Action for hope.

• Author: Fletcher, Kenneth R.
• Position: INTER-AMERICAN SYSTEM

Sandra Milena Arango fled her home in the Colombian countryside in 2004 after her husband was killed by illegal armed groups. Fearing that guerrillas would forcibly recruit her teenage son, she headed to Medellín with her four children as soon as her husband was buried.

"I crone without even a plate or a spoon to my name. I didn't know anyone," she says. "When I got here, I just wanted to sit in a corner and cry."

Her story is tragically common in Colombia. In the last twenty years, about four million Colombians have been forced to leave their homes because of violence, according to statistics compiled by the Consultancy on Human Rights and Displacement (CODHES). Most trade their lives hl the countryside for the relative security of a large city. Called desplazados (displaced people), they are innocent victims of Colombia's decades-long internal conflict between guerrilla insurgents, paramilitary groups, and the military.

Many leave their homes because of direct threats from guerrilla or paramilitary groups, which often accuse peasants of aiding the other side. Others have experienced massacres or battles in their towns or fear forced recruitment into one of the illegal armed groups. All must start a new life from scratch amid the emotional trauma of violence and loss.

But Colombia does have a network of programs that support people who have been displaced by the conflict. They are run by the government, by organizations like the Red Cross and the United Nations, and by local nonprofits. Thanks to government support, Milena Arango now has a new fruit stand in Barbosa, a municipality north of Medellín. "My life has changed one hundred percent," she told a psychologist for an assistance program, "thanks to God, to you, and to my own desire to get ahead."

Colombia's government provides aid to displaced people through Acción Social, a social development agency formed in 2005. To receive assistance, a person must register as a displaced person at the local personería , the government entity that. works for human rights and the public interest in Colombia. The government then offers immediate emergency assistance to cover food and housing costs for the displaced families' first few months.

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Acción Social also provides funding to local NGOs that already have programs tailored to the local displaced population. These programs help families find jobs, start businesses, and cope with the radical change to...