What does peace mean to you?

I spent last night in San Vincente, a rural area about an hour from Medellin, in a finca owned by Marcela's family. With her brother-in-law Carlos and four other Colombian-Cowboys, I went on a late night horseback ride. Galloping through the night, passing around aguadiente, and dismounting to pop into rural bars, was another totally new experience. The next morning the kids there, Samuel, Valentina, and Simon, gave me a very thorough tour of the ranch; from the tree house, to the army bunker, to the absurdly large pig, to the parrots who bite if you get to close, to the 'men's club' including a thrown and dentist chair where the older men sit around and drink aguadiente, to the far out rocks that mark the end of the land, and then we played 'Uno Spin' according to the house rules, which means not actually playing Uno, just spinning the spinner and doing what it says, and some game where you kick a bottle and hide. After lunch we went to hang out a bit at the finca of Gloria and Olga, who are working with 'Mujeres que Creen.' I'll be returning there for the final day of the project on the 26th to participate and lead a few exercises. There is a large model statue of liberty on their lawn, a gorgeous garden, art everywhere, and they have hundreds of plastic cups each with a different type of herb inside for an art/ecology/ethnobiology project they are working on.

On Friday, I was privileged to participate in part of an international conference, where people involved in community development projects from all across Latin America were convening to discuss their work and ideas for collaboration. This is a four day process, but since I just returned from Santa Marta I was only able to jump in on this day. The morning consisted of group forums in the Museum of Antioquia. One of the younger actors from Nuestra Gente, Joes, was there representing his community, and helped me around a bit. For lunch, each person was to go out into the street, and invite someone they didn't know in for lunch. I found this really lovely. Probably 150 people from the conference, each spent lunch with a stranger from Medellin. It was a long lunch line.

Then, they split up into small groups, and each had a chance to see a barrio of the city intimately, and a preview of the various community oriented projects going on in that particular area. Comuna 13, or San Javier, is known as one of the other major conflict areas in Medellin. Only a couple years back, the army conducted a massive raid to seize the area, because previously it was an area they couldn't even go into and had little to no control over. I chose to go with this group because it is one of the areas of the city I haven't become familiar with. We stopped into more cultural centers than I can remember the names of. They have a very nice new library there, like in Santo Domingo, also close to a metro station. The pride the area guides had talking about these sites clearly indicated the change they represent for the community.

On the bus to El Corazon, some rap artists from the community gave a freestyle sampling. We walked from Corazon to Saltada, where we watched a presentation from 'Son Bata,' an African dance, pacific-style music, and rap based organization. Read an article about them here: Con Son Batá, África suena en la Comuna 13. They have their own building, and they rehearse and present on the rooftop. The leader of their group was killed in July, but they did not talk about this. They showed their dedication and persistence, and it was clear just from the dynamic on that rooftop that this place is like a home for many of the young people there.

There were number of other interesting organizations, with different methodologies, but all seeming to stem from the idea that cultural programs decrease violence in communities. One of the rappers, after a discussion at a nursery school type program we went to, got the group of kids repeating a chorus of "los ninos, somos el futuro." A Brazilian in the group who started a major community center in Sao Paulo, asked the children, and many people we encountered, what 'peace' means to them, and he jotted down responses in his notebook.

I'm going to try something different. I don't feel like rambling my thoughts down like usual. Please leave a comment responding to that question: "What does 'peace' mean to you?"