Field Diaries from the Peace Community
Day 1
Hi, I’m Luna, a 22-year-old political science student from Austria. My passion for Latin America began during several trips and deepened through my studies of the region’s history of oppression. Now, I’m excited to spend the next two months as a volunteer for FOR, where me and my colleague will be accompanying the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó.
My first accompaniment trip! I was nervous and a little scared but mostly excited. The plan was to accompany a few members of the Peace Community to one of their Aldeas de Paz in La Unión, where they’d be making Miel de Caña (sugarcane honey). Our bags were packed and we were ready to go! We set off around 11 a.m. with a group of about 15 people, including three members of the Internal Council, who are often the most at risk—hence why we were accompanying them.
Our transport? As is typical in this region, we traveled by bestías (a term used here for all riding animals, but mostly mules). It was my first time riding, and my bestía named Barrigón, was said to be one of the most reliable ones.
It took us around three hours to reach the Aldea de Paz in La Unión. I was blown away by the breathtaking nature—it honestly looked like Avatar could have been filmed here! Leaves as big as my body, butterflies and birds I never imagined existed, and incredible trees that offer a home to surrounding animals and plants.
On our way, we crossed a river called “El Cuchillo” several times. El Cuchillo means “The Knife,” which fits this river perfectly, as it slices through the valley where many surrounding villages are located.
A few hundred meters before we arrived at the Aldea de Paz, we went through the main hamlet of La Unión. La Unión is the area of San José de Apartadó where most of the founding members of the Peace Community originally come from, and has been the home of many Peace Community members for a long time. Before the growing violenceof different armed groups in the early 90s, La Unión was an economically important point, with a flourishing cacao business. In response to the violence, residents of La Unión and other victims of oppression by paramilitary, military and guerrilla groups have joined forces and founded the Peace Community on the 23th of March 1997. A cycle of displacement emerged with members repeatedly being driven from their homes in La Unión.
On the 8th July 2000, an incredibly brutal massacre took place in the hamlet. Six young leaders of the Peace Community were killed by paramilitary forces, coordinated with military forces, as testimonies state[1]. This left a deep wound and 24 years later there is still a lot of hurt left. Despite this, the community remained in La Unión and in 2002 international accompaniment by FOR (Fellowship of Reconciliation) began, with a permanent team staying for protective reasons.
The paramilitary control in the region grew over the years. After many years of negotiation peace treaties were signed between the government and the then oldest Latin American guerrilla group FARC-EP in 2016. Unfortunately the FARC-EP demobilization opened a power vacuum, which further increased paramilitary control in Urabá. The local population of Urabá became more and more entangled in the patterns of dependency of armed groups and the economic interests behind them, which is very common here. In response, the Peace Community founded in La Unión an Aldea de Paz (Peace Village) apart from the main hamlet between late 2017 and early 2018. They live and work there ever since. The Aldea de Paz is named after one of the leaders that got killed in the masacre of 2000: Rigoberto Guzman.
Several families live in the Aldea de Paz Rigoberto Guzman. The Aldea is vital for the community’s food sovereignty, which is why groups from the main Peace Community in San José de Apartadó regularly come to help with the workload. We were accompanying one such group.
Once we arrived, we had a late lunch prepared by a family living there. Then, work began immediately. My colleague and I joined a small group that went up the hill a few hundred meters to cut firewood (leña) for the next few days. After a few hours, a heavy rain started and we made our way back to the houses. That evening we had dinner with the group, hung up our hammocks in one of the huts and went to sleep.
Day 2
On the second day a few people started repairing the fornos (ovens for making sugarcane honey) while others headed into the fields for the sugarcane harvest. Both processes were labor-intensive and lasted all morning. In the afternoon, they began pressing the sugarcane and a sweet liquid slowly started pouring out of the press. This liquid then got transferred to the large pans built into the wooden oven. It would cook down for hours until it reached the consistency and color of dark honey.
I was amazed not only by the team’s hard work and motivation, but also by their deep knowledge of the process. For example, they didn’t just press the sugarcane juice—they also pressed the rind of a specific tree called “balso”. It creates a natural gelatin that binds dirt and small stones, helping them clean the honey using only natural materials. It’s an incredibly meticulous and time-consuming process. We stayed with the team until late.
Day 3
They weren‘t done yet. There was still a huge pile of sugarcane waiting to be transformed into honey. So, at 5 a.m., they fired up the press and the oven again.
It was was supposed to be our last day here. By lunchtime, the process was complete. They managed to extract around 70 liters of Miel de Caña from what felt like a ton of sugarcane. The honey will be shared among everyone involved in the process, with families and neighbors also receiving some when we return home. My colleague and I even got a little bottle, which made me really happy!
A bonus win for the Peace Community: this time, they succeeded in making a small amount of panela pulverizada (powdered sugarcane). This is hard to achieve because it requires a specific chemical reaction during the honey-making process. Panela pulverizada could extend the shelf life of their sugarcane products and be used in making chocolate from their own cacao—something honey can’t be used for.
Just as we were about to leave in the afternoon, with the bestías saddled and bags packed, it started pouring rain. …Change of plans…we are gonna stay another night in the Aldea de Paz in La Union. My colleague always says, “Be structured in order to be flexible,” which is definitely something I’m still learning. This won’t be the last time our well-prepared plans get derailed by simple factors like the weather.
Instead, we all had dinner together, talked, listened to stories and laughed. Although, I have to be honest, spending the whole day in Spanish with these people is still very very difficult for me. It costs me a ton of energy to understand and talk confidently when my Spanish is far from perfect and the Peace Community speaks in a deep and very fast accent.
Day 4
We left the Aldea de Paz Rigoberto Guzman early, hoping to get back, before the rain got too heavy. My colleague and I walked most of the muddy mountain path, but crossing the river on foot was impossible—the water was too high. We had to ride behind someone on the bestías, which is called al anca, or literally, “on the ass”. Crossing the river was intense, with the water reaching up to the animals’ bellies. I felt nervous, mostly for the animals. But they got us safely out of the mud—soaked and with plenty of delicious Miel de Caña.
I’m so thankful to the people who create this beautiful space, working hard to produce such important products for the community. Their strength to actively choose a non-violent life despite the violence they’ve endured—against themselves, their families, their land and the wider civilian population—earns my deepest respect. Not to sound too spiritual, but I’m also grateful for the nature and the animals, and for my colleague, who has been such a supportive partner during this new chapter of my life. And, lastly, I’m proud of myself, simply for being here.
In the next blog post I’ll dive deeper into a particularly formative and traumatic part of the Peace Community’s history and how it shaped their understanding of living a life of active non-violence. It will take place on an accompaniment trip to Mulatos!
[1] https://hacemosmemoria.org/2021/08/03/memoricidio-la-comunidad-de-paz-de-san-jose-de-apartado-denuncio-que-con-obras-publicas-quieren-destruir-su-memoria/