After a four-hour jeep ride through thick forest and passing over waterfalls, the valley of Blanquita-Murrí, Frontino, Antioquia opened up in front of us. Wide forests and grasslands surrounded the main settlement of the high mountain plain, which is the hub for the...
Emily Schmitz
Perspectives on Peace: Fabiola from Santa Rosa de Guayacán
In early August, we were able to travel with our partner Communities Constructing Peace in the Territories (CONPAZ) to Bajo Calima and the San Juan River, in the rural region outside of Buenaventura. There we heard from various indigenous and Afro-Colombian...
Perspectives on Peace: Karen and Rubén Darío from Punte Icaco
"Today, we are again worried... about invisible borders that prevent us from crossing from one neighborhood to another..." Three years ago last Sunday, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the Colombian government signed a historic ceasefire...
A Letter to Our Supporters
Dear Friends, You have been an essential part of our accompaniment project from afar, and we know that your love and support of our partners is just as strong as ours. As you may know, we (as well as many other accompaniment organizations) have been going through a...
Honoring our Partners on Earth Day
by Kati Hinman When I started with FORPP in December of 2016, Colombia was in the midst of a peace process that was surrounded by promises of a definitive end to the conflict. Suddenly, the FARC were almost all gone from terrain. It felt as if rapid change was on the...
Reflections on Returning to the Peace Community
by Tom Power When we arrived in the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó for Christmas, former accompanier Emily and I didn’t really know what to expect. Neither of us had been there for some time, but we were excited that the Peace Community was going to have...
FOR Peace Presence 2018 in Review
We are grateful for completing our 16th year of protective presence in Colombia. In 2018, our team continued to provide physical and political accompaniment to human rights defenders, victims of the armed conflict, and conscientious objectors. In 2018, our protective...
“There will never be true peace, until we eliminate hatred within our hearts as a country.”- Peace Community Leader
The following piece and pictures were originally published in Spanish by our Accompanier Dianna E Almanza. When I see the sunrise, I see how mother nature awakens around me, As if time stood still, As if this very precise moment that I am living, were to last for a...