Home Is Where the Hurt Is Being forced into flight totally disrupts the lives of the internally displaced, exactly as it does to refugees. But unlike many refugees, the world's millions of internally displaced persons often have nowhere to turn. They remain trapped in the same unsafe environment from which they tried to flee. In situations of internal strife(冲突), by definition, the civilian government functions partially or not at all and the civilian population is ignored or treated with hostility by both sides. A definition submitted to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights defines the internally displaced as 'persons or groups of persons who have been forced to flee their homes or places of habitual residence suddenly or unexpectedly as a result of armed conflict, internal strife, systematic violations of human rights or natural or man-made disasters, and who have not crossed an internationally recognized State border.' Today, there are an estimated 30 million internally displaced people in the world double the number of refugees. In many places, they are all but forgotten by the international community. Although there are few refugees in Latin America, there are up to 3 million internally displaced persons in the region, including as many as 480,000 in Peru and 600,000 in Colombia. In both countries, a combination of political and socio-economic factors, such as excessively unequal income distribution, drug-trafficking and heavy involvement of the army in the political scene, have resulted in high levels of violence and a climate that fosters human rights abuses. Whether manifested as an ongoing conflict between the armed forces and the armed opposition (the case of Peru), or a constant armed struggle between rebel and paramilitary groups (the case Of Columbia), violence has caused the displacement of hundreds of thousands of rural peasants and native people. The internally displaced often lead a very stable existence, and they are highly grateful for anyone who pays attention to their plight (a very bad situation that someone is in). Delia, of Peru's Ashaninka people, has been displaced for the past eight years. Now, homeless and helpless, Delia and her people have to depend on the good will and charity of their remote relatives and of the occasional non-governmental organization (NGO). It has been a struggle for Delia, who has tried to obtain better education facilities for the children and to promote small handicrafts projects. And she tries to shield her community from the surrounding conflict by opposing any involvement with the armed opposition or with the rondas (a civil defense unit that fights against the Sendero). This neutral position, in the context of the conflict, is not a popular one with either side. To their way of thinking, one is either a rondero or a Sendero there is no middle road. Women have been the driving force in efforts to maintain some semblance of normal life in the Peruvian Andes. There, hundreds of thousands of people, mostly Quechua speakers, were displaced over the last 10 years. Husbands were 'disappeared' or killed, and sons had to join the army. The women had to gather their children and flee to urban centers where they could melt into the poverty-stricken anonymity of a shantytown(以临时搭盖的陋屋为主的地区). Now they live in shacks with no water, no electricity and no sewage system. The children get little schooling and spend long days playing in the dirt. Poverty disease and unemployment make life nearly intolerable. But displaced women have not been idle. They have organized soup kitchens, 'mothers' clubs' and handicraft associations to support each other and improve living conditions. Irma, one of the women we talked with thinks that soon she and her sisters will be able to go back home. 'But we'd like our government and the world to give us a hand,' she said. Despite the many hardships, the