CPTnet
November 20, 2003
COLOMBIA: Accompaniment with a Funny Nose

by Robin Buyers

[Note: A photo illustrating the following release may be found on the front
page of the CPT website: www.cpt.org.]

"Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will
never enter the kingdom of heaven."

Matthew 18:3

Some of the children aren't quite sure what to make of us. Boatloads of
armed men are certainly more common on the Opon River than boatloads of
clowns. It's Halloween, and we're visiting house to house in our
accompaniment zone, wearing funny noses and fake glasses, face paint and
silly hats.

Many of the younger children stare as we disembark; some even hide. But
their older brothers and sisters laugh, and so do their parents. Before
long, we've got parents and children wearing wigs, hats or noses--all three.

Then we form a circle. We might sing a song about the toad family, or one
based on the vowel sounds. Afterwards, we present each child with a book on
the Peace Pilgrim, who spent twenty-eight years crisscrossing the United
States, talking to everyone she met about peacebuilding.

Everyone waves to us as we continue our own pilgrimage up the river,
singing.

But, suddenly, unexpectedly, it's not children waving, but four armed men,
wearing the red, blue and yellow armbands of the FARC guerrilla. We head
for the bank and disembark, some of us with hats and funny noses still in
place.

For the next hour, we talk with two of the soldiers, while the others keep
watch. They talk about their many years with the guerrillas, and of the
circumstances that led them to choose such a life, of the lack of social
equality they have themselves experienced and that they see all around them.

We in turn tell them that we believe that social equality cannot come from
the barrel of a gun. "After all," we say, "What can social equality mean
to someone who is dead?" We talk about our vision of a world without arms,
and point to our hats and noses as we describe our hope that Colombia could
be part of such a world, solving problems creatively.

Before we leave, we invite them to put down their guns and join us in
prayer. Two soldiers say yes, one even agreeing to put on a clown hat,
complete with yellow smiley faces. Together, we bow our heads.

For a moment, we become like children again, holding hands in a circle.