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Walking With the Poor - Notes From the Field |
MISSION AWARENESS TRIP TO VENEZUELA
April 21-28, 2007
Theme: ‘Unidos Por La Dignidad Humana -
United For Human Dignity’
CFCA has been involved in Venezuela since 1983. CFCA helps meet the needs of children and elderly in the Barquisimeto project, state of Lara, with a total of 5,227 children and 633 aging sponsored.
‘My poor rich country’
Isabel, a staff member and protégé of Santisima Trinidad Parish, who did undergraduate and doctoral studies in the United States, described the Venezuelan paradox with these words:
“My poor rich country…richest oil reserves in the world…fertile lands…good amounts of fresh water. However, 40 percent live poorly…income doesn’t cover basic needs...60 percent of the country’s wealth is concentrated in the hands of 20 percent of the people...Only 50 percent of our children attend school 'effectively'…this is caused by poor nutrition and low energy level. Seventy percent of our food is imported.” |
The Venezuela mission awareness trip group of
children, staff and sponsors along with CFCA
President Bob Hentzen (top left). |
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On the road
After a pleasant five-hour trip from Katia La Mar with a considerate bus driver, we stopped at a filling station for a picnic lunch. Impressive was the number of bikers driving large motorcycles at speeds to honor Mercury.
We are covering a lot of ground on this journey…human ground…project ground…highway ground.The days are long and the mornings come early. For 30 to 60 minutes each morning, we enjoyed a guided morning prayer directed by Laura, a 14-year veteran of the convent.
One of our prayers: Give us the courage of Abraham, his decision to part, to change, to take on risks. Give us his patience, his capacity to discover You, oh Lord, in your people. Good and loving God, transmit to our heart the profound faith of the pilgrim. Give us strength to give up those things that bind us and tie up our way of seeing, of feeling, of thinking. |
Sponsored boy Ricardo, 10, of subproject ES is
headed for stardom as a singer. |
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Viewing CFCA up close
Rural subproject RNF-Rodeo Niños Felices: What an exciting and attractive rural CFCA community. Poor, yes…but organized, struggling and united. The mothers of sponsored children performed several spectacular folk dances with every move expressing the excitement and joy of shared struggle. Obvious was their respect and love for the coordinator for this area, Maria, a dedicated abandoned mother of three.
Subproject "T" covers six communities, including Pueblo Nuevo and Moyetones. We currently have 131 beautiful children sponsored here. Can you imagine trying to stay healthy living on rocky desert
terrain, enclosed on one side by a huge CFCA coordinator Maria leads the sponsored mothers dance
soap factory with its pungent troupe at subproject RNF-El Rodeo.
smokestacks and on the other side the
city dump of Barquisimeto?
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Final day in Venezuela
I’ll sign off here in love and gratitude for the opportunity to accompany this fine community of CFCA Venezuela. In a recent survey, Venezuelans declared clearly that their number one preoccupation was violence and personal safety—followed in order by unemployment, poverty, corruption and impunity. Please join me in prayer that this community may be safe and at peace. God’s blessings.
Bob Hentzen
Caracas, Venezuela
April 28, 2007
Sponsor a child in Venezeula
Read the notes from other mission awareness trips |
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