"I have been in nearly all the women´s jails
in the northern part of Chile," she
told me when she caught my arm after the Roots in the Ruins: Hope in Trauma
workshop. A team of trauma healing and
resilience development facilitators from the Shalom Center had come to
Antofagasta on the coast of northern Chile to accompany the members of the
Pentecostal Church of Chile.
"I was a drug dealer," she added.
"Today you taught us that in order to be a place of healing, the church
needs to be a safe space to share each other's stories. I know this is true.
For over 20 years I was in and out of
jail. Then one day, my neighbor invited
me to this church. I came, and I discovered
God's presence in a way that I had never known before. Weeping and trembling, I told God my whole
story and felt like I did not have to hide anything for the first time in my
life. When God listened to my story, my
life began to change. I no longer dealt
in drugs, I went back to my family and
home, and I kept coming to church.
I thought that everything would be alright, but
it wasn´t. I realized that I needed to
do something about my behavior in my family.
My children and I fought constantly.
I decided one day to tell them my story.
I shared with them how my childhood had been and confessed that I knew
that theirs had been similar. I told
them stories, good and bad, that I had never revealed before. They listened. Together we decided to start working on
creating happy experiences, a little at a time each day, for all of us to
remember.
And I thought that now everything would be
alright, but it wasn´t. I began to
notice the violence, not just the shootings and the shouting, but the way of
thinking and of being in my "población," my neighborhood. I could see that I had grown up and that now
my children were enveloped by the ramifications of all the lacks that come with
poverty. As a member of the church, I
now had a point of comparison. I told my
community story to my pastors and they encouraged me to get involved in healing
my neighborhood. I did. I visit my neighbors to listen to their stories and encourage
them.
God listened to me and my spirit was healed. My children listened to me and our family was
healed. My pastors and church listened
to me, I and I am helping to heal my community.
I have discovered that daring to tell and
listen to our stories sets us on the path of healing."
Anonymous
as told to Elena Huegel
Antofagasta,
Chile
October,
2015
