Colombians don't count; they dance

Half a million Colombians have been killed in the last 50 years. But that’s maths. Colombians don’t talk about numbers. They talk of brothers, cousins, mothers and uncles. Numbers are the lifeless illustrations of academics and journalists who forget about life and tally death on decorated walls. Four million forcefully displaced, nine million hungry, three million kids out of school…

“Bury the dead and keep on dancing,” they say here. And they dance.

Ana, mother of 11, makes arepas - corn bread - on a rainy street. She and her family were forced to flee their home on the Pacific coast because of violence.