This week students from the College of New Jersey's Bonner Center for Civic and Community Engagement are in Nicaragua with a Witness for Peace delegation. This is a direct account from those students.
I can not believe that this trip is already coming to an end. It seems like just yesterday I was packing up the car to head to Newark airport. I know I have not written too much since the beginning of the trip, but that is not to say that what I have been experiencing has not impacted me. On Monday we got back from the campo (the country side) where we each stayed with different families. After experiencing a glimpse of what it is like to live in Ramon Garcia, an impoverished agricultural-based village, I have come to realize on a more personal level how macro-level policies and decisions have negatively impacted the lower-class of a society. On the other hand, I was exposed to the hard working and persistent mentality of the Ramon Garcia peoples who are determined to do better for themselves, but have limited resources to do so. Although Daniel Ortega seems to be making an effort to help and advocate for the poor, I can not help but be skeptical about the work he is doing. Overall, I left the community with mixed feelings of both anger and frustration. Mainly because of the fact that the children have to pay to go to secondary school and college is not even an option for most if not, all of them. To think it only takes $300 per year to send a child through college. In the back of my mind I feel I can not help but want to just pull that money out of my savings account to give those children a chance to get out, but at the same time, I feel it is more important to address the root causes of the problems.
This post was originally published here.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
"I came home with a sense of hope, love, energy, happiness, and peace, knowing that I could take a stand and create positive change in my life."
By Cecilia Gregg
Last summer I had the opportunity to travel to Colombia on a delegation with Witness for Peace (WFP), a politically independent, grassroots organization of people committed to nonviolence, peace, justice, sustainable economies, and policy changes in the Americas. Currently, there are hundreds of displaced farmers in the communities of Pueblo Nuevo, Alto Guayabal, Las Camelias, Caracoli, and Llano Rico who have lost their livelihood, dignity, and basic human rights when their lands were taken by the paramilitaries, mining companies, and agri-businesses. On the delegation, we met with these northern Colombian communities, and then shared our concern with regional Colombian representatives, including the 17th Brigade, U.S. Embassy Officials in Bogota, and with other NGOs. We met with these groups in hopes of bringing change to the region.
The delegation changed my life! Seeing the situation first-hand, I was moved to anger, sadness, outrage, helplessness, and frustration. Though there is much pain in the region, I came home with a greater sense of hope, love, energy, happiness, and peace, knowing that I could take a stand and create positive change in my life and in the lives of others. Seeing the poverty and harsh conditions in Colombia, I realized the waste in my own life and I recognized that I take so much for granted. In this country, we are blessed beyond belief and I realized that we can each do more to support each other and our global comrades in the pursuit of peace and aid.
When I returned from Colombia, my son and I downsized, getting rid of a house that was too costly and space that was never used. We moved to an apartment, half the size of our house. This fresh start freed up time, energy, and money. We’ve been able to use these extra resources to fund charitable endeavors and travel, getting to know the people of the world.
My renewed commitment to charitable causes prompted me to write this letter to tell you all the details about my trip and to ask you to get involved too. Whether you get involved with Witness for Peace or another organization, get out there and get passionate about a cause. Giving time, money, energy, or spreading the word, we can all make a difference in the important causes that we stand behind!
I leave you with these sentiments from Henry David Thoreau, “Be not simply good, be good for something.” I hope you are well and in good health and spirit.
Peace, Love, and Blessings.
Cecilia Gregg traveled to Uruba, Colombia in 2010 with a Witness for Peace delegation.
Last summer I had the opportunity to travel to Colombia on a delegation with Witness for Peace (WFP), a politically independent, grassroots organization of people committed to nonviolence, peace, justice, sustainable economies, and policy changes in the Americas. Currently, there are hundreds of displaced farmers in the communities of Pueblo Nuevo, Alto Guayabal, Las Camelias, Caracoli, and Llano Rico who have lost their livelihood, dignity, and basic human rights when their lands were taken by the paramilitaries, mining companies, and agri-businesses. On the delegation, we met with these northern Colombian communities, and then shared our concern with regional Colombian representatives, including the 17th Brigade, U.S. Embassy Officials in Bogota, and with other NGOs. We met with these groups in hopes of bringing change to the region.
The delegation changed my life! Seeing the situation first-hand, I was moved to anger, sadness, outrage, helplessness, and frustration. Though there is much pain in the region, I came home with a greater sense of hope, love, energy, happiness, and peace, knowing that I could take a stand and create positive change in my life and in the lives of others. Seeing the poverty and harsh conditions in Colombia, I realized the waste in my own life and I recognized that I take so much for granted. In this country, we are blessed beyond belief and I realized that we can each do more to support each other and our global comrades in the pursuit of peace and aid.
When I returned from Colombia, my son and I downsized, getting rid of a house that was too costly and space that was never used. We moved to an apartment, half the size of our house. This fresh start freed up time, energy, and money. We’ve been able to use these extra resources to fund charitable endeavors and travel, getting to know the people of the world.
My renewed commitment to charitable causes prompted me to write this letter to tell you all the details about my trip and to ask you to get involved too. Whether you get involved with Witness for Peace or another organization, get out there and get passionate about a cause. Giving time, money, energy, or spreading the word, we can all make a difference in the important causes that we stand behind!
I leave you with these sentiments from Henry David Thoreau, “Be not simply good, be good for something.” I hope you are well and in good health and spirit.
Peace, Love, and Blessings.
Cecilia Gregg traveled to Uruba, Colombia in 2010 with a Witness for Peace delegation.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Nicaragua: "There is so much the world can learn from you. There is so much I have learned from you."
This week students from the College of New Jersey's Bonner Center for Civic and Community Engagement are in Nicaragua with a Witness for Peace delegation. This is a direct account from those students.
Today I found a little bit of peace… in a place with a very uncertain future, filled with big hearts and hopeful spirits. Nicaragua. I came to visit you with no expectations, with no idea, but with the intention to become inspired and to let your history, your story, your beauty influence me… to allow you to bear motherhood over me for a few days… to feel your love, to feel your pain, even if it’s just for a little while. I came here with the idea that I could stop it all. Or at least do something to induce change. But after learning that you’ve become victim to unfair policies, unjust political figures, ignorance and corrupt authority, pesticides, homicide, false and unkept promises… that your children live in garbage dumpsters, that your children are being exploited by foreign companies, that your daughters carry on their backs the blame of all the misfortunes of their families, and your sons have lost themselves in their anger and disillusionment… I’ve become hopeless… soaked in guilt and despair. Yet somehow, magically, you have not. You still remain. You have been sucked dry of your milk by sons you did not bear, and still, you continue to produce nutrients for your children and a surplus. You have been covered by pollution and masked with the discards of the world, but you bloom, no matter the season, providing a corner of shade for any tired soul seeking relief from the sun above you. Your children have found a way to grow with their devastations, and not be consumed by them. They have learned how to move in a world that has no path for them. Chameleons of time and circumstance. You parade your scars of battle and revolution with grace and humility. You know the true definition of beauty. Blessed are you because you know what the true definition of honor is. You practice nobility, honesty, and you labor every single moment of the day in hopes to teach your children the joy in true and just work ethic. Most amazingly, you have forgiven all offenses made against you. You hold no grudge. You walk with love. There is so much the world can learn from you. There is so much I have learned from you. And today, as I was drowning in my guilt, exasperated by the sufferings I am witnessing, you sent one of your children to sing to my colleagues and I… and I heard your song of peace. You rescued me from my doubts, from my thoughts. You told me that you have not lost hope, nor have your children, and in turn, I cannot either.
-Maria
This post was originally published here.
Today I found a little bit of peace… in a place with a very uncertain future, filled with big hearts and hopeful spirits. Nicaragua. I came to visit you with no expectations, with no idea, but with the intention to become inspired and to let your history, your story, your beauty influence me… to allow you to bear motherhood over me for a few days… to feel your love, to feel your pain, even if it’s just for a little while. I came here with the idea that I could stop it all. Or at least do something to induce change. But after learning that you’ve become victim to unfair policies, unjust political figures, ignorance and corrupt authority, pesticides, homicide, false and unkept promises… that your children live in garbage dumpsters, that your children are being exploited by foreign companies, that your daughters carry on their backs the blame of all the misfortunes of their families, and your sons have lost themselves in their anger and disillusionment… I’ve become hopeless… soaked in guilt and despair. Yet somehow, magically, you have not. You still remain. You have been sucked dry of your milk by sons you did not bear, and still, you continue to produce nutrients for your children and a surplus. You have been covered by pollution and masked with the discards of the world, but you bloom, no matter the season, providing a corner of shade for any tired soul seeking relief from the sun above you. Your children have found a way to grow with their devastations, and not be consumed by them. They have learned how to move in a world that has no path for them. Chameleons of time and circumstance. You parade your scars of battle and revolution with grace and humility. You know the true definition of beauty. Blessed are you because you know what the true definition of honor is. You practice nobility, honesty, and you labor every single moment of the day in hopes to teach your children the joy in true and just work ethic. Most amazingly, you have forgiven all offenses made against you. You hold no grudge. You walk with love. There is so much the world can learn from you. There is so much I have learned from you. And today, as I was drowning in my guilt, exasperated by the sufferings I am witnessing, you sent one of your children to sing to my colleagues and I… and I heard your song of peace. You rescued me from my doubts, from my thoughts. You told me that you have not lost hope, nor have your children, and in turn, I cannot either.
-Maria
This post was originally published here.
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