Pilot: Ladies and gentlemen, I’m terribly sorry to say that the wings are finished.

General consternation.

Pilot: But don’t worry we still have chicken breasts and thighs.

He is risen indeed!

A leader at one of the pilot children’s clubs says,

Before you [the team I work with] came,

we were working with the children with our finger nails.

Now we are working with our hands.

It’s been a bloody couple of weeks here in Colombia.

First, 11 members of the Colombian army

died in an ambush by the FARC.

Now comes news of the death of 35 FARC rebels,

in attacks by the Colombian army.

I was struck by the difference in the way the bodies were treated.

The soldiers’ bodies were returned to their families

in coffins draped with the Colombian flag,

whereas body bags containing the rebels’ bodies,

were dragged along the ground on their way to be identified.

That’s the difference that comes from dying on the wrong side of the law.

But their mothers’ pain will be exactly the same.

And finally, as Colombia held its breath

to see if the liberation of soldiers and policemen

promised by the FARC would happen,

I read a terribly sad article about civilian hostages of the FARC,

many of whom are presumed dead,

but whose loved ones have never

received their remains

or any final confirmation of their fate.

I read about people who were extradited

to the United States by mistake

because they happened to have the same name

as a crimimal,

or because of identity theft.

I discovered that 60% of the people in rural areas

don’t have access to clean water

and that rural illiteracy is 18.5%.

And that 70% of food produced in Colombia

is produced by small peasant farmers.

I read about babynarcos

very young men who are 3rd generation

narcotraffickers.

I also read that 40,000 million pesos (£14 million, $22 million)

have been ‘invested’ (=stolen) in water delivery in Carmen de Bolivar

(near El Salado, where I was last year)

over the last 40 years

and the people still don’t have a drop of clean water to drink.

Sometimes I like to browse through Semana,

Colombia’s weekly news magazine.

This week I read that three of the best Hard Rock Cafés in the world

are in Medellín, Bogotá and Cartagena.