Wednesday, July 2, 2008
colombianita destroyed
Colombianita, the recycling community where our ministry had been working for the past three years, was finally destroyed about two weeks ago. After months of threats made by the Government to bull-doze and relocate the community of nearly 500 kids and 100 families, they finally made good on their promises and replaced the shacks made from tin and scrap wood with a nicely paved road. It has been difficult month for our team, morning the loss of the group of kids that we had grown to love so much. Pray for them, remember them. We can only hope that the love and knowledge of God that we poured into them for the past 9 months is not lost, and that God provides new opportunities for them to be ministered to. They will not be forgotten, they taught us mucho.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
April update
This will be somewhat random in order, but let's see if I can get down some thoughts about the happenings of the past months.
The first thing that comes to mind are the recent developments in the life of Camilo, our neighborhood friend who was living on the streets for several months until finding a cheap habitation close by where he has been able to stay for the past couple of months. Slowly, signs of progress have been showing themselves. Camilo is generally an upbeat guy, and almost always pleasant to be around. In many ways he is not the typical drug addict on the streets. He's intellegent, college educated, speaks passable english, and has a great desire to change his life. A steady job has been his goal for the past couple of months. Finally it looks like he has a good chance of seeing that come to fruition. Somehow, he got an "in" at the local governemnt office, and has been going through the application process. Today in fact, he is in a training course of some sort for the morning. It's been great to see him excited about the possiblity of getting a job, and being one step closer to a better life. Last week was Tyler's birthday, my roomate, and we took Camilo with us for the best hamburgers in Bogota; Golden Corale. More than once he expressed how much he missed having friends to pass time with. As he put it in spanish, I'll translate, "I've turned into nothing more than a small animal, that has no life." But the great thing to see that night was his hope for something different, a life apart from the drugs that have nearly destroyed him. We are all hoping greatly that he gets the job.
The effects that drugs have on a persons´ life are far too easily seen by walking the streets in and around my neighborhood. Each night as I comfortably settle into bed, there are men sleeping on the sidewalk down the street from my house, each one of them, just like Camilo, trapped by drugs. Carlos is another young man that we have become friends with over the past couple of months. He is 29 years old, and has much less hope, it seems, to escape. Quite regularly he stops by our house for a chat, or to ask for something to eat, or clothes, and is almost always completely incoherant. He's been on the streets for much longer, and in many ways is more typical of the type of person roaming the streets for their next coin to get drugs. In talking to him, he has little hope for change. Usually his response to a friendly question like "what's going on?", is something like, "just waiting for the end of the world brother." In spite of the overwhelming despair, I believe in the possibility for change, and believe in the power of friendship and a little love. If you find it in you, pray for Carlos. Pray that somehow he comes to see a hope for new life. A hope for change. A hope for contact with other people. A hope for renewal. A hope in himself. A hope in God.
Something that I'm continually challenged with is this: what is my response the needy, the outcast, the unloved, the poor? I have periodically been reading "Works of Love" by Soren Kierkegaard. I can't recomend it highly enough. He presents our calling to love our neighbor exactly as it is; a commandment, free from distinctions, preference, and anything but easy. It is something that we must will ourelves to do, dedicate ourselves to do, choose to do, remembering that it is not optional, but a duty.
"It is in fact Christian love which discovers and knows that one's neighbour exists and that - it is one and the same thing - everyone is one's neighbour. If it were not a duty to love, then there would be no concept of neighbour at all. But only when one loves his neighbour, only then is the selfishness of preferential love rooted out and the equality of the eternal preserved."
In other news, over the past two months I have been working at "Luz y Vida". (Becuase of a ministry rule that doesn't allow for "couples" to work together, I was forced to move from the Other Way to the school. "Couples?" you wonder? Well, yes, I guess it should be said that I've met a pretty cool girl from Texas who also works at the Other way.) Each day we go with the bus to Colombianita, the same community that the kids from the Other Way come from, to pick up a group of kids to bring back to the school for the day. It's a small group, 11 in total, but they are a handfull. I'm currently working with two of the kids one on one, tuturing in math and spanish, and teaching computer classes to all the kids at different times during the week.
Unfortuantely the governemnt has been threatening to bull-doze Colombianita and relocate the families to a section in the south of the city called Ciudad Bolivar. Ciudad Bolivar conisists of about 2.1 million people, many of whom were displaced becuase of the war, and nearly all who are extremely poor. Currently, Colombianita is situated close to the center of the city, within reach of us and many other resources that might be able to help the kids. If they are relocated to the south, they will be placed in the largest pool of poverty, drugs, paramilitaries, and violence in all of Bogota, too far for us to reach. The thought of loosing the kids is freightening. We have been working with many of the kids for the past two years, and have poured so much into them. To see them go would be a tragedy. As it stands the date for the destruction of Colombianita is May 30th. As well, the government has decided to give many of the families money, in hopes of convicing them to leave peacfully and with a hope to start a life somewhere else. If in fact they are relocated, the coming months will be increadibly difficult for many of the volunteers in our ministry.
On a lighter note, I, along with several others, have bought a bike. I now find myself zipping in and out of traffic, pretending I'm on a motorcyle, passing cars and busses trapped in traffic jams. It's awsome! I've found that I can get anywhere I need to go, even the north which is about 100 blocks, or 45 minutes, as quick or quicker than by bus. I save money, get exercise, it's winner. Tomorow Luke, another volunteer, and myself, are planning on taking a trip up into the mountains, to a lake about 60 kilometers from Bogota. It will be a good test of how much endurance I've built up over the past two weeks zipping around town.
Did I mention that I'm going to Alaska?? For one week in May I'll be in Alaska for Adri's brothers wedding. Can't flippin wait. Not to mention how excited I am to see everyone in Ohio. And Amish Country. It seems the more time that passes, the older I get, the more attached I become to the simpleness and beauty of Holmes county. I miss the rolling hills, fresh air, green grass, motorcycle rides, family...all of it, even the smell of fresh manure.
The first thing that comes to mind are the recent developments in the life of Camilo, our neighborhood friend who was living on the streets for several months until finding a cheap habitation close by where he has been able to stay for the past couple of months. Slowly, signs of progress have been showing themselves. Camilo is generally an upbeat guy, and almost always pleasant to be around. In many ways he is not the typical drug addict on the streets. He's intellegent, college educated, speaks passable english, and has a great desire to change his life. A steady job has been his goal for the past couple of months. Finally it looks like he has a good chance of seeing that come to fruition. Somehow, he got an "in" at the local governemnt office, and has been going through the application process. Today in fact, he is in a training course of some sort for the morning. It's been great to see him excited about the possiblity of getting a job, and being one step closer to a better life. Last week was Tyler's birthday, my roomate, and we took Camilo with us for the best hamburgers in Bogota; Golden Corale. More than once he expressed how much he missed having friends to pass time with. As he put it in spanish, I'll translate, "I've turned into nothing more than a small animal, that has no life." But the great thing to see that night was his hope for something different, a life apart from the drugs that have nearly destroyed him. We are all hoping greatly that he gets the job.
The effects that drugs have on a persons´ life are far too easily seen by walking the streets in and around my neighborhood. Each night as I comfortably settle into bed, there are men sleeping on the sidewalk down the street from my house, each one of them, just like Camilo, trapped by drugs. Carlos is another young man that we have become friends with over the past couple of months. He is 29 years old, and has much less hope, it seems, to escape. Quite regularly he stops by our house for a chat, or to ask for something to eat, or clothes, and is almost always completely incoherant. He's been on the streets for much longer, and in many ways is more typical of the type of person roaming the streets for their next coin to get drugs. In talking to him, he has little hope for change. Usually his response to a friendly question like "what's going on?", is something like, "just waiting for the end of the world brother." In spite of the overwhelming despair, I believe in the possibility for change, and believe in the power of friendship and a little love. If you find it in you, pray for Carlos. Pray that somehow he comes to see a hope for new life. A hope for change. A hope for contact with other people. A hope for renewal. A hope in himself. A hope in God.
Something that I'm continually challenged with is this: what is my response the needy, the outcast, the unloved, the poor? I have periodically been reading "Works of Love" by Soren Kierkegaard. I can't recomend it highly enough. He presents our calling to love our neighbor exactly as it is; a commandment, free from distinctions, preference, and anything but easy. It is something that we must will ourelves to do, dedicate ourselves to do, choose to do, remembering that it is not optional, but a duty.
"It is in fact Christian love which discovers and knows that one's neighbour exists and that - it is one and the same thing - everyone is one's neighbour. If it were not a duty to love, then there would be no concept of neighbour at all. But only when one loves his neighbour, only then is the selfishness of preferential love rooted out and the equality of the eternal preserved."
In other news, over the past two months I have been working at "Luz y Vida". (Becuase of a ministry rule that doesn't allow for "couples" to work together, I was forced to move from the Other Way to the school. "Couples?" you wonder? Well, yes, I guess it should be said that I've met a pretty cool girl from Texas who also works at the Other way.) Each day we go with the bus to Colombianita, the same community that the kids from the Other Way come from, to pick up a group of kids to bring back to the school for the day. It's a small group, 11 in total, but they are a handfull. I'm currently working with two of the kids one on one, tuturing in math and spanish, and teaching computer classes to all the kids at different times during the week.
Unfortuantely the governemnt has been threatening to bull-doze Colombianita and relocate the families to a section in the south of the city called Ciudad Bolivar. Ciudad Bolivar conisists of about 2.1 million people, many of whom were displaced becuase of the war, and nearly all who are extremely poor. Currently, Colombianita is situated close to the center of the city, within reach of us and many other resources that might be able to help the kids. If they are relocated to the south, they will be placed in the largest pool of poverty, drugs, paramilitaries, and violence in all of Bogota, too far for us to reach. The thought of loosing the kids is freightening. We have been working with many of the kids for the past two years, and have poured so much into them. To see them go would be a tragedy. As it stands the date for the destruction of Colombianita is May 30th. As well, the government has decided to give many of the families money, in hopes of convicing them to leave peacfully and with a hope to start a life somewhere else. If in fact they are relocated, the coming months will be increadibly difficult for many of the volunteers in our ministry.
On a lighter note, I, along with several others, have bought a bike. I now find myself zipping in and out of traffic, pretending I'm on a motorcyle, passing cars and busses trapped in traffic jams. It's awsome! I've found that I can get anywhere I need to go, even the north which is about 100 blocks, or 45 minutes, as quick or quicker than by bus. I save money, get exercise, it's winner. Tomorow Luke, another volunteer, and myself, are planning on taking a trip up into the mountains, to a lake about 60 kilometers from Bogota. It will be a good test of how much endurance I've built up over the past two weeks zipping around town.
Did I mention that I'm going to Alaska?? For one week in May I'll be in Alaska for Adri's brothers wedding. Can't flippin wait. Not to mention how excited I am to see everyone in Ohio. And Amish Country. It seems the more time that passes, the older I get, the more attached I become to the simpleness and beauty of Holmes county. I miss the rolling hills, fresh air, green grass, motorcycle rides, family...all of it, even the smell of fresh manure.
febuary update
once again i've let too much time pass without writing an entry, so for that i apologize. if i remember correctly the last enty i made was back in decemeber. much has happend in the last two months, so here goes.
first off, david, the eleven year old boy that came to live with us around the begining of december, decided to leave the second week of january. as it was with ferney, the 8 year old boy that was with us for two months prior, our month and a half with david was a challenging time. a little background on david: he has lived most of his life with a woman who is not his biological mother, but nonetheless has cared for him greatly and rescued him from an abusive father and unloving homelife. however, she does not have a stable job, and makes only enough money to pay the small nightly fee for her habitation by cleaning houses in the neighborhood. for this reason, she was unable to continue providing for david, and decided to entrust him to our ministry with the understanding that living with me would be a temporary first step before being committed to long term by the ministry and placed in a family with a small group of kids.
unfortunately he was not able to understand that we were the best option for him, and decided to run off with a few of my things and leave for whatever other option he may have had. my fear at the time was that his only options were the streets, where he would quickly fall into drugs and gangs, or the governemnt social services program, which he had previously been placed in 12 times only to run away each time, which in all probability would only lead to the streets as well. fortunately, after an afternoon of fun with the money he made from selling my ipod, he decided to return to gloria's house, who agreed to keep him for the weekend while it was decided what would be done. in the end it was david who decided to run away from our house and we decided we could not take him back. he had not shown us any desire to change or to take advantage of the opportunity he had with us. gloria then handed him over to the government social services program, where as expected, he made a quick escape and once again showed up at gloria's. refusing to see david sucked into a life on the streets, she again decided to take him in and do everything possible to save him. he has since been with her and is now attending our school called "luc y vida" or "light and life".
i have not had a kid living with me since david, and instead have begun working at "el otro camino" or "the other way", which is sort of like a kindergarden. for four days a week we take our bus to a community of recylers called Colombianita, and bring back around 20 kids to work with for the day. honestly, it has been a welcomed respit from the responsibility of careing for someone 24 hours a day, and i'm rather enjoying it. however, thats not to say that i may not find myself in a 24 hour care position sometime in the near future. coming to colombia, it was my hearts' desire to invest in a child full time, and that still remains.
for three weeks in january, tyler and adri both got to go the amazons to help translate for a ywam outreach team. the amazons. what else can i say. it would have been an amazing opportunity to see the jungle of the amazon, visit peru and brazil, trek through rain forrest, swim with alligators and piranahs, visit tranquil villages, meet amazing people, and share the love of god, but.....maybe another day. matter of fact, yes, another day i will go.
the outreach team came back to bogota along with tyler and adri, and spent a month around the city visiting various ministries and programs that work with kids at risk. while tagging along i got the opportunity to test out my translating abilities, which i found really struggle when i'm infront of a crowd. practice practice practice. it reinforced the fact that i need to continue to study and do as much talking and reading in spanish as possible. it doesn't help that i work with mostly english speaking volunteers.
salsa dancing. for those of you that know me, you might have a hard time imagining me dancing to salsa music. maybe you don't know what salsa is, but it's something very specific. there are moves. and i think i've learned a few of them, or atleast i'm on my way to becoming a passable dancer (hopefully more than the "tree" that i was once labled by a good friend who first got to enjoy my moves in december) by getting together with the rest of the volunteers to practice with real colombians. needless to say it's humorous to get eight gringos together trying to move and dance like real latins. but i think we do okay. getting better for sure. and its fun once you get the hang of it.
a few weeks ago, i made my first trip to cazuca, a neighborhood that tyler has been visiting on saturdays to work with mary, another volunteer in our ministry. first, i'd like to say a bit about cazuca, then a little about mary. cazuca is a community of tens of thousands of people, many of whom who were displaced due to the war and forced to what once was a vacant mountainside situated in the southeast corner of bogota. it is mostly made up of makeshift shacks or small block houses, and there are no paved streets. it is currently controlled by a paramilitary group which collects its own tax, enforces curfews, instills fear, and generally does anything it wants to controll the people including kidnapping and killing. to give you an idea of the degree to which the bogota city police fear this particular paramilitary, mary said that not long ago on a saturday afternoon she passed a military tank on a street corner with two national police in full armor, unwilling to leave the saftey of the armored tank. over the past months, the police have gradually been working their way up the mountain into the community, but its a slow and dangerous process. which would lead you to believe that for a 65 year old austrailan woman to be working alone, in cazuca, one of roughest parts of bogota, would be crazy. well, it is, but sometimes that's what god calls his people to do. so, a little bit more about mary. as i've already mentioned she is a single older aged austrailan woman, dedicated to serving the poor and oppressed. she is the greates example i have in my life for what it means to obey what god calls us to do as christians. this past december she took her work in cazuca one step further and decided to purchase a house and move there. "what? are you crazy? you have so much courage, i hope to have your courage someday," i said to her. she quickly responded in a soft spoken voice, "i don't have courage, i just obey." this hit me like a ton of bricks. i had never heard someone respond to a question of courage in this way. to mary, its not a matter of mustering up the correct amount of courage, or even asking god to provide the courage, its simply a matter of obeying the call of god, and responding with action. for her, that meant purchasing a house and starting an after-school study program for kids in one of the most dangerous parts of bogota; cazuca. enough said. she is my hero.
first off, david, the eleven year old boy that came to live with us around the begining of december, decided to leave the second week of january. as it was with ferney, the 8 year old boy that was with us for two months prior, our month and a half with david was a challenging time. a little background on david: he has lived most of his life with a woman who is not his biological mother, but nonetheless has cared for him greatly and rescued him from an abusive father and unloving homelife. however, she does not have a stable job, and makes only enough money to pay the small nightly fee for her habitation by cleaning houses in the neighborhood. for this reason, she was unable to continue providing for david, and decided to entrust him to our ministry with the understanding that living with me would be a temporary first step before being committed to long term by the ministry and placed in a family with a small group of kids.
unfortunately he was not able to understand that we were the best option for him, and decided to run off with a few of my things and leave for whatever other option he may have had. my fear at the time was that his only options were the streets, where he would quickly fall into drugs and gangs, or the governemnt social services program, which he had previously been placed in 12 times only to run away each time, which in all probability would only lead to the streets as well. fortunately, after an afternoon of fun with the money he made from selling my ipod, he decided to return to gloria's house, who agreed to keep him for the weekend while it was decided what would be done. in the end it was david who decided to run away from our house and we decided we could not take him back. he had not shown us any desire to change or to take advantage of the opportunity he had with us. gloria then handed him over to the government social services program, where as expected, he made a quick escape and once again showed up at gloria's. refusing to see david sucked into a life on the streets, she again decided to take him in and do everything possible to save him. he has since been with her and is now attending our school called "luc y vida" or "light and life".
i have not had a kid living with me since david, and instead have begun working at "el otro camino" or "the other way", which is sort of like a kindergarden. for four days a week we take our bus to a community of recylers called Colombianita, and bring back around 20 kids to work with for the day. honestly, it has been a welcomed respit from the responsibility of careing for someone 24 hours a day, and i'm rather enjoying it. however, thats not to say that i may not find myself in a 24 hour care position sometime in the near future. coming to colombia, it was my hearts' desire to invest in a child full time, and that still remains.
for three weeks in january, tyler and adri both got to go the amazons to help translate for a ywam outreach team. the amazons. what else can i say. it would have been an amazing opportunity to see the jungle of the amazon, visit peru and brazil, trek through rain forrest, swim with alligators and piranahs, visit tranquil villages, meet amazing people, and share the love of god, but.....maybe another day. matter of fact, yes, another day i will go.
the outreach team came back to bogota along with tyler and adri, and spent a month around the city visiting various ministries and programs that work with kids at risk. while tagging along i got the opportunity to test out my translating abilities, which i found really struggle when i'm infront of a crowd. practice practice practice. it reinforced the fact that i need to continue to study and do as much talking and reading in spanish as possible. it doesn't help that i work with mostly english speaking volunteers.
salsa dancing. for those of you that know me, you might have a hard time imagining me dancing to salsa music. maybe you don't know what salsa is, but it's something very specific. there are moves. and i think i've learned a few of them, or atleast i'm on my way to becoming a passable dancer (hopefully more than the "tree" that i was once labled by a good friend who first got to enjoy my moves in december) by getting together with the rest of the volunteers to practice with real colombians. needless to say it's humorous to get eight gringos together trying to move and dance like real latins. but i think we do okay. getting better for sure. and its fun once you get the hang of it.
a few weeks ago, i made my first trip to cazuca, a neighborhood that tyler has been visiting on saturdays to work with mary, another volunteer in our ministry. first, i'd like to say a bit about cazuca, then a little about mary. cazuca is a community of tens of thousands of people, many of whom who were displaced due to the war and forced to what once was a vacant mountainside situated in the southeast corner of bogota. it is mostly made up of makeshift shacks or small block houses, and there are no paved streets. it is currently controlled by a paramilitary group which collects its own tax, enforces curfews, instills fear, and generally does anything it wants to controll the people including kidnapping and killing. to give you an idea of the degree to which the bogota city police fear this particular paramilitary, mary said that not long ago on a saturday afternoon she passed a military tank on a street corner with two national police in full armor, unwilling to leave the saftey of the armored tank. over the past months, the police have gradually been working their way up the mountain into the community, but its a slow and dangerous process. which would lead you to believe that for a 65 year old austrailan woman to be working alone, in cazuca, one of roughest parts of bogota, would be crazy. well, it is, but sometimes that's what god calls his people to do. so, a little bit more about mary. as i've already mentioned she is a single older aged austrailan woman, dedicated to serving the poor and oppressed. she is the greates example i have in my life for what it means to obey what god calls us to do as christians. this past december she took her work in cazuca one step further and decided to purchase a house and move there. "what? are you crazy? you have so much courage, i hope to have your courage someday," i said to her. she quickly responded in a soft spoken voice, "i don't have courage, i just obey." this hit me like a ton of bricks. i had never heard someone respond to a question of courage in this way. to mary, its not a matter of mustering up the correct amount of courage, or even asking god to provide the courage, its simply a matter of obeying the call of god, and responding with action. for her, that meant purchasing a house and starting an after-school study program for kids in one of the most dangerous parts of bogota; cazuca. enough said. she is my hero.
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