by AnnMarie Cornejo
San Luis Obispo Tribune
June 18, 2007

Among cacao trees and tear-filled soliloquies, Shell Beach resident Judi Martindale searched for peace in a volatile land where civil war has raged for decades.

She joined a 12-member peace delegation that traveled to Colombia in May. Her goal: to witness the struggles and to pledge support for the ongoing human rights effort.

Martindale plans to share her story with local residents by speaking to service clubs throughout San Luis Obispo County.

In Colombia she met with embassy officials, a key Colombian military commander, victims of violence and representatives of organizations working for human rights.

Martindale also spent several days in the Peace Community of San Jose de Apartado—a thriving small village in northwest Colombia that has declared it

self a sanctuary from constant warfare.

The 19-day journey was unlike anything 60-year-old Martindale, a financial planner, has done in the past. But when she learned of the trip through the San Francisco Zen Center, where she has been a member for nearly a decade, she knew it was time to step forward to help, she said.

Martindale said she began transforming her life about 10 years ago.

“My business was growing and I was living what most people consider the American dream,” said Martindale. “I remember thinking, ‘What else is there?’ ”

She downsized her business and began to practice Zen, a school of Buddhism emphasizing meditation and self-contemplation.

“My life has been privileged,” said Martindale. “I have at least another decade of being active and productive, and I’ve decided it is time to give back.”

The trip to Colombia — sponsored by the Fellowship of Reconciliation and the Buddhist Peace Fellowship — was a way to raise awareness of the harsh conditions there, said Martindale.

A guerrilla insurgency, drug trafficking and corruption threaten the lives of Colombians. Thousands of displaced persons live in slums because their land has been seized by the insurgents or because they have fled the violence in the countryside.

“In the slums and barrios there is a constant element of fear,” said Martindale.

She felt it too. “There was always an element of being on guard,” said Martindale. “It was not a place I relaxed into.”

Many of those in the slums are women with young children who have lost husbands to the war. Martindale, who listened to their stories, said she will not forget one woman in particular. The widowed 86-year-old was living in the slums — without adequate food or supplies —because all three of her sons were killed in the military or by drug-related cartels.

“I don’t know how she got up in the morning,” said Martindale. “It was gut-wrenching, but definitely an affirmation of the human spirit.”

That’s because, she said, in places such as San Jose de Apartado, peace can be found.

“I learned that it is hard to be a conscientious objector,” said Martindale. “But by doing so, a difference is made.”

Reach AnnMarie Cornejo at 781-7939.