Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) cannot continue to walk beside peacemakers in all our current project sites without more donations and people to do the work.

CPT works in zones of lethal conflict. These are valleys of dry bones like the one that the prophet Ezekiel saw in his vision (See Ezekiel 37.) In those very valleys, we also witness the restoration to life.

3 February
While the team was taking an afternoon off at a lake, an army truck arrived. Soldiers walked through the restaurant and along the beach, taking young men who could not show proof of their military service. Team members expressed concern to the soldiers about this recruitment practice. One soldier told them, "If these young men are exempt from military duty because they are students, then they should be home studying." Colombian law requires the military to issue a citation to appear at the battalion to clarify one's military service status prior to any detention. 

17 February
CPTers accompanied an action of youth organizations responding to the twenty-five murders in Barrancabermeja in 2008. On signal, twenty-five youth who were mingling throughout Parque de la Vida, fell to the ground, with red liquid on their shirts representing blood symbolizing the dead. Another group entered the park singing, "Death came to look for me, and I told it, Stop! Respect me!" The members then traced a chalk outline around each body, helped the person up, and placed a candle in the middle of each silhouette.

The Philippine government calls it Balikatan (Shoulder-to-shoulder). The U.S. Military calls it "Joint Military Exercises." This year the code name is "Operation Taal" (name of a volcano near Manila.) Ostensibly, the exercises are an opportunity for 6,000 U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force personnel, to "train" Philippine military personnel and police how to handle an "emergency such as a volcanic eruption." Very few are convinced by this deception, however.