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Walking with the poor - notes from the field |
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MISSION AWARENESS TRIP TO COLOMBIA 25 years of hope and joy amid war and drugs Prayerful best wishes from CFCA Colombia. I am filled with immense gratitude for gatherings of two special families this June: The CFCA Family, with our inspiring 2007 Preachers’ Conference, Encuentro, Awards Dinner and Regular Board Meeting…and on the personal side, our Hentzen Family Reunion, 2007. This great “recharge” has carried me to South America, together with Cristina, our son Jacob and 28 MAT participants. CFCA has been present on Colombian soil since 1982.
My personal interest in Colombia I believe it was January of 1959 when my mother took me to the old airport in Kansas City for my first experience of flying and my first experience as a missionary teacher with the Christian Brothers in Cartagena, on the Atlantic coast of Colombia. I immediately fell in love with the country and its people. What a joy to be back on Colombian soil with such a fantastic group of CFCA friends.
A shy little Colombian girl by the name of Florelia Delgado was the very first child to be sponsored in CFCA, by sponsors Bob and Cristina Hentzen. Today, the main CFCA centers are located in Bogota, Medellín (Antioquia and Madre Paula), Quibdo, Cali and Cartagena. For many years, Colombia has struggled amid an atmosphere of unofficial civil war which involves government authorities, several powerful insurgency groups, drug cartels and paramilitary groups.
Sponsors were surprised and delighted when they cleared immigration and customs and found their sponsored children waiting for them at the airport. We were welcomed at Project Antioquia by folkloric groups from subproject FH and the scholarship students from subproject FB.
Cable car opens city to poor We traveled by a new cable car system to view Medellin and three sponsorship areas of Project Antioquia. From an overlooking park area, Project Antioquia Coordinator Transito Hernandez spoke of the advances being made in Medellin in terms of social infrastructure and education. Transito explained that with this cable car system, the poor have better access to opportunities in the downtown areas of the city. She feels that this is making Medellin a safer place. The walk through the neighborhoods of the Llanaditas Sector was of high impact for the sponsors. Like many places in our CFCA projects, this place is rough, overcrowded, lacking a lot of things but beautiful in the shared struggle of the CFCA families. Sponsored families had marked their humble homes with balloons to indicate that sponsored children live there. Many families had made “pancartas”—hand drawn signs and messages of appreciation for the sponsors and for the CFCA program. La Ceja, Nacional Seminary of Cristo Sacerdote Sponsors were received with great hospitality at this international seminary. There are 170 major seminarians from 34 dioceses in Colombia, Puerto Rico, Peru, Panama and USA. Of the 170 residents, we have 30 sponsored in this seminary.
Bishop Jose David Henao, who happens to be one of 18 children in his family, spent the entire morning with us. He is very approachable and expressed great appreciation for CFCA, making several references to our personal outreach. He presided at celebration of the Eucharist with all the seminarians for the intentions of the sponsors. In this very special home for very special abandoned people called Hogar del Desvalido (Home for the Disabled), we have 65 of the 90 residents sponsored. Our chorus of sponsors shared a few songs with the residents and staff. High spirits amid one-parent homes In small groups, we visited homes of sponsored children and aging, including families living in very tight conditions right on the shore of the Medellin River. Sister Eida gave us an impressive figure that 90 percent of the households in these neighborhoods are managed by the mother alone. Even with these realities, sponsored children like Duan, Mariana, Kelly, Evelyn, Catarina, Juan Jose and Juliana have much hope. Every one of them knew the name of their sponsor. They treasure letters received from their sponsor. Time to head for Honduras. I’ll sign off for now from Colombia.
Bob Hentzen Read the notes from other mission awareness trips
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