Saturday, May 10, 2014

Christain Aid - we believe in life before death.










Meet Edile

Edile Body
A humanitarian zone is an area in which people live to ensure their safety in areas of conflict. No weapons are allowed in a humanitarian zone.
Edile lives in a humanitarian zone. He is 9.
His family moved to the humanitarian zone of Las Camelias in Northern Colombia when the conflict around them was too horrific to endure.
Edile lost his father in the conflict and many others in Las Camelias tell similar horror stories of lost family members, as well as their homes and livelihoods. It’s a story around 5 million people in Colombia can also tell.
The Inter-Church Commission for Justice and Peace (CIJP) have played a crucial role in the setting up of humanitarian zones like Las Camelias and supporting farming communities who have suffered in the conflict - educating them as to their land rights.
More than this, they have supported Edile and his friends by setting up a school in Las Camelias where the teachers keep a keen eye on the psychological wellbeing of the young people.
Edile feels much safer in Las Camelias. He is able to be a child again.
‘I am happy here. It is fun, we play ball, I have many friends.’
Whilst the humanitarian zones are merely a safe space in a dangerous environment they are a halfway house on the community’s journey back to their land and to justice.
That’s what Christian Aid and Christian Aid week is about. We have seen and we know that war tears lives apart and we journey with those that are suffering as we attempt to restore hope and restore lives.