Together, we consumed a variety of fruits, flowers and leaves as juice and tea. In fact, food became an important ritual in all our meetings. Not only to quench thirst, or appease eaters’ appetite. But for a much higher purpose. To help the team build mutual connections and trust with participants. As we ate, we connected and words flowed naturally. And in our last meeting in Medellin, we connected so well with three survivors that one of them felt at ease to gather the remainder of the fruits and take them with her. This singular act made me feel the depth of the connection we had made in the two hours we had conversed, sipped juices and ate fruit. One could now act freely. It was like she wanted to take a part of our connection with her – to hold on to it, to be with it. I felt we had crafted a lasting connection. After all, didn’t David Goldstein in his reflection of eating in the Merchant of Venice (2013:78) argue that eating together “can indeed be the very essence of the social bonding that produces the multifarious structures of human community and identity?”[1] Most importantly, the CSRS team wants a shared platform with research participants – wants them to feel they are ‘participating’ and not just providing information for the study. This is one of the study’s contributions to human rights due diligence in researching with people; enabling participants to shape spaces for their own participation. Still, it could have been a different kind of ‘connection’.