May 8, 2007
Hi All,
Last week was an especially good week for us. On Monday, we went to Cartagena to the Nelson Mandela camp. We had visited there about a month ago and needed to have a follow up visit. We talked with two of the leaders of the sector of the camp that the Presbyterian Church of Colombia has worked with. There are many sectors in this camp, which is home to 60,000 families displaced by the war. The leaders had some questions about the community center and school, but before we got deeply into the visit it started to rain. So, the plan to visit the people in that sector, named Francisco Paula Dos, was postponed until Friday, May 4.
A street vendor outside the school at Nelson Mandela Camp.
On Friday, we got up early returned to the Nelson Mandela Camp with Alfredo, a member of the Presbyterian Church of Cartagena, and two colleagues: Parrish Jones, a professor from Washington, D.C., who is a short-term PC(USA) missionary teaching in Barranquilla; Ken, the accompanier for April and May. Waiting for us at the center/school were Nelson, director of the school; Adela, leader of the sector; Rafael, president of the sector; and Delsa Maria, next-door neighbor to the school. The sector has about 150 families, which would be about 1,000 people. The school serves children in three sectors of the camp.
We divided into two groups and visited homes with the plan of asking two questions of the residents:
What are the most needed changes or improvements that you see in the sector? And are you willing to work to make these changes or improvements?
A typical street in Nelson Mandela Camp.
We noted the crude living conditions, the small quarters, the makeshift furnishings, but also the welcoming attitude of the families. The children wore little clothing; the young ones usually only wore panties and no shoes. The homes had dirt floors and usually no toilet. They use buckets. There was electricity, so many homes had a television, some with very small screens. The homes are built like row houses, with little or no space between them. So the children either play in their homes or out on the narrow dirt roads, which have open gutters on both sides.
Twenty-five families responded to our questions.
- Open sewage problem: gutters carry the waste water, but not sewage from the toilets (19)
- Improve the rutted streets and the ability to carry the rain water off (8)
- Sub-standard housing materials and leaky roofs (7)
- Need more jobs (5)
- Trash needs to be dealt with; it breeds flies and germs (5)
- Improve electricity distribution system; people have been electrocuted (3)
- Education for children or technical education or teaching values (3)
- Improve bathroom facilities for the homes (2)
- Need more food and supplies (2)
We are looking forward to continued visits and involvement with helping to improve the lives of the families of the displaced.
Peace,
Paula and John
The 2007 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.
46 |
