From Medellin.

This will be my one and only dispatch from Colombia via the blog… This trip has turned out to be far more packed than I had realized it would be with meetings and travel taking up 14 hours or more per day.

Needless to say, I got through the US and into the country fine – and the past nine days have been spent in various parts of the country meeting with trade unions, indigenous groups, human rights organizations and barrios of displaced peoples. I have taken pages of notes, written copious amounts in my journal and taken dozens of photographs which I will try to synthesize into some coherent postings when I return home (I will be uploading my photos to my red cedar photo gallery as a first priority after returning).

We have been lucky to have access to places that most outsiders would never be invited to, the expectation being that somehow we can do something to help people once we return to Canada. I am afraid at times that the expectations might be too high… but at least in one case myself and two other people on this tour have agreed to personally fund the operation of a women´s center in the town of Neiva in the Huila province for the next year. It´s a small start – but when you are facing global injustice, it feels like almost nothing at all.

I have lots to say about Uribe, the paramilitaries, the FARC, the countryside, the resistance and the people – but am running out of time and couldn´t do it justice on this little sleep in any case. I am returning home on the 11th/12th which seems far too soon to me… so stay in touch and my travel reports will be posted here.