We had our final meeting here in Bogota this morning, a meeting with members of the Teusaquillo Mennonite Church Peace and Justice Committee. I have been impressed with the commitment and knowledge of the people on this committee. They understand the situation from many different perspectives because of their professions. There are lawyers, psychologists and human rights leaders and social workers who bring their professional experience to the important work of accompanying displaced people, and I am humbled to think that we have something to offer them.
They wanted to hear especially about what we learned in Ecuador and what the possibilities were of finding safety there. Unfortunately, I do not think that what they heard gave them much hope for finding a safe place for the displaced people they want to relocate. In short we described the changing legal situation for Colombians there and also the challenges that Colombia refugees face in Quito. On the positive side, we talked about some of the partners there who are doing similar work that they are doing in Bogota.
As we talked, we began thinking about other options for finding safety for displaced people. It seems like there are other options that need to be checked out to find safety, which will hopefully take the form of a community of support somewhere safe. What that will look like, we do not know.
At the end of the meeting, Peter Stucky, the pastor of the church said, "Well, I guess we just need to find a way to bring peace to Colombia." To which I replied, "Ultimately, yes, that is right. When people ask me what my job is, I do not say that it is to bring more refugees to Canada. My goal is to see a world where there are no more refugees."
I do not make light of Peter's comments. He has lived in Colombia most of his life and has seen a lot of suffering. He knows better than me how difficult it is to bring peace to this situation. I also know that he knows our ultimate goal is to bring peace and he knows better than most how difficult that is. But I also know that he and many of the other people we meet with these days in Colombia and Ecuador also believe that there are things that we can do to bring peace to this situation. Everyone we talked to both in Bogota and Quito explained in great detail what the problems are, but there always seemed to be some level of hope that things could be better, not just for their own situation but for the whole region. While I can talk about bringing peace to this place, I think these people are finding the peace that is already here, and they are trying to nurture it so that it grows.
That is probably what Ed, Orlando and I need to take back to Canada with us. We need to help the people we are in contact with among MCC staff and the churches we relate to in Canada understand the difficulty of the situation here, the importance of the intervention by North Americans, and also that sense of hope that we work at promoting peace.
This trip has been a lot of hard work, and I have heard a lot of difficult stories, sometimes told through tears. There have of course been good times as well and I have really enjoyed spending time with these people. When I go home, I will try and bring these stories there, but also hold out the hope that together we can work to bring peace.
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