IPP Balanza: 29 december 2009

This was a very special day for us.

Activity 1: Role Game
Our Feelings: curiosity, excitement, fun, easiness.

Our first activity was a role game in which we were supposed to act like different groups: the guerilla, the government, the society, NGOs etc. We all dressed up and planned our strategies and started acting out our roles in the game. In the beginning it was a mixture of fun and easiness: we were observing each others’ creativity when it came to the dressing up, taking photos of each others and making jokes.

The game proceeded in different chaotic situations and discussions. The guerillas and the paramilitaries were trying to take over the control, the government attempted to keep a balance whereas the NGOs were trying to create a peace process between the society and the other groups. Until the end everything was still seen as fun and games. However, this started to change when we began evaluating the activity by discussing our roles and how we felt playing them. We suddenly realized how little we actually know about the conflict that is going on in Colombia. Who are the different players in the conflict? What do they want? And what are the reasons for fighting?

Activity 2: Exchanging details about the project
Feelings: overwhelmed, excited, curious.

We got the answers to these questions in our afternoon activity. In a first step Cristian, one of the staff members, explained the history of the conflict and taught us about the present situation in Colombia. He also gave several examples of how the conflict had affected his and his family’s life, which made the presentation very touching. After that, Francy and Carlos, representatives of the School of Community Justice, described the specific situation in Arauca and explained the principles of community justice and how they are applied in Arauca. We were all touched by the Partner Organisation’s enthusiasm and got to understand their and our role in a bigger perspective. For example we were very impressed how all the political and social groups, as well as the civilians are informed that we are coming.

What made this afternoon activity so special for us?
In the moment when Cristian, Carlos and Francy gave us all the information on the country and the conflict, all of us realized that we are part of a unique project. We suddenly understood that going to Arauca and being involved with conflict resolution in this region is a once in a lifetime opportunity. We understood that the project would demand a lot from us but that at the same time we would be able to learn for our lives and to share knowledge with people we would never meet without this project.

So what is our feeling now?
We are excited about Colombia! We have learned and experienced that this is an amazing country and we are eagerly waiting to see more of it. We are also excited to go to Arauca and to share our individual knowledge with the people there. How will they react, what will we talk about, how will the atmosphere be, might we even be able to build up new friendships? But these are not the only questions we have in mind. We are also thinking about the following topics: how do the mediators work in Arauca? Will we be able to bond with the community? Will they acknowledge our work of supporting the mediators? Which topics will be tabu to talk about?

We cannot wait to get the answers in the next days. We hope that you are as excited as we are.

Hanna (Sweden), Sofia (Sweden), Lena (Germany)