In the northwest corner of South America, there’s a country full of mountains, jungles, and some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. It’s a place where most people speak Spanish—the language brought to South America by Spanish invaders five hundred years ago—and many also speak the languages of the native people who lived here long before.
Colombia has shores on the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. The Andes Mountains run from north to south, and the capital city of Bogotá is high up above sea level, close to the center of the country. If you go to the capital, you can see where people made the first gold coins in the Americas almost four hundred years ago. You can ride a funicular up the hill of Monserrate, or explore the exhibits at the Children’s Museum. In other parts of Colombia, you can hike through the jungle, climb a papaya tree, pick fresh bananas, discover how coffee grows, and see an anteater or a spider monkey. You can find children your age who love to sing and dance and play, and who are always ready for a new adventure. They’ll tell you that their country is a rich and exciting one, and that they’re proud to be part of it.
But Colombia is also a troubled country. For more than forty years many different groups have been fighting each other for power, and it is now one of the most violent places in the world. Every year the fighting has killed thousands—sometimes tens of thousands—of people. Often these people were men, women, and children who just happened to get caught in the middle.
All over Colombia, people are working toward peace. But this is much more difficult than it sounds. For one thing, Colombians have to be careful about what they say. It can be dangerous to speak out against any one of the fighting groups. So instead of naming them, Colombians often call them simply the grupos armados—the armed groups. And when people talk about their own homes, they don’t always name places either. Being too specific about anything might have terrible consequences.
The characters in the story you are about to read are invented, but they’re based on the lives of many brave children who are working hard and courageously, every day, to bring peace to their country.
