In just one more week, I leave for two years to serve with Mennonite Central Committee's Seed Program in Colombia. From its website (seed.mcc.org),

Seed is a 2 year program of the Mennonite Central Committee that focuses on connecting young adults from a variety of places to Reflect, Serve, and Advocate. 

Participants of the program come together for 2 years to REFLECT on the issues that keep us separated- from economics, politics, and war; to culture, geography, and theology. 

The program connects the reflection on the big issues with community grassroots SERVICE together with communities who are working against significant violence, poverty, and oppression. 

While we seek to connect the macro to the micro, and learn to see how the large structures affect real communities- participants learn to speak as a community to ADVOCATE for peace, justice, and equality with our global partners.

Following a one week orientation in Nicaragua, I'll move to Bogota learning Spanish with the group (there are 10 of us and two leaders, Jes and Alejo) and living with a host family for three months. After that we begin our service assignments in different communities across Colombia.

I hope to use this space to document some of my experiences, as well as reflect on the issues my local community deals with.