My role with the "Peace Communities" was as an "accompanier", or "unarmed bodyguard". As part of an international team, and at their request, we provided protective accompaniment for civilians threatened by activities of the three main armed actor groups in Colombia at the time.

That accompaniment was in two forms. One was physical, as we lived closely and traveled with them. The second was political, as we communicated with heads of police, army generals, the human rights official in the Vice Presidents office, with embassies, the United Nations, and with the equivalent of the attorney generals office in Colombia.

Each form provided protection for civilians who were too often caught in the crossfires of the conflict, and also politically stigmatized as the military and paramilitary would falsely assume - or claim - that they were members of the insurgent group, the FARC or supporting them.