* Travel Journal: Mampujan
Posted on April 26th, 2010 by Mike Shriver. Filed under Journal.
Yesterday was the first day of the Hearing. It was pretty rough going most of the day. We were awakened by news that some people had showed up with machetes and were threatening to take down some of the facilities. That incident turned out to be some of the youth in the community expressing a payment dispute, but it rattled some of the organizers and made for a frustrating scene. The event has so much to worry about coming from outside the community that it doesn’t need the infighting and quarrels of those inside the community.
The day was plagued with technical difficulties, issues regarding the distribution of meals and the terrible mud. The mud was slowly taken care of throughout the day, as trucks began arriving with the sand they should have laid down in the first place to take care of it. After the days events ended, the organizers had a big meeting during which they discussed major changes to the way food was distributed, that being the major hangup in the day. Far fewer people showed up today, and it is noticeably less chaotic. They have also managed to clear up the major technical issues, and there are a good number of people who seem to be legitimately attentive to the events in that courtroom in Bogota.
The last remnants of fear that I had from the weekend completely vanished yesterday. Perhaps the amount of nonstop work distracted me enough that I didn’t dwell on it. I think that seeing the community (try) to organize this event and plan through the threats gave me a feeling of implicit safety here. The community once again feels, to me, like a place where I am completely safe.