Wednesday, November 20
With the intensity of life here, I no longer manage to document every day. But I would like to summarize the main points:
November 18 was marked by difficulties in building our collective group body. Facilitating a group of people who hardly know each other, where every tradition wants to be heard, and at the same time being a guest in a country whose tradition and intention we want to get to know together, requires a high degree of human maturity. Finding a few essential words, being mindful of the translations, and much more, presents us with great challenges.
I knew beforehand that it would be difficult. In my view, a group should already know each other quite well before visiting another place together as a delegation, but life wanted it differently this time and my inner voice told me very clearly that it is important for me to get to know the tradition of the Kogi and the Arhuaco more intimately, because we will find important clues for building our own community there.
Despite all the turmoil, the day ultimately turned out very constructively. There were small groups. The group of young people came together for the first time and were able to exchange ideas about where their path will lead them in these challenging times. The people from the Comunidad de Paz de San José, Eleanor from “Standing Rock” and Alén from Colombia, who lives in one of the largest ecovillages in Colombia, were able to talk to each other. They came back refreshed.
We had the opportunity to work on a delegation on the topic of this area. It is very important to them to do public relations work so that the issues of this region are given more attention. Ati, Indra, Dr. Roman from the Human Health Organization, and Cheryl sat together to determine the key points.
It was a gift to have Indra with us, who, together with Rajendra, has developed very successful media strategies to develop declarations and find an audience in the public. We have their commitment to thank for the fact that the movement to protect the indigenous population, the right of water and the ecological healing of this earth were successful in India.
In the beginning, there was some confusion in the group that reflected the fact that the necessary trust had yet to be developed. The fear of having one’s own voice ignored is often activated very quickly. Despite these differences, we were able to work effectively. My main task this time is to mediate sensitively.
We dedicated a day to the topic of peace. The coordination group wanted to give the floor to three different projects, which always very quickly leads to others feeling excluded. There was a very special moment when Indra stood up and pointed out that so many people have a need to speak and that he feels that the origin of the alliance is not being sufficiently honored and that I should speak and coordinate more so that it is clearer what the original concern of the “Defend the Sacred Alliance” (DSA) is.
Indra comes from a tradition where it is natural to honor the origins and thus also the elders who represent the founding impulses of projects or communities. I observe him and get to know him better and better, in the humility with which he accompanies Rajendra, although he himself is a well-known journalist and activist in the Indian peace movement.
I take the opportunity to speak to present the essence of our work and our concern: creating acupuncture points for peace, activating community knowledge, making visible the necessity of inner and outer peace work, and recognizing the origin where it is decided whether there will be war or peace. I also highlight the connection between the mistreatment of water on this earth and the mistreatment of our most sacred source, sexuality.
Sunday, November 17, to Saturday, November 23
We have the opportunity to greet more mamos. The oldest – a mamo of the Kogis – is over 100 years old. He is a mamo of the Kogi and his name is Amomako. His name is also Gabriel. They have come a long way from the mountains to visit us.
We begin the morning with a short introduction. In the meantime, we have also built a small altar here in Pueblo Bello, as this place is called. I have a small bowl of water with our water cosmogram standing there.
We give others who have not yet spoken the opportunity to introduce themselves further. Among us is Mamo Komiaku, he is the mamo for the water here and for this region of Ati’s village. A quiet man with a strong presence. He only speaks when necessary. We are told that he is also busy at night praying with the waters to hear what should be done with our waters.
Among us are also some mamos from the Kogi. They speak a different language than the Arhuaco. The fact that they all had to learn Spanish is the legacy of colonialism.
There is a moment of ceremony. They arrived at exactly the moment we had invited those who have not yet spoken to introduce themselves. Cheryl delivers gifts from her tradition of the “White Buffalo” and reports on the seven guidelines of her tradition, which are intended to help them keep their ethical orientation pure, for the individual, the family, the group, and the nation.
It is a special moment and Eleanor also speaks moving words of thanks for this moment of encounter between different indigenous cultures of South and North America.
Then there is a moment of shared ceremony. The mamos of music play the water song that they received when the water was born. With the first song, the water was born. One of the mamos has brought his young son, who opens the dance of the water. This song is to serve the origin of water and keep it pure.
“It was sung when there was no water.”
They have similar songs for all elements. They are about honoring and preserving the common tradition that connects them to all elements. For them, it is very important to recognize the rights of the elements and that they, as the oldest, have the task of making this connection understandable to humanity.
The Mamos do not eat salt in their first years, because too much salt prevents them from truly hearing the voice of the earth. The oldest Mamos often spend their first years in caves, so that they can recognize the light in the darkness and truly hear the voice of the earth.
Icha is the name of the sun – and in their mythology, this too was born out of the earth. At certain times, they dance with the moon of the earth and the plants for nine days to honor the nine cycles of the earth. “We sing to all beings, a kind of snake dance.” Aschewena:
“In the beginning there was a man who had the songs. We have songs for everything, we connect our water prayers with the snow and the stars.”
In 2011, there was a great offering for the Earth with 40,000 people.
In the following days, the events become so dense that I have to summarize:
First, we visit a place where Ati wants to build the vision of an emerging sacred place for the waters. I think this place is also a kind of Kaduku for them, a place where they communicate with the earth, even if there are no stone settings yet. “For me, the place is like a healing biotope,” says Ati. She calls it Nuwiaka, which means “birthplace for all people”.
This is the first time that we have come a little deeper into nature. We take a taxi and walk along a small river to the sacred place. I enjoy nature and the view of the surrounding mountains.
When we arrive, a large blue butterfly, like those I know from Brazil, greets us. One of its wings is about the size of a hand and it glows a deep blue. We gather around the fire. Once again, we are given small cotton threads and asked to connect with the sacred plants. After connecting with the waters, this is the place to connect with the biodiversity of the sacred plants.
I sit in a place where the smoke from the fire keeps coming to me. My eyes water. We pray with everything that has nourished us up to this point, we remember all the sacred plants and places that connect us to them. I hold the thread tightly in my hands. All the sacred plants of the indigenous peoples have been misused: coca, coffee, cacao and many others.
At some point, it starts to rain heavily. So we stand in the heavy rain and complete our prayer cycle. Each prayer ends with us turning around ourselves twice to the left and then to the right. All of this reminds me of the many inputs that I saw before me when I received so many memories of the early cultures of Europe in the stone circle of Evora and also on Malta.
When the weather clears up a bit, Rajendra shouts again and again:
“Photo, photo… water, women, rivers… goddess, goddess, goddess, goddess.”
He asks us all to stand together and repeat this exclamation. For him it is like a mantra, because for him there is a deep connection between the fact that water is mistreated, women are mistreated and the female aspect of life itself has been forgotten. So we stand together and shout this mantra in all the languages that are among us.
“We are the Photo Alliance,” I say with a laugh. Sometimes it’s a bit uncomfortable for me, the many photo opportunities, but Rajendra’s concern is to bring things to the world, and I’m happy to support that.
On the way back, we stop at the small river, which has a strong current.
Some of us enjoy bathing in the water, especially Nevaith from the peace community welcomes this with great joy. I also enjoy the bath and am grateful for this day.
Ati tells us about the decision of the Mamos that we will drive up into the mountains to connect our water prayer with the spirits of the plants and to anchor it with the snow mountains, as this is very important. Mamo Komeaku is the Mamo of the mountain that stands for water. There are mountains for all elements here. He wants to drive up with us to a sacred place in the mountains that they call Inarwa.
They say that it is a very difficult road to travel and that we will go up in a small group. He names Rajendra, Indra, Cheryl, Lalo and me.
I don’t know how the names were chosen. As I understood it, they wanted to anchor the waters that came from a pure source up there, especially the waters from the Himalayas. They invited this small group to sit around the fire again so that we could express our intentions for how we wanted to work together in the future. So we sat in a circle in the Kankuwa and collected our suggestions for how we could enter into a deeper cooperation in the future. Later, they also mentioned other names, and this process triggered the next turbulence in the group.
Many were upset and felt patronized. Now, what I had feared before happened more and more: we just didn’t have time to build a common group body, and of course that quickly leads to many misunderstandings. I could understand the anger, but I also felt responsible for not interrupting our central concern, to get to know the culture of the Arhuaco more deeply and to connect our sacred waters.
I asked the group with all the fervor at my disposal that we go along with the messages that the mamo had received, because I think it is important to accept the suggestions of our hosts with respect and honor in the first instance.
I recommend that the others also pray in parallel with our process. Shortly afterwards, the mamo suggests exactly that. It is very important that the others support the process. From 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., four women and five men should be together in prayer, where we can connect our prayers with the snow mountains.
The Mamos would like us to come here four times. This is the way to really connect spiritually and to enter into a committed relationship. The number four has a great significance here. The four elements, the four core colors of the earth – black, white, red and yellow. Later I ask them to tell me a little about the background to these four colors.
The number 9 also has a deep meaning. Just as we go through nine moons before birth occurs, this process is significant for every kind of manifestation. That is why they dance together for nine days in important rituals.
In the afternoon we have a council with the DSA circle. I am asked to facilitate it – and the main task of the moderation in this context is to honor the element of time so that everyone actually has the opportunity to speak. I ask that we speak our hearts freely so that we are truly ready and can go into the coming ceremony with open hearts.
Gabriel had insisted that Ati be among us, but she apologized that she had many preparations to make. In the coming circle, many express their anger at the lack of clear coordination and their mistrust of our hosts.
My heart is becoming increasingly heavy, but I know that it is important. At the end, I myself talk about the heaviness in my heart and that I feel that the conflicts of the whole world are reflected in this group. I ask once more that everyone really does go into the ceremony with an open heart. Everyone confirms that they will.
On the 21st, early in the morning at five o’clock, we are sitting in our cars. We are driving on a “road” like I have never seen before, although I have seen very difficult roads in India, Peru and other countries. Ati had previously announced that it might be better if we did not come back in the evening, as there might be heavy rainfall.
After our accident at the beginning of this trip, I sit a little more anxiously in the car than I usually do, but it’s strange: I feel great trust that this whole process is happening under guidance. I also have confidence in the mamo.
Lalo decided not to come, nor did Ivan, who only found out later that he was invited after all. So we invited Eleanor, the young woman who came with Cheryl, and Alex came with us as a translator.
I have great respect for the way the driver takes us up this mountain. Deep furrows from rain run through the road and sometimes the car tilts so far to one side that it threatens to tip over. Sometimes we get stuck in the mud, but with a soft, insistent manner, he manages to overcome all obstacles. At some point we park the car and walk the last kilometer on foot.
Arriving at Inarwa, I experience the highlight of this trip! I feel so at home! I know that it was this place that called me. I had a similar experience in Peru at Lake Qoricocha, the golden lake, an Inca place of initiation, where I underwent a kind of initiation. According to legend, the original priests and priestesses of the Incas were ordained at this place.
The history we learn from the indigenous people there is very different from the history we learned in school. History is always written by the victors and, of course, colored accordingly.
At Inarwa, the central sacred place that absorbs human information, we gather for prayer to connect our prayers, which we had anchored in the Kaduku, with the snowy mountains. It is breathtakingly beautiful here and enormously good for us to be able to concentrate on the essentials, completely without telephone and internet.
On the drive up – it is still dark – Mamo reports that the antennas standing on the summit of the mountain, illuminated with bright lights, were not erected with the consent of their elders.
“The mountain wants neither roads nor telephone poles. What is happening here in terms of destruction is not in resonance with the voice of the earth and those who, as mamos, are authorized to represent the voice of the earth.”
I feel the double message, because we ourselves have driven the almost impassable road and use cell phones and telephones to spread the message. In prayer, I ask for forgiveness and that the earth may reveal to us which interventions and technologies are in harmony with it.
For me, one of the central tasks of the peace movement is to be able to offer alternatives that we truly believe in and not to work with constant contradictions ourselves. Through discussions with many scientists, especially with Jürgen Kleinwächter, I know that there are indeed friendly energy resources that are in harmony with the matrix of nature and the sacred order of life.
Now we are preparing for prayer. The mamo puts tiny petals of a medicinal plant from this area into our hands. I suspect it was “Frailejones”, a medicinal plant from the Sierra Nevada, which is protected and reminds me a little of the edelweiss from our Alps. Again, we hold the small leaflets in our hands, direct our minds to the sacred waters, the spirit of the snow-capped mountains, connect it with the power of the biodiversity of this region and ask for healing and sanctification of our interaction with the world of plants.
It is easy for me to enter this other dimension and leave all cultural and social inconsistencies behind me for a few moments. I am grateful that the guide has let us come here and that we were protected.
I think of the group that is now uniting with us in prayer at Atis’ place in Pueblo Bello, in the small stone circle, and at the same time a group in Tamera is connecting with us and the sacred waters in prayer. The Mamos sing the song of origin with which the water was born, Rajendra introduces sacred water songs of the Hindus. I sing our altar song that I received in Tamera:
“Holy water, holy life, holy love, holy light. You have given us life, we won’t forget to honor you.”
I could stay here for hours. Shortly before noon we leave the place, walk back and have a small breakfast. It was important to them that we perform the prayer on an empty stomach.
While we eat our potatoes and plátanos – a type of banana used as a vegetable – we start talking to Mamo Gabriel, who tells us the story of the creation of the earth. I summarize:
The earth and everything in it arose from consciousness. If we keep our consciousness pure, we contribute to the preservation of the earth. Pure thoughts are the origin of all manifestation. In the beginning, all creation information was gathered in a kind of microcosm. Everything was born from this power. Only afterwards did the size of the universe arise. Basically, all information is available in a microcosmic condensation.
Everything carries mother and father energy. Even the sun was born out of the heart of the Earth. The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta with its mountains and waters is the heart of the Earth. If it is destroyed, life on Earth will end.
Spirit and matter are not separate from each other, which is why it is so important to them to hold a small piece of pure matter in your hands during prayers. It is like a piece of paper on which you can write the information that is important to them.
All of this reminds me a lot of the Healing Biotopes plan. The plan that Dieter Duhm formulated is based on precisely this challenge:
“A place where a small group of people have relearned to live and communicate in coherence with the sacred matrix of life and build a coherent vibration among themselves can be medicine for the whole.”
Therefore, we do not expect the essential change to come from empires or governments that are no longer connected to the order of life, but rather that the Earth will ask us to remember the central Earth knowledge and to develop decentralized community forms that know the biodiversity of life and keep it alive.
When asked how it was possible that humans became so disconnected from the original healing power of creation, Mamo does not really have an answer. He just says:
“Because the younger brother came later and no longer understood the origin.”
Personally, I feel deeply confirmed that the vast amount of information I received in Malta and in the stone circle of Evora is essentially correct. Of course, these messages are also affected and colored by the person and culture of those who received the messages, but they reflect the same core.
That the culture of the Kadukas, the small stone circles, has such a deep meaning here confirms my vision that in the past, tribes were easily able to communicate with the heart of the earth over long distances. They didn’t need telephones or cell phones. What will it be like for us in the future? A consciousness technology in harmony with the laws of creation.
Next we visit Nuwiaka. Ati tells us that we will stay here for the night.
It seems as if this had already been planned and I am a little concerned about the group we left in the valley, because we have no opportunity to notify them. They had the information that we would stay in the mountains during heavy rain.
First we visit the place that is guarded by women and where Ati also went to school. It is a wonderful place. It radiates peace and wonderful harmony. According to legend, this is the place where the sun was born, and it is the task of women to take good care of it. The sun represents the father force, the son from the heart of the earth, who was born here.
We are given our first meal: everything with vegetables, plants and fruit that have grown here. Even the chicken they offer for those who eat meat comes from this place. In the cold land, potatoes, arakacha, sweet potatoes, garlic, cabbage and onions are produced. In the temperate zone, beans, avocado, corn, auyama, sugar cane, banana, coca, tobacco and yucca are grown. It all feels very healthy, a cycle that is not dependent on global trade chains, and where care is taken to ensure that giving and taking are in harmony with the whole.
We are led to a small meadow where we are shown the rooms where we will be staying overnight. I have a tiny hut with a bed where I am completely on my own. A painting of a mother with a child hangs on the wall.
It is a kind of meadow. The accommodations are surrounded by a rushing stream. Mamo gives us two small pieces of bark and asks us to cleanse our thoughts and our aura with them before we go into the water. I am mainly grateful that the tour has brought us here, I don’t have to make a special effort to think “good thoughts”. I step gratefully into the cool current and let myself drift a little way downstream. It really feels as if the little river is taking away everything I no longer need, transforming and cleansing it. I hand the small pieces of bark to the mambo, who burns them in a small fire.
We rest a little, then Ati wants to show us the small village and especially the place where the mamos of the region meet. It is very important to them to introduce our delegation to the mamos of the region.
Once again I am deeply touched by the Kaduku where they communicate with the earth. It is a stone circle which they say is thousands of years old. Right next to it is their fireplace, Kankurwa, where they sit around the fire and find their prayers, intentions and resolutions. There are different sacred fires; the fire that is ignited with wood is the male fire, the fire that they light with the small flints is the female fire.
We are given a very warm welcome. Rajendra Singh always receives special attention because he brought the holy water from a height of about 7,000 meters in the Himalayas. Although he brings very different forms of prayer and represents a very different masculinity, they show him great respect. They recognize in him the Aquarius of India. He often speaks Hindi, switching repeatedly to English, and Indra puts a great deal of effort into conveying his information and his way of thinking to us.
They also have great respect for Cheryl, who came to them from North America. Overall, it is natural for them to honor elders. I am also considered an “elder” by them and am repeatedly introduced as the mother of the DSA and of Tamera.
No group, institution or movement will have power without keeping the relationship to its origin pure. This is one of the profound teachings that I hear again and again from everything.
I am aware that there are conflicts among the four tribes that guard the heart of the Sierra Nevada, which have sometimes led to murder and intrigue. I suspect that there is hardly a place on earth that is not steeped in the poison of civilization and the false power, but I see it more as my task on this journey to understand the core of their mythology and their beliefs. Later, when we want to get involved in direct cooperation, it is of course crucial that we also think our way into the social background and conflicts in order to find out what our real support can be.
For me, getting to know a place and understanding the way of thinking of the people who live there is an initial inner guideline. When trust has been built up, my task is also to offer criticism or ask critical questions.
I receive permission to take some of the sacred waters from this place to our altar in Tamera, just as I had a small stone from the Mamos at the Mountain of Water Inarwa blessed, on which my attention fell.
We go to bed early. It was a long and impressive day.
In the morning, before breakfast, we meet to see the meeting place of all the communities, where the different tribes and families gather for larger consultative meetings. Once a year, assemblies take place up there. The new government of the indigenous communities is elected here. They have their own form of government, where water, earth, air, fire, animals and plants have their say.
In the following, I will summarize their way of thinking as far as I could understand it in the short time:
- The different mountains and tribes are also assigned to the different elements.
- There is also a corresponding female priesthood for each Mamo, which they call Sana.
- Ka means earth. Kaduku, the place where they communicate with the earth.
- Ta means truth. As an alliance, we combine many qualities: the earth creates the sacred order and we have the task of harmonizing with it.
- Our declaration must also be aligned with the rights of the earth and water.
- We all represent our sacred places and “she” will recognize us. We always need her permission and alignment with her, only in this way can we achieve our goal.
“If we want to serve life and have a healing effect, it is crucial to first recognize and establish our own inner peace so that we are open to her messages. Our first place of power is always our own heart, which is in resonance with the cosmos. It is crucial that we heal the microorganisms again in order to then bring them into resonance with the whole organism.”
For that, we need a natural power that “you” will give us, not the sick power that rules the Earth today.
“Basically, the DSA needs a school where we can learn how to communicate with the Earth,” says Ati. ”There is no other way. Either we raise our consciousness or we perish. We live in a very special time, in a kind of dawn.”
It is fear that prevents us from doing so and hinders our consciousness from awakening. Ati talks about how the Arhuaco have also undergone a patriarchalization, and that it will be of great importance for the time to come to bring the two forces – the female and the male force – into balance so that the energy from which all creation comes can be kept pure.
Their aim is to protect women’s sacred places and to raise awareness of them again. They call the sacred knowledge of women Kumuku. From this knowledge a collective leadership and the connection with the original vision is born. Together, a plan for local and global action will be developed, which the earth urgently needs.
In their imagination, all our different prayers and actions followed a plan. On the eighth day, we took our knowledge to the snowy mountains and it will reveal what actions will come from it. The water carries the story of great pain. Here, in front of the snowy mountains, we synchronize the waters with each other. We do not mix them, because each water carries its own identity.
The Mamo is happy about the weather. The clouds clear during our prayers and behind the light cloud layer you can see the snow-capped mountains.
“They receive our prayers.”
How familiar such thoughts are to me and how far removed they are from modern science and politics. Shortly before our return, a beautiful rainbow appears.
It is moving to see the many small mud houses where the meetings of all tribal lines have taken place for many centuries: one house for the Mamos and many other houses for all subgroups, all covered with a special thatched roof. Meetings are held at this place until the new messages have been revealed and the representatives have been found who will jointly accept responsibility for the whole. This process is supported by spiritual dances at certain times. Humanity goes through nine cycles. Just as an embryo spends nine moons in the womb of the mother, the number nine has an essential meaning for processes of manifestation. Darkness and light play an important role in this.
The destruction of and threat to their tradition began with Christianization, when Capuchin monks tried to proselytize old tribal knowledge.
What began in Europe about 7,000 years ago has only gained the upper hand here in the last century, the destruction and annihilation of ancient peace knowledge.
Towards the end of our visit to the mountain, we go back to the Kaduku of Nawusimaka to anchor ourselves there. The women who guard this place come with us. The small stone circle is surrounded by a great variety of plants and many trees. They represent the power of sonship. We anchor our thanks and prayers in this magical place. They always anchor in sacred places. It reminds me of the message I received in Malta during my spiritual journey:
“Whenever you start something new, first go back to the place of origin to complete the old.”
It is already late morning when we drive back down the adventurous route into the valley. It is a real miracle how the driver maneuvers us through streams and past steep furrows and slopes, as if our car had wings. The spirit of the country seemed to favor us. For me, these days were the highlight of the trip. I am grateful that we were able to gain a deep insight into the cosmology of the Arhuaco and the Kogi.
According to their tradition, it is important that every guest who wants to deepen their cooperation comes to visit four times in order to truly understand their language and mythology. The mamo repeatedly tells us that he has to speak his own language – a Chibchense language – because the translation into Spanish does not have the words that can express what the earth is telling them or what they communicate to the earth in their prayers.
Ati explains that her mother was the first Arhuaco woman to attend university because her mother, the wife of a high-ranking mamo, had told her that it was important to learn Spanish and to pass on her knowledge to the Spanish.
After an adventurous return journey, we arrive back in Pueblo Bello at midday. The other group enjoyed the time and connected with us in prayer. You can feel that the division made sense and energized the group. Now it is a matter of connecting the two currents.
Everyone gets a few minutes to anchor the essentials around the fire in a ceremony at Kaduku. Eleanor describes in moving words how important the living experience of the tradition of the different tribes is for her, and that it is like “coming home” for her, where she rediscovers some of the community life that she has lost at home. “I now know what I have to do when I get home,” she says. Ati and the women of the tribe go to her, embrace and bless her.
For me, this was a quietly moving highlight of the ceremony and I have a strong impulse to end the round, but the others want to continue. In trying to connect the different aspects, tensions arise again.
At one point in the ceremony, Lalo brings up the issue of conflicts between the different tribes and says that he has heard that there were powerful social conflicts among the groups. He probably said these words with good intentions, and yet it felt like it went beyond the scope and took up far too much time and space, especially since at the beginning we were asked to be very conscious of the time in order to round off the entire process in prayer.
Ati reacts hurt. She asks the Mamo for clarification and says that this is not the moment to address conflicts because we want to anchor the result of our clear prayers and thoughts here.
The 100-year-old Mamo reacts very simply and with enormous wisdom. He just says the sentence:
“You’re right, brother, it’s up to all of us to come together.”
Since I had been asked to moderate the round, I resolutely suggest closing it and opening the space again tomorrow for real questions. In order to become a group body, we have work to do in the social sphere. And to clarify the difference between ceremony and social exchange in an ever more intimate way. Taking into account that we as a group hardly had the opportunity to get to know each other and our different cultures better, I think that we managed to stay in solidarity despite all the challenges.
But I can also say clearly that I would not repeat the experience of traveling with a group of people I hardly know to a place where we actually came to get to know the local culture.
An alliance needs clear ethical guidelines and also a joint preparation time to build the collective group body. If this is not the case, even the best intention can have a destructive rather than a healing effect.
We will need to do some follow-up work. Because, of course, the question of how the alliance will continue to work was also discussed. My strong desire for deepening and a clear common direction seemed to some to be at odds with the desire to expand the alliance and invite more people. From my point of view, these things can be combined if a clear coordination team is formed and a clear common direction and intention is developed.
I am leaving this time with a lot of soul-searching to do. This experience has revealed to me the beauty of an original creation mythology and tradition, of which I would like to learn more and with which I feel very connected. I have heard the urgent call for help from the peace community in San José. We have witnessed a global destructive force that threatens and overruns peace initiatives worldwide. But the journey also revealed the many inconsistencies of modern culture.
I am grateful for our perseverance, I am grateful for the solidarity that has triumphed again and again despite human difficulties. I thank all the sponsors who made this journey possible and I ask for wisdom and human intelligence to learn from the mistakes that were made.
I have met many new people whose commitment I greatly appreciate, and I suspect that we will have further tasks together.
I am very grateful that Helena, who has a lot of experience in accompanying groups that are under constant threat, decided to visit the peace community again together with Carmen from Austria. Every open international heart with knowledge of Spanish can help to protect lives.
With Indra and others, we are working on a further declaration for the protection of the peace community. On December 4, we plan to send this declaration, which is intended to draw the world’s attention to the emergency situation of the peace community, so that the Comunidad de Paz receives international support for its protection. We ask everyone who wants to or can think about this in any way to help spread the message, because international help can save lives here.
A large part of the international world does not see how much the situation has worsened in recent years. A large part of the media keeps us believing that there are no longer any paramilitaries and that peace has come to Colombia.
Sunday, November 24
Today most of the delegation flies back to Medellín. I fly together with Helena, Tracy and Miguel Angel to Bogotá.
Monday, November 25, to Thursday, November 28
I spend my last days together with the original team in our beautiful place in the capital. I am happy to see our comrades Andrea, Elisa and Katja safe and sound again. They had inspiring days in the peace community of San José and provided international protection for the people there with their presence. I am grateful for the beautiful and supportive energy among us, and so I have the opportunity to rest a little after all my efforts.
We even venture to visit the hot springs near Choachí, for which we took a bus for over an hour. It was not quite as relaxing as we had imagined, but it was a little “tourist adventure”.
A final political act on this trip was the meeting with Father Javier Giraldo, who once again showed us some political and human background, and the meeting with a delegation of MPs from various ministries, which Gloria Cuartas organized for us. We spoke with employees of the Defensoría del Pueblo (Colombian government ombudsman), the Ministry of the Interior, the Cancillería of the Colombian Foreign Ministry, the Ministerio de Minas y Energía(Ministry of Mining and Energy) and the Unidad de Implementación del Acuerdo de Paz (Department for the Implementation of the Peace Agreement), which is headed by Gloria Cuartas.
It was good for us to see that the peace community is well perceived and appreciated. They also made an explicit appeal for more international presence. It became clear that the process initiated by the left-wing party during its time in government is a slow process that also meets with a great deal of opposition. I feel like I am among people who are doing their best. May the declaration we are currently preparing reach human hearts that are willing to help.
I am writing these lines an hour before our departure. I am grateful for this time and also full of questions.