Cocina — Kitchen

When we first visited the community in 2002, they were in the process of moving to this new land. Unable to return to their old farms because of the continued fighting in that area, they had successfully organized and negotiated with the Colombian government for a land grant in a safer zone. They named their new home Paradise Farm.

Visiting again in 2003, we asked the Balsita families to show us belongings that had survived the 1997 displacement. Most had fled the massacre with only the clothes on their backs, which had long since worn out. One family, however, managed to escape with this horse, now tethered outside the family’s kitchen. On their old farms, many families had small herds of both cattle and horses. Here, because they must share sparse pasturage, the community limits the number of grazing livestock to one horse or cow per family. The choice between the benefits of fresh milk versus an animal that can be used for both transportation and hauling is not easy.