A Letter by Sabine Lichtenfels: GRACE Pilgrimage 2010 - Hope for Colombia
November 01 – November 09, 2010 in Bogotá, Colombia
“Ending Violence, Creating Models for Peace”
“A wave of violence is sweeping Latin America. People are deported, tortured, and killed. The activities of multinational groups, the drug mafia, guerrilla, paramilitaries and corrupt regimes are the reason why there are hardly any places left where truth, trust, and security are possible.
Still, there is a reason for hope.
In Colombia we got to know one reason for hope: The community San José de Apartadó with 1,500 members has been working on the establishment of a peace model for thirteen years. Under unspeakable conditions they have been sticking to their decision for peace. Neither do they cooperate with any of the conflict parties, nor do they consume drugs, nor allow armed people within their community. They have created their own community rules for solidarity and mutual support. If you want to put an end to the continuous murder you have to leave the system of violence – this is the discernment they have revealed and they want to comply with on all levels.
We have grown to deeply understand and know the Peace Village San José de Apartadó. We have been cooperating with them for five years now to create the so-called “Global Campus”, an international university for the foundation of Peace Villages worldwide. Our common approach of cooperation is: “Putting an end to the system of violence, creating models for peace.” This mental-spiritual guideline could spread all over Latin America and turn into a source of power for a non-violent revolution.
An Invitation
In this context we invite you to participate in a pilgrimage in the region of Bogotá from the 1st to the 9th of November. It will be a planetary pilgrimage uniting people from all over the globe who are threatened in a similar way – protected by the presence of representatives of international groups. The pilgrimage will be accompanied by Sabine Lichtenfels, Benjamin von Mendelssohn, Padre Javier Giraldo and other committed individuals. We do not fight against a system but we bear witness of the possibility of an alternative, which is applicable to all of humankind, all over the globe.
Around the world we are working on the development of self-sufficient lifestyle models in which the fundamental values that are true for all human beings on all continents can be lived : Truth and trust amongst each other, love for the creation and all its creatures, mutual interest and support as well as cooperation with animals and other nature beings.
It is the same longing for life that calls in every single one of us. We are establishing the “Global Campus” for the worldwide manifestation of these values. With the village “Mulatos” in the Colombian rain forest a new planetary center for peace knowledge comes into being. Mulatos is part of the Peace Community San José de Apartadó.
We invite all the courageous forces of peace: Please help to make these models known internationally thus providing them with the protection they need. With your financial support help to enable as many people from crisis areas, like Tibet, Palestine, India, and Latin America etc., as possible to participate in the pilgrimage in Bogotá in 2010. Help to save lives.
Together, let's make the Miracle of Mulatos a precedent for a new wave of hope for Latin America and all its inhabitants, above all peasants and indigenous. May all people get access to the knowledge and the means enabling them to leave the cycle of murder and violence!”
Sabine Lichtenfels
