Heroes do exist in Colombia 
The bill board showed a picture of a handsome man his late twenties in army helmet and fatigues, with war paint on his face, looking alert and earnest. It says “Even though I don’t know you I’d give up my life for you” and below that ‘Heroes do exist in Colombia’. This is part of a slick advertisement campaign being run by the Colombian military. I muse how the ‘winning hearts and minds’ strategy is not confined to Iraq alone.
It’s not that I don’t agree with the bill board - heroes certainly do exist in Colombia. However the heroes I met were not from the military but rather ordinary people, just like you and me. These everyday heroes stand up and speak out on the massive human rights abuses that they and their communities experience, and they work to bring communities together to respond to these.
One of these heroes was Clarissa. I met Clarissa when I went to visit one of the areas where displaced people are living, in the town of San Pablo, Bolivar. Clarissa showed me her home, a small wooden structure with two rooms, with some sparse furniture. She has benefitted from a housing scheme which Trócaire supports, where shacks made of plastic sheeting and sticks were replaced with a more secure structure of wood and a rain- proof metal roof.
Clarissa’s mission is to see her community organised. By organised she means that they work together and use the strength of their numbers. By setting up local committees they can share information and better monitor what is happening in their area regarding security.Working together they can advocate that their local authorities use the funds they have been allocated to improve the lives of the displaced communities in order to benefit the communities, rather than as backhanders to corrupt officials. However she explains that before organising, first the communities most essential needs have to be met, food and shelter. It no use to talk of community organising when people have nowhere to live or no food to eat.
It was only after spending a while with her that Clarissa also started to share some of her personal history with me. A few years back she was displaced – forced to flee her home with her children leaving everything behind. They fled after her husband was murdered by the paramilitaries. Nearly as an afterthought, she added how they had mutilated and dismembered his body so badly that she was not able to locate his remains to grant him a proper burial. During this, her son, now 12 years old, witnessed at first hand some horrific atrocities, and Clarissa is so worried about the serious trauma he is experiencing as he barely talks or plays with other kids and last year he tried to commit suicide.
I was deeply moved by Clarissa, and as happens to me often, I could not help wondering how I would react in her position, and would I have the same courage, endurance and faith. I asked Clarissa how she manages to stay motivated, how she fights on despite all she has been through. She smiles simply and says “I want my children to have the chances I never had”. Heroes do exist in Colombia and I had the privilege of meeting one.
Olive Moore is the Coordinator for Trócaire’s Governance and Human Rights Programme, based in Maynooth in Ireland.
