Last August, I graduated from Christian Peacemaker Teams Training as a Reservist. I have committed to spending one month of each of the next three years on team in Colombia! The following is taken from the CPT:Colombia page on cpt.org:
"We (CPT: Colomiba) accompany community processes and grassroots organizations who embody nonviolent resistance as a tool of defense against the violent framework that dominates politics, economics, and culture. The Colombian people continue to suffer a widespread threat of violence from legal and illegal armed actors after more than 60 years of internal conflict and civil war. Since the mid-50s, social movements that challenge the power structures have been specifically targeted and suppressed by the government. Our team travels regularly to be present with small farming and mining communities in the rural areas of the Magdalena Medio region, caught in the crossfires of decades of war and more recently, hyper-development. In the city of Barrancabermeja, we also partner with local human rights organizations in their efforts to highlight the effects of a conflict that has permeated the urban social structures through organized crime, micro-trafficking and displacement from rural areas. Our call to peacemaking means living, working, and worshiping in community, drawing from a variety of spiritual traditions that ground us in a common goal for peace."
By contributing to my personal fundraising goal - you are joining me in the work of CPT or ECAP (Equipo Cristianos de Accion por la Paz) as they are known in Colombia. You are traveling with me.
You are accompanying our partners on the ground with me.
You are much a part of this as I am.
Thank you so much for contributing to this fundraiser and participating in the ongoing mission of Christian Peacemaker Teams!
