Wheatland County Colombian connection

Sharon McLeay
Times Contributor

 

Lisa Bastarache, Wheatland County Public Relations coordinator, had destination Colombia on her agenda, as part of a municipal exchange program for Wheatland County.
“This exchange is through FCM, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. The program. I participated in is CISAL (Sustainable and Inclusive Communities in Latin America),” said Bastarache. “It is coordinated through the Canadian government, who aid municipal representatives to work with industry, economic development and governance issues. None of this is county financed and I went as a volunteer.”
Bastarache met with Paula Lopez Vendemiati, the Colombian liaison who coordinates her trips for incoming representatives. The goal for the visit was fact finding on issues of social inclusion.
Antioquia is part of a protected area of the Cauca River waterfront and the high Andean forests.
In Santa Fe Antioquia, Bastarache met with a group of LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Queer) young people, a young group in Buritica where illegal mining is prevalent, and with caregivers of disabled persons in Canasgordas. Bastarache said the needs are there, but no formal programs are available to assist these groups.
“The LBGTQ have set up an informal group to come up with some goals to present to their government. It is very much a Catholic Society and rights for the group are in the early stages of development,” said Bastarache “
“They are on the same path as our society for inclusion, but about 50 years behind in implementation of those rights. They are making some good headway though. They have the public policy, but it isn’t enforced. They are allowed to work, but often they are harassed.”
She said that conditions are improving with the implementation of transparency policies, documentation of issues and employment standards.
Buritica is an area that has a lot of illegal mining operations.
“With the illegal mining there is a great influx of people and what comes with it are crime and things like child prostitution, “ said Bastarache.
“There is a whole group of people called the victims, who have lost loved ones in guerrilla warfare, and drug trafficking is still strongly active in the country.”
She said in some areas there are about six murders a day, a fact that people just seemed to accept as the norm.
Most members of this group were in their mid-twenties and they are trying to set up some programming, recreational and meeting spaces.
In the third area, she met with a caregivers group for physically and mentally challenged people. She said that services we expect are non-existent in that community. The disabled children are not allowed to go to school, as there are currently no programs or time for them. The infrastructure is primitive, so mobility issues are also very difficult for challenged persons and there are no supports or training for the caregivers. There are few resources and virtually no communication means.
The goal of the CISAL program is that an exchange of information will help these groups establish themselves, and in turn they will expand and teach other groups within Colombia. Bastarache said that she was impressed with the amount the groups accomplished with so little resources.
“The country itself is beautiful and the people are very warm and welcoming,” said Bastarache. “They are very genuine and open and incredibly self-sufficient with what they have.”
The exchange also benefits Canada. It encourages trade and cultural awareness,” said Bastarache. “We bring ideas to them and bring back ideas with us. It is a small world now, and there are some misconceptions out there, so we bring back information about the realities in the country.”
Money is given to the groups through CISAL, to set up programs. Bastarache said that she would be going back in January 2017, to further assist the groups to get some of their programs up and running.