GEMN’s Conference Day 3

GEMN Day 3

Day three of the GEMN conference was one of those days that anyone who has done mission service, or anyone who has lived in a developing country for any period of time, knows to expect. Our stated goal for the day and what we expected when we left our compound (more in this later) was to visit a farm run by an Episcopal Church in a rural area just North of Bogota. What ended up happening was more beautiful than any of us could have expected and put us in touch with pachemama, or Mother Earth, that is being devastated and desecrated in Colombia.

The short story is that after we had driven about 2 hours or more outside of the city and started up the dirt, mountain road to the church and farm, our bus driver refused to go any further, leaving us about a mile from the church. Of our group of 50 or so about 20 decided to make the rest of the trip on foot. It was probably the best session of any conference I have ever attended. We walked together up the mountain, through the countryside, passing through local farms and feeling the beauty of rural Colombia. The views were breathtaking and I was again faced with the paradox of a place so physically beautiful, and at the same time crushed by war, poverty and displacement. It is probably best to let the photos speak for themselves