Colombia Diary

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind at times and near frustration at others and opportunity for joy in many cases. I was able to visit the Los Anones farm another time and to lead the Displaced Persons, who are looking forward to having a new community in the near future, in a discussion of Sustainable Communities. I presented a program using Apple’s Keynote program and a video projector. They listened attentively, asked insightful questions and did a reflection exercise on building their community. Read the rest of this entry »

[WARNING: I apologize for the length of this entry. I hope though if you bother to read it that you will not just be informed but inspired as I was in myvisit and in writing this. If nothing else, scroll through to see the photos.To see all my photos from this trip Click here to see all the photos.]

[Photo to right is San Marcos Street] 

I left Barranquilla at 12:45 on Friday, October 5, for Sincelejo, a large city of 220,000 about four hours south. The trip took me along the Magdalena River which is at flood stage like about every other river in eastern Colombia. Since my last trip along the river a few weeks ago, (See trip to the Past), the water is significantly higher. The boat I took to Salamina can now come right up to the side of the road.

The trip along the river is beautiful as the road wanders through the savannah covered with green lush grass and spotted here and there with Acacia trees. Unfortunately, they are not in bloom, but other things are. One sees much wildlife especially birds of the wetlands like egrets, blue herons, cranes, and the like. But a sight common in Colombia and now nearly extinct in the U.S. is shepherds watching their herd of cows along the roadside where they are grazing. The cows in this part of the country are most often a breed of brahman cows and bulls. They are a good dull breed, meaning they give milk in quantities commercially useful and good meat.

Read the rest of this entry »

From time to time I have these thoughts or observations that are not essays. Here are a few somewhat connected observations that came from random experiences.

Church Meetings and Worship: I’ve learned something quite interesting about Presbyterian churches in Colombia. I kept wondering why no matter where I went, the pastor never preached. On Sunday, I took the pastor, Flor Cardenas, and her family to lunch. Don’t do this often but I’ve sort of made her church the place I go by default for a lot of reasons. I asked her why she almost never preached. Was it because she did not like to preach? No! The custom in Colombia is that the pastor only preaches on occasion. The members like to preach and like to hear each other preach and they get upset if the  pastor preaches two times in a row let alone more often.

Read the rest of this entry »

A small group of families presently living in the southern edges of Barranquilla in a Barrio named “Las Moras” is looking toward a new day. All of them are displaced and living mostly in Las Moras. Their leader, Antonio, found a small farm not too far from their housing where they could rent and get back to what they know—farming. They do not have a lot of land, yet there is enough for them to grow enough food to help feed their families and enough to sell for money to buy some things they cannot grow.

Read the rest of this entry »

On Sunday, September 2, I rose early to go visit the church of one of my students, Liris Berdugo Vega. The plan was for another student, Katya Molina, to meet me at the university at 7:00 AM to accompany me for the trip. She arrived at 7:45 or so. We started out in a cab to the southern side of Barranquilla, then took a mini-van taxi for about 45 minutes along the Magdalena River. I dosed off to be awakened by Katya calling to the driver that he had passed our place, a destination she had given him when we got on. He let us off at the next bus stop where we waited under a tree for the next bus.

Read the rest of this entry »

So if the economy is roaring in Colombia, as I said in my description of my trip to Salamina, why isn’t Katya hearing the roar? (See “Students’ Lives) Despite the war, the economy of Colombia is growing at an amazing rate per year. The U.S. would love to have this growth rate. The problem is that most of the wealth is exported to wealthy oligarchs living in the U.S. and Europe who own the majority of industry and land. The other answer is that there is very high unemployment. Part of the unemployment is a result of the displacement of 10% of Colombia’s population over the last 15 years. Most of the displaced had farms and homes and good lives before their displacement.

Read the rest of this entry »

Liris has been the pastor of a Pentecostal church in Salamina (See “A Trip to the Past”)  for five years and studies at the university because she sees the need for more education so she can more effectively relate the gospel to the context of her community. Since it takes more than an hour and, my guess, 12,000 pesos (about $6.00) one way, she cannot afford to go back and forth to Salamina. She lives in a church in Barranquilla with Isabel (See below) during the week. They get up early each day to rake, sweep, and clean the university yards of leaves and trash so the campus always looks nice. Their work at the campus pays a part of their tuition/living expensesa big help as she is not compensated for her work with the church. She speaks and does other leadership for the Pentecostals and at times receives gifts. Basically, she lives by the grace of God.

Read the rest of this entry »

On July 7 our granddaughter, Elaina, was born to our daughter, Christy, and son-in-law, Chadd. It was a day for joy and celebration. Since that time we have had reason to rejoice more as she has grown, her mom has adjusted to being a mom, and her dad to fathering. Even more we rejoice as we discover that indeed she is the healthy child we had hoped for. So with Paul we can sing, “‘Rejoice!’ And again I say, ‘Rejoice!’”

Read the rest of this entry »

Two Women . . ..

I returned to Washington, DC in June and resumed my daily habits for home which include early morning walks with my dog, Buddy. Not more than two days into my vacation time, we were returning home from our walk when we saw a woman on our street who appeared to be homeless. Just an intuition but quickly affirmed with her words when she began to approach me. My mind immediately sought ways to avoid her. But I had no way out. She approached me and said, “Mister, I’m homeless, could you spare a dollar fifty for a bottle of water. It’s supposed to be hot today.” 

I told her that I would get her a bottle of water from my house. “No! No!” she said, “It’s going to be hot and I need that really good spring water.” I didn’t argue with her or try to explain that spring water is a bit of a fraud. I just said, give me a minute and went in, got an empty bottle filled it from the refrigerator and took it to her and said, “This is good fresh water and it is filtered. Hope it helps with the heat.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Carolina Manrique

is a student at the Reformed University of Colombia located in Barranquilla. She is from Espiniel, in the Department of Tolima, Colombia, about 100 kilometers (60 Miles) southwest of Bogota. It is located in a valley between the two major mountain ranges of the country. Her trip home takes an incredible amount of time as it is about 800 miles from Barranquilla by road. Flying is not an option due to the cost. Roads are not what they are in the U.S. so it takes about 24 hours to make the trip.

Read the rest of this entry »