlessness. In silence we pray that God may give us an attitude of listening. One has to prepare oneself to keep listening and to support those who come to share their troubles with us…sometimes fear overwhelms us…but shall we allow injustice to reign?
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Estallida…
It is an hour away from one town to another. A stretch of road is in bad condition before reaching one, as those people buried explosives in the middle and covered it again…when a military car pas ses, the load is activated and the goal is achieved: the carwas shattered and its passengers totally smashed…according to stories, after many hours, they had to check if there were more explosives. They reached the place and what they found was chilling: a hole so big that it took 50 truckloads of stones to fill it…they found a leg several meters away…parts of the bodies were found stuck on trees…in the middle of the vegetation, fingers were found…parts of human being, our brothers and sisters…tears well up in my soul, a deep powerlessness and pain.
The neighbouring towns were paralyzed; there were no classes; transportation was suspended; terror was all over…Only God…only He knows the way…this happened on the last week of July 2011.
Our children...
It was all chaos and confusion in the town last week. You could hear murmurs of people at every corner…pain, anger and anguish were drawn on each face, in every expression. What happened? Why is there so much talk? It is an unbelievable thing: a young man, a collaborator in the parish, well inserted in many of our activities, with a good position in public administration, has sexually abused a young 10 year old boy…and apparently it was not the first time. For fear his parents kept silent; now everybody knew. The police went to take him from his house to the station. The press was there to keep record of all the harsh words against him; meanwhile the boy was crying alone in his house…he did not want to go out from his house. He did not want any body to talk to him or ask him anything. Amid this confusion, we had a meeting with the catechists and a psychologist to guide and help us find a way to support this family, this child, and to make some courses on prevention, on awareness, and to strengthen again and again the value of a human person.
It is painful…words are lacking to express our confusion…Prayer has strengthened us during these days… |
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