mikeShriver

We were halfway into breakfast this morning, when a truck backed up to the house and the house exploded with activity. The hammocks were taken down, and a stead stream of men started bringing five-gallon bottles of water into the room, and stacking them against the wall. It must have been a rude surprise for Raul’s father, who had stepped into the shower while the house was quiet with the sleepy pace of our breakfast routine, and emerged, wearing only his towel, to a house full of activity.

The delivery men, having now finished stacking their product, are engaged in a lively conversation with Juana, newly arrived, regarding what I can only assume to be payment issues (although, with my understanding of this place, it could be anything, including the negotiations for a glass of water for the parched deliverymen on their way out).

Our cinnamon rolls have now finished rising and are now in the final stages of baking, the crowd has dispersed, and Juana, busy with the concerns of the looming event, has been whisked away to deal with some other aspect of planning, or unexpected mishap.

The “Audience” is being watched with interest by human rights groups, the Colombian government, and other displaced communities as it is the first time anything like this has been attempted for a displaced community in Colombia. Depending on the success of the event, it will be a flagship for other communities who wish to repeat it’s significance, or it may be seen as a warning that these communities are not equipped to organize events of this magnitude and importance.

So far, planning and execution has gone far from smoothly. The community has spent a good deal of time cleaning up, clearing empty lots and attempting to make itself more presentable, but the logistics and planning present huge challenges for Mampujan and Sembrandopaz to overcome.

The event will host 1,000 people, and will have to provide one lunch and two snacks per person, per day, for a total of 30,000 meals served over the ten-day event. Sembrandopaz has decided to try to keep as much of the government’s grant money in the community as possible by hiring from the community as much as possible. This means that the women of Mampujan will be responsible for all of the food preparation for 1,000 people. Physical labor in setting up and running the event will also be pulled from the community here. Unfortunately, this means that a significant portion of the people that this event is intended to serve, may be unavailable for the actual video conferences, because they will be occupied serving the event.

The community has been given very little time to prepare for this event. I think that Sembrandopaz has known about it for a while, but Torin was informed it was happening in the time since I have gotten here, and the community has been feverishly making plans for about a week, now. With only a couple days to go, the project is facing miscommunications regarding money, and ill-conceived ideas regarding the mud control at the soccer field, which is the largest outdoor space the community has to set up tents in. Hoping to prevent the field from becoming a gigantic muddy mess, several tons of dirt have been trucked in and spread over the field. Everyone apparently failed to take note that one of the principal ingredients in mud is dirt. One good rainfall will hasten the mess that they sought to prevent. There has been much talk of changing the order of dirt to sand, but trucks of dirt keep arriving and pouring more on, and a storm is brewing on the horizon.

For more information on Mampujan and it’s displacement, see the video Torin has posted here. The video was made before his arrival in Mampujan. Torin has added English subtitles.

Tags: South America, Travel Journal