We arrived in Monteria around 10:00 am on Friday morning. Martha and her husband, Alfonso, were there to pick us up. Immediately, we were welcomed by their loving, latin hospitality. As we drove through Monteria, Martha began telling us about the city and the work that World Vision is carrying out there.
I was shocked to hear that 74% of the population live in slums (they call them "communities"), suriving in absolute poverty. I looked out the car window and saw nice houses, nice cars and nicely dressed people. And these are the 26% who are rich... I thought to myself, feeling slightly nauseated by the contrast. She continued to tell us that Monteria was a microcosm of the problems Colombia faces-- the corruption, the poverty and the violence. Every day, she told us, there were deaths. Drug trafficking was quite common and most deaths were related to the cartel.
Though I learned in my classes this last year that Colombia had achieved universal primary education, I saw first hand that many children roam the streets, unable to enter the overcrowed public schools and incapable of affording private schools.
We visted ASODESI, a World Vision sponsored school where Martha is the director. There, she gave us a tour and told us more about the work they do. From there, we went into one of the slums, La Candelaria. One of the school staff members accompanied us and we visited a family whose children went to ASODESI. They graciously welcomed us into their humble home and offered us chairs to keep us from sitting on the dirt floor. They shared with us the difference World Vision has made in their lives and their gratitude toward God and the work that they do. Polo, their 12 year old son, proudly sang a typical coastal song for us. He then told us that his dream was to one day become a veterinarian.
I later asked Martha if this was an attainable dream, or if that's all it'd ever be... a dream. She fervently shook her head and assured me that because of his education at ASODESI there was definitely a possibility of him one day becoming a veterinarian. I smiled.
Saturday and Sunday we traveled with Martha, Alfonso and their 13 year old son Felipe, to Tolú and Coveñas-- two coastal cities. We were able to spend time on the beach and swimming together. My mom and Martha were able to talk for hours. It was clear that she was often lonely and didn't know who to share the struggles of her job with. She was able to pray and share this burden with my mom. I know she was deeply blessed by this time together.
Monday morning we on our way to ASODESI bright and early: 5:30 a.m. The weather is incredibly hot all year round, making it impossible to do much in the afternoon. Most schools start at 6:00 a.m. to take advantage of the coolness of morning. The temperature easily reaches 40ºC (99ºF) every day for a couple of hours... finally cooling down some by 8:00 p.m. But even then, I slept with a fan on and absolutely no sheets every night, still waking up warm.
At 6:00 a.m., we participated in a teachers' meeting at ASODESI. They had a small devotional and then shared with us more about the school. Of the 650 students, the vast majority sponsored by World Vision. The kids still pay a small amount every month (about $15 USD). However, there are many who still can't afford to attend. These $15 obviously don't cover the costs involved with running a school. Martha continuously worries about the sustainability of the school.
Around 8:30, my mom was given the floor... she began speaking to the 48 staff members about the importance and value of their jobs. She then asked me to share 15-20 minutes about what kind of impact my teachers had on my life. Believe me, I had plenty of material to fill. She continued speaking about education and personal development for the next five hours. I was amazed at their ability to focus for seven hours (6:00 am to 1:00 pm), sitting in a room with the temperature steadily rising.
After the "conference" we met with the English teachers for a while. One of the school's emphasis is English as a tool to break the chains of generational poverty. The English teachers were all from Monteria and had learned English at the university there. However, their English was quite limited. One of them had never spoken to a native English speaker before. I was shocked. They had no text books, yet were expected to teach poor children English in crowded classrooms with little to no materials. Wow.
The next day was pretty similar to the first. We shared ideas about how to make classes more didactic. I was able to share a lot about my teachers' teaching methods and we played a lot of games. It was quite fun.
On Wednesday morning we were invited by Samuel (the music and art teacher) to visit the community with him. I was ecstatic. We weren't sure, however, if we were going to be supporting an event his church was having or if we were actually running the event. We arrived at the community and found dozens of kids waiting inside the church for us. Turns out, we were running the event :).
We quickly got organized and split responsibilites. Thankfully, we had bought 90 eggs and the church had hard-boiled them for us. We brought an Easter egg decorating kit with us and decided that would be our hands-on activity. Samuel and I sang songs with the kids in 90º weather and then my mom shared a Bible story. We then broke up into groups and had them color eggs. They absolutely loved it and then were able to bring an egg home with them to eat later.
Wednesday was by far my favorite day of the trip. Samuel insisted that we were always welcome there. His dad was the pastor of the church and they are committed to seeing transformation and redemption in the lives of the community members.
Thanks for your prayers :) I'll continue sharing reflections about specifc parts of the trip in time.
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