Stories from a different world

We picked her up along the side of the road of a picturesque village nestled in the Andes. Ana María* was headed into town for a dentist appointment and buses don't pass through very frequently. Almost as soon as she got in the car she shared started to share her story, "I got married when I was 15 years old". "Wait a minute", says Claudia, "you got married, or they married you off?" She was married off- she was caught holding hands with a boy, and her mother basically told her her reputation was ruined. "I cried, I asked them not to make me, I didn't love that boy", she told us. "when I got married, I didn't know anything about sex".

It wasn't a happy marriage either. He abused her. They had 6 children- 4 girls and 2 boys. "he wanted sons" she said, "so we kept having babies".

They're not together anymore. She moved with her kids to Bogotá, looking for a better life, for awhile, but has moved back to her quiet country town. Her kids all sound like they are doing well- studying, working as professionals. The youngest is in 7th grade. And Ana María- she's full of life, ideas for the future. "I want to run for the town coucil. I want to encourage tourism here". She tells us all about the paramo, a local high-altitude treeless habitat, about a waterfall and local legends. She has the knowledge and personality to reach her goals, I think.

*******

Don Felipe sits eating lunch with us. The talk has drifted back to improving tourism in the area, a recurring theme for the week. "And it's so much safer now, there are no guerillas in the area. 5 years ago it was different" He tells of a relative who was kidnapped by the guerilla, than it turns out he has his own story, "they didn't kidnap me. But they sent me a message once that I had to appear before them. I prayed about it, should I go, or not go? In the end, I decided to go. My whole church was praying for me. When I got there, no one was there. I waited over an hour, and then they finally showed up. They told me I had to pay them 40,000,000 pesos (about $20,000). I talked to them- told them what I owned, how my kids were in school. It jsut wasn't possible. They know, they have it all there in a computer. I told them how I agreed the government wasn't doing it's job, raising taxes and not changing the situation in the country**. In the end, they dropped the price down to 2,500,000 (about $1,250). That was really God's grace, they don't do that for everybody."

* Names have been changed in these stories to protect privacy.

**while guerilla groups use unethical means, some of the reasons behind what they're doing are supposedly to help the poor, which partially explains participation. For a great child's eye view of how people get swept into involvement with guerillas and para-military despite their desires, watch the movie Los Colores de La Montaña- The colors of the Mountain. Another good resource for understanding the complications of living in an area with active guerrilla and/or paramilitary and understanding what causes Colmbia's large number of internally displaced refugees is The Dispossesed by Alfredo Molano.