Living in Bogota, it's easy to forget that this country continues to be at war. You hear about bombings all the time, but they occur in faraway
pueblos or target oil pipelines.
And then I came across this scene on my bike ride to work.
I've worked in marketing, so I know that putting a face on an issue creates a much stronger emotional tie than listing a bunch of statistics. So hearing that a bomb killed 3 people or that there are over 4 million internally displaced persons in Colombia isn't nearly as effective as seeing the faces of people who have been directly affected by the conflict. All of these photos had the name of the person and the date of their "disappearance." I couldn't help but stop my bike and pay my respects.
So I can sit here in my nice apartment in Bogotá and feel great about life. And then I feel so helpless. What can I do to help this country? What can anyone do?
The Santos government
recently announced that they are starting up peace talks with the FARC. Let's hope that they make some progress.
