Myra pushing Kelly as the delegation walked around San Josesito
delegation in the background - Kelly does NOT get taken to this part of the community and she was pretty dubious about her chair being able to make it
Eber - a kid with a *lot* of spunk and smarts
well, she was right - the campo is not exactly wheelchair friendly
kids make playhouses everywhere
my favorite sweetie, Sebastian
Myra with more of the constant cuteness
Zarah, with more of the same (Gian Carlo, on the left, seems to have clear opinions already about how he wants his hair)
the new cocoa processing machinery!
the community will be able to sell their cocoa beans for much more once they can process it a bit before sending it on
they haven't started using these yet, it's still in the process of being set up
but they have a buyer lined up in Germany
and they will be able to market their cocoa as both organic and fair trade - I would say supporting the peace community is beyond fair trade, could we call it peace trade?
Sebastian followed me everywhere
along with other kids of course
these are the kids going way out on thin branches to get green guayabas, something I loved to do when I was little
but even the green guayaba I tried had a worm in it! you have to get them reallly green I guess. not so yummy to me anymore.
the san josesito settlement looking down from the cocoa processing plant
FOR accompaniers, waiting outside the cocoa storage shed
Warren, delegate, with Sebastian wearing my sunglasses
I love this kid. we spent ages like this, dancing and singing together.
happened to stop by. lots of protocol hand shaking with us.
FOR transportation is a little less fancy than those white SUVs
stopping on our way up to La Union, another peace community settlement, to look over at where the landmines went off a few days before - hurting two soldiers
it was just over that bridge
on up the mountain
a break while we waited for the walkers to catch up - and yet again, turkeys randomly appeared
I started on horse because I was sickie, but the weird stirrups were killing my knees, and the heavy pack on my back was pulling me each which way on the steep and uneven path so I got off pretty fast. I know, whine, whine ... but really, it's just so impressive that this is some people's daily commute, usually carrying big bags with groceries, etc.
Myra, FOR accompanier
beauty ads always seem strange to me - but downright surreal as wall decorations deep in the monte
now that smile is real beauty!
part of the La Union settlement - looking over from the other side of the gulley
where we had lunch (beauty ads inside)
wiped out delegates
Myra, at work reading up on the recent visit with the general
the FOR house has a great poster from my other favorite org. small world.
one of the three "streets" in La Union (each a block long)
Julia, FOR accompanier
there are quite a few abandoned houses, like this one, in the community. it's a constant reminder that some folks have left and not come back.
meeting in the community kiosk
the community's cocoa beans out to dry (the roof you see on the right rolls back over them if it starts to rain)
Reg, delegate, climbing up to see the cocoa beans drying
another turkey
Paula
delegates tasting their first fresh cocoa fruit! YUM. but tastes nothing like chocolate. you take a pod and suck the sweet white stuff off very carefully - if you bite in to the seed it tastes yucky. it's the seed that gets dried on the roof. somehow it ends up tasting fab after drying and processing, but raw, you don't want to eat a cocoa seed. unlike green coffee seeds, which I love eating.
one of the tasks of cocoa growing is rubbing the moss off the trees, like this, because it shelters ants that eat the fruit
cocoa pods that aren't growing well or are diseased also need to be pruned (ok, whacked off with a machete)
walking in the cocoa fields - nothing is flat out here
J getting a coconut down for us to drink young cocoa water - yum!
yup, those things on that there tree are cocoa. that's where your chocolate comes from.
or rather, this cocoa coming to your home soon, we hope.
across the way we could see a deforested patch. that land does not belong to the community - but another community member told me how her land that she had to flee from, nearby, was deforested and was replanted with fast growing trees for fancy hardwood lumber.
yucca field
mango trees
an orange tree - and this time it's a grown up crawling way up there to get oranges for us - YUM! but strangely the acid on the peel of fresh oranges like that burns your lips like crazy after a bit of biting into cut slices.
the community cemetery. far too large, and maybe too overwhelming to take lots of care of.
shed for cleaning and preparing mini bananas
those mini-bananas, just starting to grow
the banana stalk after harvest
view from the steep banana field
the bananas are also organic
there is nothing like the mud out here.
one of the skills FOR accompaniers have to master is how to get through this sort of muck daily. getting your boot stuck in this stuff is no joke. avoided by careful balancing around the edges of the path.
and this was walking to the banana field on a drier day!
happily, the community also has recently signed an agreement a German solidarity buyer for their mini bananas. the German's need a higher quantity to make the container worth while, so the community is planting more.
those banana trees are just a few months old. from planting to first harvest is only 9 months!
the blue bags keep the bugs out
nitrogen fixing ground cover
that's the tool they use for pruning, resting up in a tree
if you look closely you can see the lines they've tied to keep the trees up straight
showing all the work involved
Paula set the pace on the way back, running up this hill!
easy for her
a natural fern tattoo!
we all got a kick out of this trick, and community members got a kick out of our kick with it.
Jenny, the ever tough FOR delegate
yup. my arm. I love this trick. we should all have fern tattoos.
the La Union settlement of the peace community
their new fish pond
Paula got itchy from rolling down the hill!
yet another good trick
beauty all around, inside and out
the papaya trees off the FOR back porch
one of the other "streets"
the school
still the school - three buildings! for this little community, that's impressive
poor guy
the community kiosk
helping Reg get on the horse
major production number .. M is about to get his hand stuck under Reg's bum!
M laughing at the whole affair
another "street"
this is where the delegation slept. the nuns actually left the community several years ago and this building gets used for guests like us.
kid waving goodbye to us. we had lots of exuberant goodbyes as we walked out of the settlement.
classic Zarah face
stopping for bolis (frozen juice in a little baggie - campo popsicle) on our way down.
this popsicle maaay have been what did me in (yes, I knew it was risky, but in that heat!), but then, everyone else ate one too.
aw
chickens with unusual roosting tastes
Moira! FOR accompanier
new houses that the Colombian government is building for folks not in the peace community as part of their "hearts and minds" campaign
another new house. notice the factory cut wood.
new community center (part of the same campaign) in the old town center that the peace community had to displace three years ago when the government put a militarized police post in town (making the town a target).
FOR accompaniers walking through that old town center
the first police post, right in the center of town (they later moved higher up where they could watch everyone better)
yet another government construction project - a la Guatemalan "model village" - if you toe the line and live in the militarized zone look what you get.
and a sign for another such program
back in San Josesito, two fab peace brigaders leading games with the kids at twilight (Peace Brigades provides part time accompaniment in the san josesito settlement of the peace community, while FOR does full time accompaniment up the hill in the la union settlement)
accompaniers playing for peace!
