The four strangers
More than 8% of the displaced population in Colombia belong to one ethnic group. Cities are becoming a must for the Indians who must leave their communities away by the fear of violence.
- Is not that enough? - Question outraged Miriam Chamorro, with the hint of an accent chocoano that his voice is slow and forceful. Every word seems a shell fired from the anger that he tells the story of people, their ancestors and their counterparts under victimized by the 'sin' of being carriers of DNA in Colombia seems cursed.
on your hair up sits a crown of colorful beads that contrast with her dark skin. Their features make off like a woman peaceful and undisturbed, until those big eyes open wide, surprised by the nonchalance with which he talks about the journalist who investigates the story of his family.
"There are hundreds of years of subjugation," he repeats over and over again, remembering all the times when the indigenous community was subdued before the interests of each group that tried to boot your material and spiritual heritage, settlers, soldiers, paramilitaries and even soldiers.
they sting to know that the name of your community is used to make policy and discarded as soon run out of campaigns. It bothers him that society looks askance at the fact that Indians occupy the cities. You are uncomfortable in front of you is a journalist, with his notebook, trying to make inferences about a reality that does not know.
"But for you it is very easy to judge-tops instantly. Miriam
knows best of everything that Indians suffer from Antioquia and Chocó, that because of violence are banished and forced to migrate to cities such as Medellín, where the council which Chibkariwak she is governor. For its office, located in Prado Centro, passed Chibcha, Caribs, Arawaks and Embera sick or threatened, seeking refuge in foreign territory.
However, its 2,800 members of the council can not offer more than a shelter housing and occasionally providing food supplies to make your stay more bearable in the city. Outside the scope of Miriam is the preservation of language and cultural roots of indigenous exiles, once they are in Medellín, are absorbed by the bustle abruptly obligee to seek survival.
The only vestige that testifies to the ascendancy of those who inhabit the council is the brown skin, straight hair, thin eyes and broad nose, these features Zambos that the city has not been able to seize and accompany them to the grave.
Chibkariwak Cabildo aisles are inhabited by people from the torso to the feet seem to inhabitants of any tenancy of the downtown: bare feet were the shoes changed by the Yines skirts and blouses breasts exposed by and bras.
That freedom to dress is one of the strangest customs Yamile Tunay, a displaced Embera that, despite occasional paint your body with Jaguar, you have to forget the clothes he wore before, to adapt to trends in textiles used in Medellín. Yamile
sits in a small longhouse which is located at the site of the council, after passing through the dark corridors where her two young daughters play: Clarina and Luzamira. Is illuminated by a light and shade caused by one of the white lights located at the entrance of the site. Just one can clearly see the right side of his face, the rest is in a darkly mysterious.
However, little light is enough to see the tears in your eyes are drawn to remember the past. Jamie seems to be about to mourn, quietly spoken but not sadness, but for the big effort made to try to be understanding of journalist although this involves falling into too many buzzwords.
Crying does not outcrop. Yamile remains unchanged counting the road that brought her to Medellín, and though his words highlight pain, his actions are completely neutral.
"When I came here suffering and suffering - he says quietly, in an attempt to articulate ideas.
She was born and raised in the Alto Baudo, Choco town where his Catrú Embera indigenous community, one of the few that in Colombia there has been mixed with mestizo descent. There she met her husband, Joseph Israel Stranger, where she had her three daughters, Ninfa, Clarina, Durney Luzamira and his son, and from there went terrified with the fear that the little family had just left him the target.
alone at 8 years old, his son Durney suffered health complications forced him to leave with his father in the community. Jamie had to say goodbye to her son and her husband, who left for Medellin to seek the help of Miriam Chamorro and San Vicente de Paul Hospital. Durney
suffering from cancer and pneumonia, and Joseph Israel, his father, had to carry not only the burden of the disease, but with the need to achieve to maintain its financial support and the child's stay in the city. The consequences of this effort did not wait and Joseph Israel (which was in charge of caring for Durney) suffered a cardiac complication that caused a quick death.
Because of the illness of her husband, Jamie had to leave again, but this time to let the Alto Baudo. Seeking to care for their child, arrived in Medellin, but it took a year and three months after the death of her husband so that she and her daughters also gave him the farewell to Durney.
Without any case pending in Medellin, Jamie returned to his homeland to return to the company of his daughters who both missed. However, in the Alto Baudo be met with a community engaged in a struggle against the guerrillas, who had left deaths on both sides.
"When I had a lot of gossip Yamile says ruefully, recalling the rumor spread among the guerrillas, who believed that his trip to Medellin was due to the intention to denounce to the authorities.
Knowing this and see that the families of their community were raped by the rebels led to a decision:
-Honey I'm not going to be here, "said her mother announcing that she, like many of their countrymen would take a 'panga' (boat) with her daughters to begin their trip to Medellin, although that went against their wishes.
In the city the situation fue mejor. Ser una madre viuda, que desconoce el idioma y que tiene que pasar de una economía del sustento a una competitiva le representó noches en las que ella y sus hijas aguantaron hambre. Haber salido con el afán del terror de su tierra le significó verse obligada a partir sin equipaje y recibir en Medellín las prendas caritativas.
Haber sido desterrada implicó para su familia olvidarse de toda la cultura que les pertenecía antes. Sus hijas hoy crecen lejos de las raíces que Yamile arraigó desde la infancia; visten yines y camisa (al igual que su madre) porque ya no caben en sus vestidos, hablan español porque eso es lo que les enseñan en el colegio, y porque no tienen otra salida para sobrevivir en Medellín.
The four bear the brunt of the stranger, that word which is to see them living in a shelter in the middle of a big city of that name that they left their father and husband and that falls on them as a sleight of fate that forced to live in a foreign place without considering the possibility of a quick return.
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