The trip back from Restrepo was long, and after two days of much emotion, the three hours in the mini-van were taking a toll on my patience. When we finally arrived at the Villa, we were greeted by the 6 novices and their superior, who had arrived while we were away. Novices are Jesuits in training, or men who are considering joining the society of Jesus. They all stood up as we entered the Villa and greeted us courteously. I just waived (how rude!) and headed for the quiet of my room. Dinner and a hot shower helped my mood, so later in the evening I could channel that energy to … grading (yes, I'm still teaching).

Wednesday morning, it turned out, we had another trip and a slightly bigger bus/ van was waiting out at 7.45. A great opportunity to show our Villa co-inhabitants (aka novicios) I was not that mean and have (some) social skills. Although, as my friends are well aware, mornings are not the best time for my niceness to shine *grin

We went to a small village, Montebello, just half an hour away from the city of Cali. We visited a school that started 6 years ago with 60 students, mostly children of displaced families. In the last couple of years, the German government has provided funding to support building with guadua, an environment friendly material that is native to the country and looks a lot like bamboo. The school has grown tremendously and has over 300 students now; the school focuses on engaging the whole community, all of the families, including the children in a consultative process about their educational needs; from what we heard and saw, the community is proud and really has ownership of the “colegio.”

It was very moving to see how much the community had achieved with so little, and how much more could be done if they had the resources. The majority of the children there, about 80%, are orphaned and live with sibling groups and/ or relatives. The director told us that they are still working on creating zonaz de paz, or peaceful places/ areas, where the children can relax or experience quiet and peace (as lots of them are scared, not paying attention, and way behind their grade level, as the directora described, or as I could not help diagnose, were symptomatic of psychological trauma).

Now I am back to the house at the Javeriana campus – beautiful grounds, gated area – a strangely rude reminder of my privilege and social status. It is hard to make sense of all this.

[Spanish] Word of the day: descanso [aka what I need but am not getting: rest]