World Urban Cafe Tour 2005: Colombia

International Day Against Violence Against Women

2005-11-25T16:50:00.000-08:00

We landed in Quibdo on Thursday afternoon after flying over dense jungle
forests from Medellin. We were sad to leave Medellin and Jorge’s family who
were amazing hosts for us during our stay. It feels like we’ve been here
for a year, yet it’s only been five days so far.

Today around the world people are joining a circle to help create awareness
and advocate for eliminating violence against women. We have just learned
that the busses coming with women from all over the country for this
gathering called “Movilizacioin Nacional De Mujeres Al Choco” arrived at
6:30 am into Quibdo. About 1,000 women are coming from Cauca, Putumayo,
Antioquia and many other departments throughout Colombia are now getting
ready to be part of the programming for November 25th organized by “La Ruta
Pacifica de Las Mujeres”. It’s expected that more than 2,000 women will be
part of the events in solidarity with the women of Choco who have been
victims of abuses from different armed groups and the different patterns of
violence that disrespect human and women dignity.

Last night while we were waiting the busses that were being delayed by bad
conditions on the road, we were told the sad story of a young woman from
Quibdo, 21, who had been raped, cut and burned by a man who worked at “La
Fiscalia” (Prosecutor office), just eight days ago!!! Today during the
programming the women from “La Ruta” will be demanding justice for this
case, the women here have told that even though there are many cases of
sexual exploitation in the Capital city of Choco, Quibdo, people are
silenced to this issue. Due to the displacement from communities and vast
poverty, the rates of young women being involved in sex trade keeps
increasing.

We stand in solidarity with all women who face oppression and degradation of
the right to a safe and secure livelihood.

Until the next blog, signing off…

Well Rested

2005-11-22T12:08:00.000-08:00

Okay, I think we are feeling a bit more rested. Jorge went and got his lost
bag back from the airport. And the rest of us, well we caught up on some much
need sleep! When we started our day it was sunny and beautiful. And then it
got rainy very quickly. There was thunder and lightning. Because most of
the houses are on plateau like mountain side the water was rushing down the streets taking anything that was in its way.

We visited Picacho. This org usesmedia as a way to engage community by making films as well as doing film festivals. Overall the org has worked in community since 1994 using the money¹s from the participatory budgeting fund. From this they have developed a 10 year action plan that they are currently working towards in partnership with 5 other neighborhoods of communal six. We were encouraged to share more about our indigenous peoples and through dialogue we found many commonalities and an overall understanding of each other. We believe it is necessary to demystify Canada as it is for them to demystify Colombia!

LaQuesta is becoming more and more comfortable interacting with the other children and has been gone the majority of the time we are in meetings. Very cool! Communication is more than verbal it is seeing, touching, feeling. Many of the participants are really interested in the Habitat Jam and it looks like there will be quite a few people logging on...fingers crossed!
Still working on how communities with no access to internet can participate.

Tomorrow we are doing a large World Urban Café which Le Red Juvenil has put a call out to all organizations in Medellin.

Mobile World Urban Cafe!

2005-11-22T12:00:00.000-08:00

Today we have created a mobile World Urban Café tour! Wow, what a way to
mobilize in community and to bridge together different barrios that haven¹t
had dialogue. We began our day in Esperanza. We visited a community network
organization called CORFASO Corporacion Familiay Sociedad - that worked with
children, and families. This organization set an example of including all
aspects of the family unit. They also had a social enterprise by making
children games and puzzles as well as a youth driven newspaper. CORFASO is
funded through a recent municipal/local development where community can engage
in budgeting issues called Participatory Budget a model taken from Brazil,
where community figures out a percentage of taxes going towards military and
withholds this for community development purposes. REALLY COOL! This
community, which CORFASO is located within has a community youth ambassador.
She spoke about their youth driven newspaper project and talk about her role
in the community. She is eleven years old.

After this, we traveled to the local youth group at the library..Here, the
youth shared their programs of combining arts and music to combat and evade
drugs, violence and poverty. The age group of the youth were 9 to 28. One aspect of the arts was a theatre group using a model called Theatre of the
Oppressed. All of their costumes and gear were made by them. They were very
creative and extravagant. They also used stilt walking and acrobat
performances. This is proven to be an effective way of communicating youth
issues, and dissecting oppression and violence. Some exciting news they
shared was that the city was now paying for them to perform in the streets of
Medellin.

A cool aspect of this World ³Mobile² Urban Café was that everything that was either purchased or needed was provided by the communityŠ.we were giving back.
Nothing went to businesses or corporations, everything was filtered back into
community! All aspects of our day, food, bus rental, driver, guides.

Our bus load got larger with more people as we visited more community groups.
Super cool. We had kids and elders, sharing songs, talking about places and
community altogether on this bus! Some of this children have never left their
barrios, so it was such an honour to experience with them, other barrios. So
for all of us on the bus, it was a first time meet and greet.

Our final stop of the day was with a organization called APIC. These youth rocked. They performed traditional Colombian dance, song, modern arts, theatre and live music. It was like four hours of Jammin¹ Colombian style!!!
Later, we all were able to discuss some common issues and share our
experiences and food. I think for us, it¹s been really amazing to see how
important youth and families are in these Colombian communities. Children and
youth are visible everywhere we go. There is this unexplainable life and
energy amidst the poverty, violence and displacement. We have learned from
this short time in Medellin that community participation at all levels is
essential and important to the growth and health of communities. The Seventh
Generation prophecy is alive and well in Medellin.

First Meeting

2005-11-22T11:49:00.000-08:00

Okay, now we are off to our first encounter of meeting with community
groups,
Le Red Juventad!!! This group is awesome. Upon arriving at the youth
driven
group, they are just finishing their ³Fair Trade² event for the day!!! Lots
of fresh fruit, crafts and other such things!!! They invite us into the
centre that has many young people buzzing around, fixing things, painting,
working on computers, organizing events and getting ready to greet us. Many
of the young people seem eager to talk. They have organized these two
poets
to open our dialogue session, very cool the one woman closes with a dance
performance representing peace. We start with intro¹s and it is great to
finally share and learn how young people are organizing and working in their
community. Many of the youth share what their responsibilities are and they
are many. The organization is made up of programs that help address youth
rights and responsibilities, conscription issues of military and youth, a
large focus on non violence and ways of building peaceful resolution skills
(an example of this is educating and training young kids by using a form of
cooperative games), as well as developing sustainability through social
entrepreprise.
The organization doesn¹t operate out of a hierarchy model, the executive
director is only used for paper work of the society. The organization
operates out of a consenus model of a executive committee, made up of 15
people that run the individual projects and program. La Red works as a
network with 5 other youth organizations throughout Medellin. This is the
group that will be hosting us for our time in Medellin for the next 4 days.

2005-11-22T11:36:00.000-08:00

It's 5am and we are up getting ready to leave for the airport to catch our flight
to Medellin. We had our first taste of Colombian food last night at this
little restaurant bar in our hotel; enyappes, beans, chorizo, queso, and yes
Colombian Rum! Stan, Daniele and LaQuesta's stomachs are adjusting. LaQuesta
is still sick. When arriving at the airport to get our flight LaQuesta gets
sick again and misses the bag; high stress between her getting sick,
checking our entire luggage and getting on our flight for 8:30am. We made it on the
flight and it is packed and super hot! This does not help LaQuesta at all.
After taking off we are all calmer and LaQuesta enjoys looking out at
Colombia's landscape. It is full of rolling green hills and valleys. It is
such a clear day and any clouds that are in the sky are big, fluffy and
white.

This was an enjoyable thirty minutes to Medellin. Daniele and Stan have
started to notice the language barrier from being left alone outside the
airport while Jorge try's to locate his *missing* bag. Taxis are a prominent
business in all of Colombia and the job is competitive and a serious one at
that. The cabs are little but our driver managed to get four big pieces of
luggage and two crates in the trunk...fantastico! Another crazy cab ride down
the side of a mountain, it is about an hour ride from the airport to Jorge's
family's house in the outskirts of Medellin.

Jorge's family greet us and the family catches up with him. They take us on a tour of the house - it's very family-oriented place, aunts, uncles, grandparents as well as avocado trees,
lemon trees and chickens and hens, what a tropical place!!! The view of the city
from the house is spectacular, you can see all the barrios and the city
from here, as well as the smog and pollution.

Okay, now we are off to our first encounter of meeting with communitygroups,Le Red Juventad!!! This group is awesome. Upon arriving at the youth-driven group, they are just finishing their Fair Trade event for the day!!! Lots of fresh fruit, crafts and other such things!!! They invite us into the centre that has many young people buzzing around, fixing things, painting,working on computers, organizing events and getting ready to greet us. Many of the young people seem eager to talk. They have organized these two poets to open our dialogue session, very cool the one woman closes with a dance performance representing peace. We start with intro's and it is great to finally share and learn how young people are organizing and working in their community. Many of the youth share what their responsibilities are and they are many. The organization is made up of programs that help address youth rights and responsibilities, conscription issues of military and youth, a large focus on non violence and ways of building peaceful resolution skills(an example of this is educating and training young kids by (using a form of cooperative games), as well as developing sustainability through social entrepreprise.The organization doesn't operate out of a hierarchy model, the executive director is only used for paper work of the society. The organization operates out of a consenus model of a executive committee, made up of 15 people that run the individual projects and program. La Red works as a network with 5 other youth organizations throughout Medellin. This is the group that will be hosting us for our time in Medellin for the next 4 days. November 20, 2005 Today we have created a mobile World Urban Café tour!

In Country

2005-11-22T11:32:00.000-08:00

Waiting for our plane has already given us a taste of Colombian people. Our
plane is a big one and almost full. Children and families everywhere,
buzzing with excitement very different from our flight to Toronto. It is as if
everyone on the flight knows each other. LaQuesta is very good but the
flight is six hours long and the last hour she starts to get cabin fever. Our
landing in Bogota is fantastic and everyone cheers very cool.

It is an instant climate change after leaving the plane. It has an effect on LaQuesta. As we approach customs we realize there are three flights ahead of us and the crowd is
massive. There is no order and everyone is obviously tired and wants to be
done with this part. LaQuesta starts to vomit and it is a big scene...there
is no air and it is hot. Everyone clears the way and we move quickly towards
the front of the line and Jorge explains the situation to the customs agent and
we get through instantly.

After getting our luggage walking to the outside there is a huge crowd of people, it looks sorta like it would at the front of the stage at a rock concert. We pay extra money to get a van to take us right away to our hotel in Bogota. I forgot how crazy people drive in Latin America!
away to our hotel in Bogota. I forgot how crazy people drive in Latin America!

In Toronto

2005-11-22T11:30:00.000-08:00

Today we started our voyage to Colombia. Our first stop is Toronto. LaQuesta
hasn't been on a plane since she was two years old. She is very excited!
Our ride to Toronto was smooth and we are ready to catch some zzz¹s before
flying to Bogota in the morning.

Trip Brief

2005-11-16T12:26:00.003-08:00

From left: Daniele, Jorge, Stan and Laquesta

Trip Objective:
The objective of our visit is to support diverse communities, organizations, individuals and members of civil society in general to participate in lead-up activities to the World Urban Forum 2006, principally the Habitat JAM (www.habitatjam.com).

The Habitat Jam, hosted by the Canadian Government, is a web based “online consultation” where suggestions and reflections on urbanization issues will be gathered, organized and injected into the agenda of the World Urban Forum 2006, which will be held in Vancouver, Canada in June of 2006. Our purpose is to work with marginalized communities, who may not have access to internet technology, to represent their ideas at the habitat JAM, and therefore to ensure that this input is included in the WUF 2006 agenda.

The Internet has been able to connect people from all over the world but some communities are still excluded due to access to technology issues. This “technology gap” between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres causes the ideas and experiences of many communities to be discounted, depriving “official” international planning bodies of the wealth of experience and ideas held in developing communities, and contributing to feelings of alienation and distrust.

To widen and democratize the range of contributions to the Habitat JAM, we have been gleaning opinions and solutions through community processes called “World Urban Cafes”, consultation workshops that use dialogue and inquiry methods that are inclusive of culture, arts, and various other means of interactive communication.

World Urban Cafes
The World Urban Café JAM Session conversations will be about issues/themes that will be addressed during the WUF 06. The themes that are already selected for the agenda of WUF 06 are:
1. Improving the Lives of Slum Dwellers
2. Sustainable Access to Water
3. Environmental Sustainability
4. Safety and Security
5. Finance and Governance
6. Humanity: The future of our Cities

We believe organizations will want to expand on these issues or propose new ones; the community organizations taking on organizing the “WUC” with us decide the themes they want to talk about around urbanization. After this there will be community champions connecting to the Jam where most of the “official” discussion will be happening.

Tour Stops
We will be holding Cafes and meetings in the following communities:
Bogota, Cali, Medellin and Cauca - more locations may be arranged after our arrival in Colombia.

Crew
The facilitators visiting Colombia have diverse experience and knowledge:

Danièle Hurley is from the Cree and Métis Nations. She is the proud mother of a 5 year old girl LaQuesta. Danièle is the Director of Programs and Services at PEERS Vancouver (Prostitutes, Empowerment, Education and Resource Society) which offers exiting and recovery programs for sex workers. Danièle Hurley works to increase public awareness and understanding of sexual exploitation and sex work for the past four years.

Stan Williams is the National Indigenous Youth Advisor with the Knowledgeable Aboriginal Youth Association (KAYA). Stan is from the Ketegaunseebee First Nation and Osweken First Nation Reserves of Ontario and has worked in the non-profit Aboriginal Youth community for the past 6 years, advocating for the rights, safety and health of Indigenous communities. Stan Williams was coordinator of Redwire Magazine, Canada’s first-ever indigenous youth-run magazine that promotes social justice and enables aboriginal youth to tell their stories in their own voices.

LaQuesta is Cree and Trinidadian, she is a 5 year old girl taking this trip for a photography project: documenting her experiences in Colombia from a child’s perspective.

Jorge E. Salazar, is the Co-Coordinator of the Ecumenical Task Force for Justice in the Americas, a human rights organization that raises awareness about human rights in Latin America and connects people from the North and South. Jorge has worked with different youth driven organizations and programs as a Community Developer and facilitator, he has worked mainly with immigrant and refugee youth, among others communities in BC. Jorge has also been involved connecting members of civil society groups from Canada to Colombia and Latin America for the last 5 years.

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2005-11-16T12:12:00.000-08:00

Is this blog working? Yes!