ICRC and PANICA

The last few days have been busy and interesting. We have been spending almost every day, all day at the office of Colombian Red Cross.
On friday we spent the day at de ICRCs subdelegation office. Here we had a tour around the office - got to know exactly with what and how the ICRC works in Bogota, and the rest of the country. We got to know a lot about how they work with prisoners- visiting them in jail, and hoq they work with desplaced people, due to the conflict.

We even got to join in on interviews with people who were applying for help from the ICRC because they are displaced. I got to follow a first and third interview - the first interview is to see if the person really is displaced due to the conflict, whether or not the person has the right to help, how many people are in the family, how they came to Bogota, why they came, etc. If the ICRC doubts anything in their story, if they can`t document what they are saying - like if they can`t document that they have 6 children to feed - the ICRC will make a homevisit, checking out the situation. If they for some reason do not fullfill the criterias for recieving help from ICRC, they will help them knowing their rights - what kind of help they can expect to recieve from the government.

After a nice lunch with some of the delegates at the office, we went on homevisits with a fieldworker. We drove for almost 50 minutes, to a poor area called Bolivar, in the mountainside. It`s amazing where they can build houses! In the steepest hills they lived in shields. When we got to the area we suddenly understood why we had to drive a Landcruiser.. the roads were so small, narrow, steep and muddy. I didn`t understand how we could make it around the neighbourdhood, but we did.

The first house we went to, we had to leave without even going out of the car. This was because of some big, barking dogs who stood in the way of the door of the house. We didn`t want to risk any lifes, so we drove on. The next house we also had to leave without seeing the family - because there was no one with that name living on this adress. The third adress didn`t even exist - the road didn`t exist according to the local people. The fourth adress we almost didn`t find - because they lived in a steep hill, in a shield you couldn`t see from the road. They had to call the family and ask them to come and pick us up somewhere. An they did. So we got to see one homevisit. As I said, they lived in a small shield-like house in the mountainside. We had to almost climb down the hill to get there. In a small room lived an old lady, her son with his wife and to small children. They had one room for sleeping, with only two beds, and a small room for cooking etc. No isolation, no electricity. They sure need help. But it seems like they don`t fullfill the criterias for recieving help from ICRC, but the fieldworker said she would help them contact the government so that they could get the help they needed.

I am so amazed by the important work the ICRC does with the displaced people! It must be such a hard work, seeing so many tragic cases, hearing so many sad and awful stories. I really admirer these people for what they`re doing!

Today, saturday, we went with the volunteers to see how they work with PANICA here in Bogota. We were around 12 persons today, and were divided into two groups. My group went to a poor area to work with children, doing activities in the streets. I really enjoyd seeing how they do it in real life - I`ve heard so much about it. I also learned new games and activities I can bring with me home to Norway. The group of children which I was working with today was new - they just started up this fall. So they`re still getting to know each other and the volunteers.
I will write more about PANICA later - since I will be working with this in Manizales. They say that they do it a bit differently in Manizales, so I`m excited to see how they do it there!