Merry Christmas from Venezuela

Merry Christmas from Conuco Colibrí, our little farm in the northern tip of Venezuela’s Andes Mountains. I hope that where ever you may be that you find a moment of peace, stillness and beauty in unexpected places, much a few shepherds did on this night two thousand years ago.

This year my own Christmas was guided - quite literally - by shepherds and stars. For the traditional nine nights of caroling I traipsed the steep and rocky hills of my village in the pitch black darkness caused by electrical outages, led by Nani and Heiner - shepherds by day, drummers by night.

Undaunted by our nightly power cuts, these musicians and their companions insisted that we visit each and every of the 100+nativity scene in town. With only a tiny sliver of moon in the night sky, the stars were our guide. Fortunately, these young shepherds have 20-20 starlight vision and we managed to serenade every pesebre in town. I strummed the cuatro until my fingers literally bled, and the kids played their drums till their hands were calloused, Venezuelan Christmas aguinaldos are not the solemn Silent-Night-type but rather: Shoot the cannons! Bang the drums! Baby Jesus is born! Let’s dance!

Those nine nights felt a lot like the past few years in Venezuela. In the dark, on the edge, searching for hope, realizing that all we had to keep from falling was each other. We had been looking in all the wrong places for the Messiah, we had been cursed with plagues of modern-day emperors and scattered and exiled to the far ends of the earth. Yet, here we are, today, gathered in song, awed by new life in this pesebre that is Venezuela. It’s still mighty dark, but maybe, there is a faint light of a dawn in the distance.

My path in this long night has been forged by my obsession with planting food, provoked by

food shortages and nourished by a self-formed group of young farmers.Thanks to the very generous help of many of you, we took our grow-and-raise-your-own-food passion to the homes of each of the kids, planting fruit trees, vegetable gardens, banana circles, potato tires,and lately making adobe bricks to build chicken coops for each home. 

My prime sidekick in this amazing adventure has been my life partner Ledys, who set aside his drums to pick up a hoe and shovel with the kids, learning from them and offering bear hugs and unwavering support.

The love and support of my own kids has also been essential to staying on this path of hope, even as they are so busy forging paths of their own, Mikel and Nancy keep their hearth at Heritage Lane forever filled with great food,music,tiaras, soccer balls and books for the brilliant Oliver and the fabulously original Juniper. Maia and Malick are growing a radiant sunflower , the tri-lingual Simara who lights the world with her smile and pirouettes and world-class hugs. Pachi and Oriana turned a US visa refusal into two Master’s degrees from Spain, thanks to the extraordinary solidarity of a dear friend. Gogo spread his creative wings of photography and the world is a much more beautiful place because of it.

Life in this pariah state is no picnic. But I have acquired a life-time degree in human resilience from our collective survival over the past few years. Each and every day feels like an unfolding poem, my heart is broken open over and over and over again as I witness the solidarity of my neighbors, the resilience of those who choose to stay, the spark of life in the least exulted corners of this world. Kind of like that little child whose birth in a remote dark corner of the world never fails to take our breath away. What a privilege these years, I wouldn’t trade them for anything.

Thanks to so many of you who have been there for me, both through your concrete support and solidarity for our project, for understanding how hard it is, for giving me your hand just as my shepherd friends Nani and Heiner do on dark moonless nights. I am forever grateful.

On a final note, many of you have asked if we need more seeds of tools or help with the project. At this point, our biggest need is to replace the motor of a 40-year old vehicle that was kindly donated to us by an anonymous donor. It will allow these intrepid fabulous farming kids to reach other communities who have asked for their spark. Any donations can be made via Pay Pal to conucocolibri@gmail.com

But mostly, please keep Venezuela in your prayers. May our dawn draw near, in spite of vultures that circle near and far, may that tiny small life in the most unexpected of all places ignite our strength and our hope.

Blessing to all of you on your journeys, know that you have a refuge of beauty and peace at Conuco Colibrí if ever you may be near, Keep in touch via whatsapp at +58-424-564-0759 or see photos of our project at our instagram account @conucocolibri. Abrazos, Lisa