KFTC Members Return from Coal Tour of Colombia
"I knew something was going on but once I got down there and connected with people it really hit me. It was hard to see what the communities have to go through. Innocent people are suffering for a rock."
-Rully Urias
-Rully Urias
KFTC members Rully Urias of Island Creek in Pike County and Sara Pennington of Knott County have just returned from a powerful trip to the Colombian coalfields. The two were a part of a delegation of some 20 U.S. residents who visited Colombia with the non-profit Witness for Peace. The group was in Colombia to learn about the challenges faced by communities being sacrificed to the coal industry. Rully and Sara's presence on the tour helped to connect the destruction happening in Colombia with stories from Appalachian communities being devastated by mountaintop removal mining.
"We shared our stories every chance we had," said Urias, "We made some good connections."
The group visited several indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities that have been displaced by coal companies moving in and mining their land. It's a familiar story to people from the Appalachian region, and at every turn Rully and Sara found even more connections to home. For instance, one of the largest coal companies in Colombia, Drummond Coal, is owned by a coal operator from Alabama.
Urias said he's been changed by the people and places he encountered in Colombia. "Here in America, we're worried about our X-Boxes and what color our cell phones are. To witness what's happening in the rest of the world, to feel their words, their sorrow and despair wash over you - it changed me. I've already started doing things differently when it comes to what I buy and how I use electricity. I'm not going to do anything that fuels other people's despair and hurt. I've talked to my family and we're definitely going to ween ourselves off of what we don't need. "
"It's made me 100% more committed to my work here. I'm not only fighting for my home, I'm fighting for Colombia, too."
-Rully Urias
To help spread awareness, Rully will be sending articles to statewide newspapers. He is also producing videos about the trip for YouTube and other web sites. Both Rully and Sara will be guests on an upcoming episode of Mountain Talk, a weekly call-in radio show produced by WMMT in Whitesburg, KY.
Read more about Rully and Sara's experience in Colombia on upcoming blog posts and in this month's issue of balancing the scales.
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