This post is also available in: Spanish
A worship service in a church in Mampujan, Colombia
By Anna Vogt, MCC Colombia
Advocacy is the focus of the month! What is it, how does it work and who does it are all questions that we Seeders are wrestling through after our big trip to Honduras, Mexico and Guatemala, and of course, our present work in Colombia. Here’s a reflection of working with the church:
I supposedly work with the social organization of the local church in Mampuján. It’s been an up-hill battle for me, as I wrestle with cultural assumptions and too many church services where I feel like an outsider. It’s all just so different from the advocacy-focused, socially-engaged, progressive Mennonite church I attended in Langley!
Pray and Fasting as Advocacy
However, many church members in Mampujan, the majority women, also firmly believe that they are engaged in advocacy. Through pray and fasting, they consistently emphasis that they are changing their world for the better. I have had countless conversations with people who describe the positive changes they have seen because of their actions: husbands have become converted, thus improving family life, vital rain has fallen to provide water for crops, healings have taken place, and perhaps most dramatically of all, no one was killed during their displacement. The arrival of reparations is attributed to both the hard work of the community leaders and the faithful actions of the church as they sacrificed food for the good of the community in many fast services.
A Different Kind of Empowerment
In a world and a political climate where displaced people have very little obvious power, along with the historical marginalization of Afro-Colombian communities, these women are changing the world in the only way they see possible. The physical world seems to have little need for them, but they control what happens in the spiritual. People who the rest of the world views as powerless view themselves with dynamite in their hands. A personal God who is ready to intervene at the cry of his people is a powerful drawing card for this type of advocacy when there is no easy access to other avenues of power. Their actions recognize the injustice in which they live and the way they advocate for change is also an implicit recognition of those injustices and marginalization. Many times, it is just as effective to dedicate time to prayer and fasting than to write a letter to the editor or to President Santos.
Prayer empowers women and also provides a community space where they talk about their problems. They visit each and pray for sick members of the community, providing comfort and company to those in need. One woman told me the story of when she told her husband he was no longer allowed to verbally abuse her because she was a “precious jewel to the Lord.” Through her relationship with the church, she found the strength to advocate for herself in a harmful situation.
Traditional Political Advocacy
Enter Anna. Fresh from university and eager to change the world. Ready to bang the church over the head with the gospel of social change and direct action. Straight from meetings with Members of Parliament and protests in Canada and confidant in her ability (and therefore the ability of everyone) to access traditional political power. Eager to tell people to stop fasting and to start walking, to stop praying for change and come to meetings about income generating projects with the real possibility to change your life.
But, it is not that easy, is it? When I tell people that what they are doing is not enough and does not actually work make a difference, I face the risk of taking away their empowerment and the skill set that they have developed to deal with their unique situations. If I don’t try to understand what they are doing and why, my temporary presence can be harmful, not helpful. They understand the way their world works a lot better than I do.
Learning from Each Other
Does this mean I don’t do anything? No, I don’t think so- I am also a valid person with valid ideas. But it does mean that I need to think a lot more about what I do engage in and what my assumptions are, based on where I come from, especially before I try to engage a world I don’t really understand. I still do not enjoy going to church very much and, like any other institution, the church also has a negative side and impact on the community. However, I’m learning to listen and to understand before I judge and before I act.
Originally published https://thellamadiaries.wordpress.com/
Seed program website http://seed.mcc.org/
Wow! I am amazed at how closely these experiences and thoughts echo mine working with Anabaptist churches in Nicaragua. Thanks for this post.
Thanks for this post. It challenges the notion that fasting is something that only people with plenty to eat and who live in safety do. It also highlights the importance of story telling – which becomes part of the chorus of advocates for justice and peace. Sometimes all we can do is be a ministry of presence, adding to the critical mass of voices. Reminds me of Lilla Watson’s quote, “If you’ve come to help me, your wasting your time. But if you’ve come because your liberation is bound with mine, then let us work together.”