Armed groups fighting in Colombia’s bloody civil war gave Enilda’s family 24 hours to leave their rural home village. The parents fled with all 21 of their children to a nearby town, where her father bought a farm. The family slowly began to rebuild their lives from scratch.
But Colombia’s 50-year conflict was far from over. New arms groups came to the town to fight the guerrillas, and the family found themselves caught in the middle again.
“They asked my father to give our land for their operations, but my father refused. They shot him dead. Then they stole our farm.”
Enilda was just 15 years old.
Incredibly, Enilda’s mother managed to keep the whole family together. Enild returned to school, and went on to study psychology at university. She needed to understand what drove the militants to kill her father so senselessly.
Enilda began volunteering with a church, helping youths in her community. She provided spaces for young people to talk freely, to feel safe and to understand their rights.
“Young people have many reasons to pick up a gun, to join the war. But I channelled my energy into aid work. I needed to feel useful. I needed to do something to get relief from the pain and anger.”
Enilda was later hired a local mayor to coordinate food distribution for children and women in the rural areas. It was then that her town faced the worst violence in the war.
Thousands of people were killed.
“I witnessed many massacres. I saw dozens of people murdered at the same time.”
In 2007, Enilda began working for the Norwegian Refugee Council as an education monitor. Now she’s an area manager, supervising the organization’s projects in education, shelter and legal support.
“I see myself in each displaced person I’ve met over the last 20 years. I can see their pain, but also their courage and kindness. It’s a shame the war had to show me that.”
While the peace process signed last year has brought real lasting hope to Colombia, Enilda’s home village is still ruled by armed groups.
She hopes for the day that the town is truly free.
