VILLA LOYOLA, Chachagui, Colombia, 1 July 2016 — On our last working day in Colombia, Camila DeChalus interviews Jesuit priest Father Joe at the coffee plantation known as Villa Loyola. Fr. Joe is renowned for his work with the poor in this coffee-producing region of Colombia. We came to call Villa Loyola “the laboratory” of […]
PASTO, Colombia, 30 June 2016 — My student and I made a brief trip to “Hogar de Paso,” or “Place of Passing,” today. It’s a half-way house on the outskirts of Pasto, funded by the city mayor’s office and operated by the “Pastoral Social,” a branch of the local Catholic church. The facility currently houses […]
SAMANIEGO, Colombia, 28 June 2016 — Camila DeChalus interviews a Colombian coffee grower about how climate change impacts his livelihood. I’m on assignment for American University’s Center for Latin American and Latino Studies (CLALS) to assist Camila, who won one of this year’s AU-Pulitzer Center International Reporting Fellowships. She is working on a film about […]
SAMANIEGO, Colombia, 28 June 2016 – The Colombian civil war that has claimed an estimated half a million dead and wounded over the past 50 years is not over yet, despite the peace accords signed this month in Havana, Cuba. We were reminded of this fact on our trip to Samaniego, a drive of three […]
LA FLORIDA, Colombia, 27 June 2016 — Coffee is everywhere in the community of La Florida, about an hour drive from Pasto. This is the peak of the coffee harvest in this part of the country. You can see coffee drying on main streets of towns and villages, on the front and back yards of […]
PASTO, Colombia, 26 June 2016 — This city prides itself in its deep religiosity, calling Pasto the most Catholic city in the province of Nariño — if not in all of Colombia. And the church here seems to wield significant influence on daily life. I’m on assignment for American University’s Center for Latin American and […]