Word: mejia
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...effort by the Colombian army last year finally brought a semblance of order to the backlands. Now la violencia has broken out in a more subtle form in Colombia's cities. Last week in Medellin, a city of 700,000 northwest of Bogotá, Carlos Mejia, 9, son of one of the country's richest industrialists, was kidnaped as he walked to school; the kidnapers demanded $180,000 for his safe return. That same day in Bogotá, the wife of a prominent doctor was dragged from her home by three thugs. Says Colombia's National Police...
...week's end, the doctor's wife was released after her husband agreed to issue a Communist-style statement denouncing the country's social inequalities. The police were luckier with Carlos Mejia. They freed him and arrested four persons, including the Mejia family's ex-chauffeur. But it was one of their few successes. In all the cases reported last year, not a single kidnaper has been brought to trial...
Despair. Last week, on the first vacation of her life. Teacher Mejia was visiting her country's capital, Bogotá, for the first time. Officials had called her for the compelling reason that Colombia is 43% illiterate and sadly in need of more schools, as well as of citizens who care. Would Dona Eladia tell the people how she does it? "To talk about oneself is naughty as well as unpedagogical," said she. Then she went on TV, and in a 15-minute interview with Colombia's school-building boss, did more for the cause than a dozen...
Born on a remote farm, merry-eyed Teacher Mejia was 13 when she took over a rural classroom at a $3-a-month salary. At 16 she became a Roman Catholic nun, later went to Mexico for five years to help rebuild revolution-ruined villages. Then her father killed a man in self-defense, and she left her order. In despair, she found a new cause: devoting her life, energy and knowledge to teaching and off-hours building in Colombia's wild Caldas department...
Bandits have burned five of her schools, and in 1947 her sister's whole family was killed when civil war broke out in the region. To help prevent such violence is Teacher Mejia's main mission; she spends her entire $55.50 monthly salary for building materials. For 41 years she has gone on this way, but help is due. Soon to be launched: a new government school-building campaign patterned after hers, to provide a primary-school education for all Colombian children by 1970. Builder Mejia will not lay down her tools; she has plans for 16 more...