Colombia is the fourth largest country in South America, and the only one with coasts on both the Pacific and Caribbean.

There are many sides to Colombia. Click on the icons to read different impressions of the country.

For each passage, pick out five key words that summarise the writer's view of Colombia - in each case, do your chosen words give a positive or negative impression of the country? Of the four passages, which gives the most positive view of Colombia? Why? In your view, which passage was written most recently? And which passage was written some time ago? How can you tell? In each case, who do you think the writer's audience is? Pick out one quotation from each passage to support your ideas.

For half a century, Colombia's people have lived through a brutal civil war. Fighting continues between government troops and two guerrilla armies, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC for short, and the National Liberation Army (ELN). In 2003, more people died in Colombia's conflict than Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East combined.

One in every ten Colombians has been driven from their homes © Paul Smith/Panos Pictures

Child Soldier in Colombia © Sipa Press/Rex Features

Children are often the victims of the civil war, but they are also part of the problem too - over 2,000 children under 15 are guerrilla soldiers.

Many young Colombians are now leading the way towards peace. The 'Children's Movement for Peace' campaigns for the right to grow up in a safe environment free from violence. Three million (about a third) of the country's young people voted in the Movement's referendum to fight for their right to a peaceful future. They set an example for Colombian adults - the following year, the turn-out for the General Election was twice as many as previous elections as ten million Colombians voted for an end to war. Leaders of the Children's Movement have since travelled to New York to visit the United Nations and advise young people from other countries on how to organise a campaign for peace.

Members of the Children's Movement for Peace are giving soldiers stickers that read 'soldier for peace' as part of their campaign © Jeremy Horner/Panos Pictures

Mayerly Sanchez, 14 years old, explains: "Children have a special gift for convincing people about the truth of what is happening. People never used to care about the war unless they were directly affected by it. But when children talk about pain and sorrow we make adults feel the pain as if it was their own. Children are the seed of the new Colombia. We are the seeds that will stop the war".

Visit www.saracameron.org/index_files/page0001.htm for some true stories of young people from Colombia, and more on their role as peacemakers.

Colombia is a place of extreme contrasts, and it claims to have the highest number of plant and animal species per square metre of any country in the world. Go to the next page to find out more.