Fundraising by Giulia Zurlini

I just spent a month in the Peace Community in San Jose de Apartadó, Colombia, with Operation Dove. I finally touched with my own hands what I have been hearing about for years. The peasants there walk rough paths for hours on end to cultivate the land and carry out a collective project of self-subsistence. They live surrounded by nature, in contact with animals, respecting and protecting the environment. They do all this in a context of extreme violence in which armed groups try, in every way, to take land and recruit minors for purposes related to drug trafficking and the most illicit interests. Their peaceful and neutral resistance is unique in the world. Their representatives are threatened as human rights defenders because on the ground they challenge a way of life based on the exploitation of humans and natural resources. Despite the murders and abuse they have suffered, this Community has managed to defeat death by transforming it into perseverance, a search for truth, dignity, consistency and joy in life. Being able to accompany these people, walking alongside them to ensure greater safety, has been a great honor.

If you would like to give me a gift for my birthday, please help me continue to cherish this extraordinary experience as one of the most precious pearls of all humanity. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!