Go South, Young Woman

This past semester I took an exegesis class on 1 Peter. This brief letter is addressed to churches who suffer for doing good and following Christ. I became baffled by this notion of a church continuing its ministry in the midst of tremendous suffering and I tried to think of an example of such a church in our modern day context. The church in Colombia came to my mind. You may have heard about the situation in Colombia: 60 years of a corrupt government and civil unrest has devastated this nation. There continues to be a power struggle between the paramilitary groups and guerrilla forces, which has led to violence against civilians. Colombia has recently surpassed Darfur for having the most internally displaced people within its borders. The situation in Colombia has been complicated further by the Free Trade Agreement which is currently being considered by our nation’s leadership.

Amidst all of this violence and suffering, the churches in Colombia continue to serve and work toward peace. The PC(USA) has a partnership with the Iglesia Presbiteriana de Colombia (IPC) which has built a bridge of support for our brothers and sisters in Colombia. The Accompanier program was started in 2004 and since then there has been a constant PC(USA) presence in Colombia. I learned about this program during my first semester of seminary and had an overwhelming urge to dropout of school and go to Colombia. I resisted that temptation, but the desire to participate in this program has been overwhelmingly strong. I finally have an opportunity to go, even though it will mean delaying my anticipated graduation date. In August I will serve in the rural region of Urabá, Colombia. I'll be there with another young woman, Kelsey, who I met at the training in March. Our purpose for being there is threefold: to be a ministry of presence and support to the IPC, to keep an eye on what is happening in Colombia, and to offer our presence as a means of safety for the church workers who face potential violence. In the seven years this program has been going, there has never been an instance where an accompanier has been harmed and with God’s blessing, that record will continue!

I've started making preparations for the trip and as the departure date approaches, this dream is starting to feel more like reality.