Luisa Fernanda Alarcón Criales
Fundación Red Mujer-es Warmi Yuma
San Agustín, Huila, Colombia.
Never in my wildest dreams I imagine to be riding a motorcycle up and down the mountain range, but here I am. It’s been a year since I was last here, and I was welcome with flowers, a handmade mask, a kerchief of the organization, wine and pizza, laughter and much love. I am currently housed in La Vereda Purutal, a remote settlement an hour walk away from town. As much as I enjoy the walk, I got a really affordable small motorcycle, and after a few lessons, I am moving slowly through San Agustín in it.
Gradually, I have been greeting each of the members of the organization, as this town manage a completely different rhythm, and the pace at which things happen is suspended in unhurried being. However, the labor done by the women of the organization throughout this year is palpable around town. The town’s marketplace holds a wonderful mural by the women’s restrooms done by Warmi Yuma in collaboration with Rhuda an organization from a different town named Neiva, in which the image of the Virgin Mary has a green kerchief covering half her face that states “Just cause”, above the image a slogan reads “Even Virgen Mary was consulted to be a mother. Choosing is a right”.
Yesterday, we held the first meeting in which we established the different engagement activities that I will be leading such as an auto ethnography workshop that will start on Tuesday July 19th, and English classes that will start on Thursday July 21st. I have already started my observation of their route for protection of human rights, and so far has been intense, scary, and full of obstacles, that for the moment I will not disclose for their and my security.
The final report of the Commission for the clarification of the truth, coexistence and non-repetition was published a few weeks ago, and yesterday night the recorded video of the live session was socialized by the organization at the Secretary of Culture and Public Library in town to inform everyone that soon enough all the documentation of the over 60 years of war will be available. Friends and neighbors attended the socialization, but an expected Q&A did not take place. There was silence from the audience once the video finished playing. The women from the organization asked the audience to consider the actions that can be taken in order to uphold the walkway to peace that Colombia is expecting to take in the positive switch of government coming this August 7th, 2022. In the women’s restroom though, a hand written message in the door read “marxists feminists get out of here…”.