Our goal was to explore the connections between the impacts of the coal industry in Kentucky and Colombia. An important part of the exchange and the high point for many was a celebration of culture and an exchange of the things that people in both places love about where they are from.

A delegation of 5 from Kentucky - including 3 KFTC members and 2 staff - participated in this Witness for Peace trip, which was focused on "The People Behind the Coal in Appalachia and Colombia." The exchange began with a tour of mountain communities impacted by coal mining in Eastern Kentucky. From July 19th to July 26th, the group traveled on to Colombia. We spent the week learning about the impacts of the coal industry on Colombian communities in a northern coastal region called Cesar.

In a village called Tamaquito, we sat under a cool canopy of trees in mud huts with palm thatched roofs. KFTC member Randy Wilson took a moment of space to do some pickin' for the villagers. People were immediately at ease, and the space filled with laughter and song.

Randy Wilson's Banjo in Tamaquito, Colombia from Kentuckians For The Commonwealth on Vimeo.

The villagers then performed a dance for us where the women, covered from head to ankle in flaming red capes, circled the open ground to the sound of a drum. Then one woman was joined by one man and they twirled together in an intense circle, rounding one another and bumping shoulders. 

After the dance, the villagers fed us a rich meal of marinated rice and goat meat. We talked as much as we could with them and played with the children who ran all around us. It started to rain and we quieted, sitting under the shade and listening to the sounds of the drops in this beautiful little village. With only one solar panel in the village, no one went inside their homes during this pleasant afternoon rain, but sat watching, experiencing it instead.

When we asked the villagers what they loved about the place they call home, several of them smiled. One said, “When the sun sets and night falls it is dark, we know where we are. We are not lost. Once, we lived in peace here.”

Tamaquito is being forcibly displaced from their land by a coal mining company. We're losing communities and cultures like them around the world at a rapid clip, due to our driving demand to consume. As Randy Wilson said, "The very people who know how to live sustainably, who figured this out long, long ago, are being displaced by a society whose principles and policy don’t have a clue."

The hope we can find is in communities standing together to learn from one another and to protect the values, the culture and the possibilities of transition that still remain here in Kentucky and abroad.

To learn more about the issues and the trip, plan to attend KFTC’s Annual Meeting and participate in a multi-media presentation about the trip.