Interview With A Returned Peace Brigades International Volunteer - Colombia, Part 3

By Kate | Permalink | No Comments | March 23rd, 2007 | Trackback

Can you describe any incidents or moments that stick in your mind?
There are so many moments of pure happiness; just everyday things like drinking coffee with one of the grandmothers in one of the communities and having a laugh, or watching the sun go down over the river as we head home in the speed boat.

But the sad moments are all too plentiful too. I remember accompanying community members from the San José Peace Community to the 3-month commemoration of the massacre which took place on 21st February 2005. It took us seven hours to get to the house, by mule and on foot, climbing higher and higher through the trees until we finally reached the little wooden house where three months earlier a family had been murdered. When I got there it was impossible not to be struck by how beautiful the place was – perched high up in the mountains, flowers still growing in old tin pans in the crooks of trees. But this was where three adults and two children, aged 6 years and 18 months old, had been killed, and the signs were still there. All of the furniture was tipped upside down in the house, and clothing lay outside trampled into the mud. A child’s shoe lay on the front porch, and there was the baby’s cot, empty.

It can be really hard at moments like that, but at the same time you know you’re making a difference: your presence is allowing people to claim back their memories and their history, and to demand justice. That’s the key to international accompaniment; lending your presence so people can stand up and demand that their rights be respected.

Has your involvement in PBI changed your outlook?
I don’t feel like my outlook was radically changed – I knew what I believed in before I went out – it’s more that now I have real-life experience of seeing things with my own eyes. It makes you want to do everything that you can once you get back home to tell people about it, to try and gather more support for the people you’ve spent your time accompanying.

Coming home after such an intense experience – what’s that like?
It can be hard coming home, because it’s such an intense experience, and because lots of what you’ve seen doesn’t make for casual pub conversation…but at the same time it’s really nice to see friends and family again. I guess it’s a long process of re-integration, so you have to be prepared for it, and just take it gently and remember to go easy on yourself for a while…

Once, more, I’d like to thank June for taking the time to do this interview – read Part 1 and Part 2 for the full story.

To find out more about PBI, check out the Volunteer Logue Profile of PBI or the PBI site itself.

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