Al Jazeera English - Witness: Birds of Paradise (Clip)
In Colombia, where between two and four million people are internal refugees caught in the country's political riptide, women set up a theater group and use acting to ease the strain of living.
Colombia is second only to Sudan in terms of its number of internally displaced people, with between 2 and 4 million internal refugees caught in the country's political riptide and often left to languish in slums and shanty towns.
This burgeoning population is frequently made up primarily of women. They are often victims of violence, whether from the guerrilla group FARC or from opposing para-military forces, and they are forced to flee with few resources and even less support.
But in Cali, Colombia's third largest city, one group of women is forging a new path. The women are striving not only to fend for themselves, but to move beyond core survival and to express their new reality through their performance in the theater group 'Birds of Paradise.'
They write, stage, and protagonise their own plays. In their plays, full of music, dance and traditional chants, they reflect on their past and where it's led them today.
LEARN MORE:
View excerpts of other Witness episodes airing on Link TV
More on Witness from Al Jazeera
WATCH ONLINE:
About Al Jazeera - Witness
Rageh Omaar presents Witness, a half-hour daily documentary series which features short, specially commissioned or acquired films gathered from independent filmmakers.
Each documentary reveals the unknown lives of ordinary people, following their lives, telling their stories and portraying the challenges that confront them. Our witnesses are people in a situation or those who have observed them first hand.
The films cover conflict, belief, the past and the future and as well as bringing new stories to light they showcase the talents of a new breed of multi-skilled, frontline journalist. In the studio, Rageh will further explore the issues raised in the films, with expert guests on the subject matter and the filmmakers themselves.
ACTIVATE YOURSELF WITH UNIVERSALGIVING
Give $200 to provide shelter for battered women
Give to help internally displaced families in Afghanistan
Give to a Women's Health Education Program
Post Response
Close