This was my 7th trip there. Some have asked me if it becomes old or if I grow numb to what I see. My answer is no... and I hope that I never do. Each time I travel to Colombia, when I return to my home away from home, when I am wrapped in loving arms from my family in another country, my heart and eyes get opened in some new way. I get stretched, I learn, I cry, I laugh, I am touched, and I am changed... every time.
I can't figure out yet whether to capture in words in this blog my experiences day by day or just list out some of the more interesting ones little by little. This trip was full of "first" experiences for me, even though it was my 7th time there... This trip was a little different for me in that I took with me 3 others, James, Isaac, and Andy. James and Andy are part of then board of Footprints with Hope, the foundation we've established to begin doing deeper work in the villages/cities of Colombia. (our fourth board member could not go with us.) Isaac is the son of Andy. It was my first time doing that. Isaac and Andy have a way of story telling that can be deep in moments which touch the heart but can also be completely hilarious. We laughed a lot on this trip, thanks to their humor.
I'll share the trip day by day and preface my "first" experiences with those words. Seriously, a blog does not do justice to these experiences.
There is a first time for everything....
1. When we finally got through the long line of customs, and to the counters, it was taking James forever to move through customs. James has been there as many times as I have, but each time he has only visited the same village. This was going to be his first of visiting other locations. But from the get-go, we called him the "problem child" on the trip. (He wasn't really, but every trip has one, so we gave that to him). We all passed through customs quickly, but I noticed that James was taking a very long time at his counter.
James does not speak Spanish, so I asked my lady who passed me through if I could go help him, as he'd been there some time. She said yes and when I moved over to his counter, the man checking him in to the country would not let him pass through because he didn't have a reservation number for the hotel where we were staying. Well, this was a first. They usually only ask for the name of the hotel. Props to the man for doing his job diligently, but... I could not understand this when the others of us passed through without that. well, in the end, the man called the hotel and confirmed that James was with me and we were allowed through. Not a bad experience, just a little weird. We moved on for our luggage.
2. First time for me to arrive to the carousel for luggage for it not to be there. Andy and Isaac had been waiting on us to come through, so they informed us. I spoke with the man at the carousel and was informed we had to go to the Delta office. Well, another first for me. Lesson here: always have good clothes in the carry on bag. Now, I've traveled enough to know this. I did have one outfit (simple running clothes and flip flops, of course) in my carry on. But our next day activity was going to be one in which I wanted to be dressed up. So... lesson learned. In all fairness, on this trip, we were taking a lot of books, heavy, and so in order to balance out the weight of the 2 suitcases, I stuck a fair amount of books in my carry on because clothes are lighter for the checked bags. Well.... lesson learned. But hey, it made for a fun excuse to get a little something new to wear ;) This was the first for my luggage to not quite make it.
In case you're wondering, the luggage didn't make it because our connecting flight was pretty tight and thus, our luggage did not make it not that flight. Kindly Delta delivered our suitcases to our hotel when they arrived the next day.
3. Another first for me- I was the full time translator on this trip. I have traveled there by myself without a translator, but on this trip, I was the translator for everyone with me, navigating all the conversations. This is both exciting and well, I also felt nervous, insufficient to do so. There is a great way to learn- jump in and do it!
Day 1. Sunday. Cartagena
Cartagena is full of culture. There are bright colors, live music, awesome food and so much rich history. Although I've stayed there several times, on this trip, I saw more of the city than before and we got to experience many restaurants and explore a bit more the ideas and the history of the city. Andy and I will lead a team there in October with Footprints with Hope through the Restoration Park Church and we are quite excited. We had fun exploring the city in new ways, navigating ideas for what or where we can go with the team in October.
After a fun evening Saturday night exploring Old City, we left Sunday morning from the hotel to attend Flor de Campo, the church in Cartagena. We were welcomed with open arms. I felt like I was in my own church, welcomed with hugs and kisses and kind words. These friends have become family and it was wonderful to be back. Being the translator was a new experience for me. I was up front with Bishop, translating the sermon and then later translating all of the conversations and the very cool things the church is doing there in Cartagena.
When the service ended, they broke into small classroom settings. This is the ministry in the little area of Flor de Campo with the kids, Voces Invisibles, Voces de Todos, some of whom are migrants from Venezuela. They are taught photography, and on this day they were taking actual printed snapshots of their small city blocks (as we would think of ) and placing them on a paper, mapping and drawing them out. They were learning how to use photography to understand their own space of living.
They were learning guitar, drums, singing, literature, reading and through all of these avenues they are taught their rights, they are taught their roots and their history and they are taught how to live life abundantly and make better choices. To see all of this was beautiful, to see the joy these kids have, and an avenue to grow in a healthy environment off the streets.
Next we ate lunch together in the pastoral parsonage. While we finished lunch and enjoyed tinto (coffee) we listen to Bishop and the girls who were preparing a cultural dance for us banter back and forth about whose dance was best- Salsa, from Cali, Bishop's home town, or the other dances of the other cities like Cumbia, and Maplé. Listening to them was quite comical and that banter continued on the whole week every time the topic arose.
Which led us to the next moment of the gals presenting dances for us. They gave a little intro to each one, what the background and the history to the dance was, why it was original to its location and how they used it as an expression of their culture, their history and their lives. They prepared 3 different ones for us. We really enjoyed this.
Lastly, after many photos and much laughter, we were able to enjoy one more "show". There is a small band called Ninguneados, who you can see here who performed for us for a bit. They shared their story, how they use their music to be the voice for those who do not have a voice. Their name Ninguneados is based on this poem. Their music is beautiful and powerful.
After that, we visited the home briefly of one of those band members and then made our way back to the hotel. From the hotel we went back out into the city and enjoyed another meal in another new location, exploring the possibilities and also reminiscing about the day and the ideas our foundation was beginning to form through the little bit of exposure.
By the way, Cartagena is the location of launching our first pilot program with the women. We are half way to our funding for that. If you're interested in donating towards it or want to know more, please go here to donate. We are looking for partners in our mission to bring hope to Colombia, one step at a time! You also can find more information on our facebook page, with more videos at Footprints with Hope facebook
PS. Please forgive the messiness of these photos... there is a work in progress in bettering the blog site. Enjoy the photos!
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