To:       Kathy Kelly and all in the Voices in the Wilderness team

Baghdad, Iraq

cc:       Family and Friends

From:   Curt Wands      

Apartadó, Colombia

Date:    February 15, 2003

From Bogotá to Baghdad

My dear friend and sister Kathy and all with Voices in the Wilderness,

From the edge of the Atrato river in the jungle of the war-ravaged department of Chocó, Colombia I send my thoughts and prayers of thanksgiving for your life affirming presence in Iraq.  I give thanks for the loving spirit of your actions which lead you with the clarity of a guiding star toward a hope for all nations that can be born among the poor, oppressed and displaced of the earth. 

It is inspiring to hear the testimonies of those who have joined with you to bring a voice to the voiceless, especially on this day as millions of voices join in a great clamor for peace in Iraq. 

On the borders of Iraq, at the ready are five aircraft carriers, thousands of missiles, helicopters, and tanks, with hundreds of thousands of soldiers already grasping guns, grenades, and mortars in hands strained with sweaty nervousness, all ready to inflict weapons of mass destruction on a moments notice by a president hell bent on war.  Yet I believe that the trigger locks are still in place due to those who have raised their voices and placed their bodies on the line against war and aggression.  George Bush made it clearly known that he wanted an invasion by early January at the latest.  Due, in large part, to your spark of light, your hope against hope, you initiated a critical project whose testimony to the importance of people-to-people ties is converting a seemingly inevitable war into millions of voices for sanity and peace. 

Darkness and light are palpable at the same time here in Colombia as well, where the government is at war with its own people.  Soldiers appear at any moment in the streets, frequently with their weapons pointed at everyone and at no-one.  Three story gun boats patrol the river, stopping our dugout canoes and registering the documents of each person aboard.  Para-military soldiers abound.  Over 200 youths from 15 – 18 years old were trained in marksmanship by one of the guerrilla organizations in one small village just a few weeks ago, causing the five nuns and dozens of other people there to take shelter under their tables that night while bullets fell through the roofs.  The people of this country are the survivors of 39 years of being starved, blown apart, tortured, or “disappeared” by those seeking to prevent or promote social change.  Ten percent of the population has been displaced from their homes by the violence.  And yet, to bring light to the darkness here is a team of 40 people in the Catholic church’s “Peace and Reconciliation” teams who risk to be present in a spirit of non-violence in one of the most conflictive zones of the country.  They are accompanying the several dozen communities who courageously take the stance of declaring themselves as “Peace Communities,” committed to building civil society while not participating with the army and it’s para-military, nor with the guerrilla organizations. 

Even in the short time I have been here, in my medical work I see several times a day how many here are affected by the stress of daily violence.  "Juliana," a woman in her 40s with a deep Afro-Caribbean countenance and a contagiously wide smile recounted to me; "Yes, I have migraine headaches every 2-3 days.  I've had them since I was seven years old when so many of the massacres happened here.  The headaches got more frequent and worse two years ago."  "What happened two years ago," I asked?  "I guess it was after my brother was killed and I began to take care of his two children."  "So your brother was killed?"  "Yes, that was my second brother killed that year" she continued, now weeping.  "And I have my own daughter and another orphan I've taken in."  The four of them live in a 2 bedroom home with 12 others.  She continued to describe how her entire family fled their river community when the para-military attacked her town.  While the medications I can prescribe for her will help alleviate her migraines, it is certainly obvious that her pain is very real and long-term and will not be eliminated by pills alone.  A peaceful environment is what she truly needs to be prescribed.  Juliana, while taking care of these four young children is in her fifth year as one of the Peace and Reconciliation accompaniers.  Tomorrow we return together into the very area from where her family was displaced.  We travel seven hours up the Atrato river frequently being stopped at Army, para-military, and guerrilla checkpoints while we wend our way up-river in dugout canoes with motors.  The army's three-story gun boats with cannons and 50 caliber machine guns we pull up next to, for mandatory document checks, are meant to be an intimidating reminder of who is nominally in control.  Our goal is to provide training in health care and human rights while others work in the “Return to Joy” project for children in this war zone.  Our first stop is Rio Sucio a para-military controlled town that has grown from 5,000 people to 34,000 due to the number of people displaced from other villages.  Eventually our team divides into groups fanning out to the dozens of Peace Communities in the region with this common peace-filled mission.

Meanwhile, yesterday I learned that the U.S. government will request another $500,000,000 in support to military objectives here next year.  In this region 28% of the children are chronically malnourished.  What gives greater rise to the violence of war, but the violence of an enforced poverty?  Between Iraq and Colombia this is an experience we share all too much in common, with the overcrowded and poorly equipped clinics, the lack of basic medications, or the children dying of basic illnesses.

But today I was privileged to visit a new light in the form of Alexander, a newborn infant of one of my fellow accompaniers.  Alexander was born without complications yesterday and passed a first tranquil night breastfeeding through a hot tropical night.  He is born into the family of Juan, another of those special people whose enthusiasm as an accompanier in this project brings frequent laughter and joy to all around.  I know from the years of work in Guatemala and the rest of Latin America, Juan’s odds of survival into a time of peace are dimmed with every dollar given for bullets by the U.S. government.  Yet, there is hope for the Alexander’s and all the newborns born in refugee camps; or in dark, unlit hospitals of Basra, Iraq; in village huts in the Atrato, Colombia; in inner city emergency rooms; or in mangers wherever they are found today.  I have faith that the millions of people of the world who are living out the vision of creative and productive world are joining to protest senseless killing and to build a more loving world.  By their daily work the midwives, the builders of buildings, educators, musicians, dancers, artists and actors daily make our world an exponentially better place to live.  Those concerned with the environment, the health care workers, the mail carriers and all who serve in ways to improve humankind are testimony that there are better ways than the exponentially destructive spiral of violence practiced by armies and weaponry.  Your efforts encourage my faith that we can find a better way and learn from the past.  I have faith that our risk and participation in life giving projects will help the Alexander’s of the world grow into peacemakers and not war-makers.

I remain encouraged and hopeful, knowing that our vision, prayer, and action is in the same spirit for a peaceful and a loving world, whether in the highlands of the Andes or the dry desert of Iraq, in the fertile plains of the Tigris river to the jungle river of the Atrato, from the ethnic Kurds to the indigenous Endara in Colombia, from the Muslim pilgrims during these days of the Hajj to the Catholic Diocese of Apartadó, from African Americans in the Oakland to Afro Colombians in Urabá.

Today, as every day, I will listen for news on the short wave radio.  I listen in growing hope for you and for the Iraqi people as the stalling of this military madness becomes a rising, turning tide of change toward a more just and loving world.  And I hope, pray and work for that end for the people of Colombia and throughout our world.

With gratefulness for the strength and hope your presence provides, and for the life affirming actions of all who strive for peace and justice,

Curt Wands
email: cwands@igc.org 

 Prayer for the Decade of Nonviolence

 I bow to the sacred in all creation.

 May my spirit fill the world with beauty and wonder.

 May my mind seek truth with humility and openness.

 May my heart forgive without limit.

 May my love for friend, enemy and outcast be without measure.

 May my needs be few and my living simple.

 May my actions bear witness to the suffering of others.

 May my hands never harm a living being.

 May my steps stay on the journey of justice.

 May my tongue speak for those who are poor without fear of the powerful.

 May my prayers rise with patient discontent until no child is hungry.

 May my life's work be a passion for peace and nonviolence.

 May my soul rejoice in the present moment.

 May my imagination overcome death and despair with new possibility.

 And may I risk reputation, comfort and security to bring this hope to the children.

 Mary Lou Kowmacki, OSB