The Mermaid with Vocation

I'd like to talk about something seriously now. Tengo mucho ganas escribir sobre esto. A welcome change from the triviality of boys. Instead, about the real direction of your LIFE. Obviosuly, as this is my self indulgent ego centric blog, sobretodo I do mean the direction of MY life.

I don't apologise that my blog IS about men and women ;
Always it will be about the young and the old, about bravery and weakness, about the lessons and the teachers, about the enormous planet and the our tiny worlds, about the future, the past and the present moment.

What I like in life, is who I meet and what we talk about.

Here I am in Narino, the south of Colombia and staying in the beautiful home of a beautiful family. We joke and laugh and share and frolic. A family I had never met before :)

The head of the family the mother, is another nurse; the director of healthcare in this department of Colombia and charged with 150 employees, 7 medical centres and oversees the functioning of all. We talked about primary healthcare, the social determinants of health, preventative medicine, lifestyle and infrastructure, access and policy in our respective countries. We talk about things that always will matter in this world.

And these things, are why we are alive. It is why I am alive, on his planet at this time: to help things, make them better than without me. Ademas, this I know I have accomplished. At 23 years of age I have not lived in vain: if for nothing more than holding ONE patient's hand during a procedure; if for nothing more than explaining a condition to someone coming through the emergency room scared and anxious; f for nothing more than these very conversations with all sorts of people from all over the world.

I do not think I have yet done my whole part, but again I recognise that me being here, being alive, being myself is worthwhile, makes a difference, and is profoundly important and irreplaceable.

"Be yourself, no one can say you're doing it wrong."

This time we talked at length about the staggering incidence of teenage motherhood in Colombia. There is quite a bit of literature on the subject, as the rates are considerable above average here.

As I have already mentioned previously, I have taken part in a program for teenage mums from disadvantaged backgrounds  which gave me more honour and humility than anything I brought to the program. Basically, Australia is a country without the poverty that exists here, without the limits of corruption and a government which steals from its own people. There is a dichotomy here like I have never seen, of the rich being richest and the poor being poorest.

One of my friends had put it to me like this,

"wow... que profundo... aprendisite muy bien del mundo... espero que de nosotros aprendas cosas tambien, y te enamores de Colombia

me gusta que pienses asi... obviamente y si animo de asustarte, debes tener mucho cuidado cuando salgas de Bogotá... lastimosamente nuestro pais (es tuyo y mio) ha sufrido mucho durante mucho tiempo por culpa de la guerra interna causada por los Estado Unidos que quieren nuestra riqueza natural... a medida que vayamos siendo mas amigos te mostrare las maravillas de este pais

See you, you are a wonderful person... i hope that you can learn many good thinks here in Colombia... and you fall in love more"

The statistics on teenage motherhood here are startling. Why? Young women come from families who have nothing, and as an escape they may look for someone who many times is from an eqal sociao-strata and have a baby with him transferring the responsibility to his shoulders to provide for his new instant family. Of course, this fails to provide as neither have anything to their names apart from a newly required biggest possible responsibility of a new life. There is quite extensive literature on the subject, I have had conversation with my mentor about it and there is still so much left to learn and realize. Community development is not about imposing a way on a group which to whom you outreach- it is about sustainability, self sufficiency and self empowerment. This project, this issue is one I feel compelled to work with in my vacation break. Now that I know where I want togo, the universe and I can get to work in building the path to get there. I want to work with babies and teenage mums. Will keep y'all posted. 

Coming across this absolute CHAMPION and having mad yarns about Colombia, the Grande Colombia, the guerilla history and the future security.

He tells me he used to work in the government of his municipality. 10-12 years ago he was kidnapped by the guerila, in the same area that we were inthat day. They waked in, armed, and took him and two co workers from different municipalities. With them, the three of them were trapped, for one month. Released after one month of captivation as a threath or a warning- no harm had come to them, none physically. The two co workers returned in awful shape, he told me, with delabidated faces and sunken eyes, bearded and baring the toll. He returned having put on weight- after one month of “vacation” he called it. He told me of this experience with the joy of recounting a holiday. The guerilla made them walk through the forests and hike the hills and mountains. While there were rivers they permitted their captives to swim and bathe with very clear boundaries which if they stepped outside of the limits, their captives were very aware they “would respond”. So as such, Don Oskar passed one month, hiking in his forest and bathing in his rivers and he did not have a care in the world. Being in nature and the outdoor lifestyle is what he adores so being kidnapped by the guerilla mallitia enabled him to live the dream.

‘Weren’t you afraid?’ I ask gingerly

‘Nooooo’ he laughs confidently, ‘nothing happened. We don’t try and escape and nothing was going to happen’

‘But you’re family?’

‘THEY were afraid. They didn’t know what happened to me, because they didn’t know what was going on they were afraid. I knew what was happening, I knew I was safe so because I knew I didn’t have anything to be afraid of. And, I even stole some minutes of a cell phone while we passed a town, to tell them I was safe. Quickly I told them-

“Don’t worry, I’m safe, don’t worry”

“Where are you??” They asked me

“Can’t tell you where I am but don’t worry. Don’t worry, I’m safe. Adios”

That was two weeks in to being kidnapped. That was in the middle,” he recounts with a seasoned nonchalance.

The history, the government, the security is a world apart from Australia and sleepy old Perth. In my home I leave my purple Ford Festiva, Lolita parked in the front yatrd with keys in the ignition, unlocked. The Colombians have an expression,’no das papaya’

Lolita and her keys are the biggest juiciest papaya you could freely give!

It means don’t invite opportunities and license reason for something bad to transpire.

Here everyone walks with their handbas secured adelante, close to their body.

I had a necklace snatched off my throat, my classmate had her sunglasses stolen off her head while on a bus. There is no personal boundary, and everybody knows and is used to it. You always must be alert and suspicious. At the same time, the Colombians are the most open and inviting querida carinoso gente 

I might have met.

When I grow up I want to have a big home to invite guests to stay and help them feel comfortable and welcome as I have felt with the loving families here. For now, I don’t have a house but my heart is my home; and all of Colombia is welcome in my heart.