I had written another post about the 3 different Anabaptist denominations here in Colombia, but I got my USB stick stolen. So...that will have to wait!
But I´m so excited to say I arrived in ibagué (city), Tolima (department) at 5pm today, my new home for the next 18 months! I was planning on travelling yesterday, but I was doing a lot of running around and by the time I got back home, a wonderful lunch was waiting for our group, made by a woman by the church. So I left at 1:30pm today. Amanda (the program coordinator in the
barrio of Modelia, Ibagué) and Daniel are home, their son and daughter Fabian and Katerine are out but Amanda and i had a wonderful talk about what´s happening in Modelia now, and some of the ideas they have for ways i can possibly help out...
why not process these thoughts now...i really have to write down thoughts after a conversation.
We talked about the minibusiness several women and young girls are working on...they´re making Colombian cloth dolls, earrings, necklaces and sandals. An organization from the US, Global Ministries, has been providing money for supplies, and has also given some training sessions on how to make sandals, and the necklaces. the older women wanted to make the dolls because they´re good sewers (is that right??) and the younger girls liked the necklaces and earrings more. Amanda was telling me that some of the girls come every afternoon to work on them because it keeps them busy...and much better to be working on something constructive in the church than being in the street. It´s really inspiring that there´s so much creativity in Modelia: how can that be channeled so they can make their creations marketable? They´re hoping I can help with creating connections to expand their market, to Canada perhaps? It´s hard to sell the goods directly in Modelia and Ibagué, because many people are in the same difficult financial situation. Ibagué is the city with the highest unemployment rate in the country, at 19.1%.
I´m wondering, though, if we could not only create connections with North America to support the business and sell their products, but also find stores or organizations here in Colombia and Latin America that could also sell them, or support each other together with ideas. I thought of ASOPRICOR, the organization our SEED group met in Agua de Dios, and the woman who comes to Ibagué to visit her mom...she´s part of an artisan group in Agua de Dios...perhaps it would be cool for them to meet, see where that relationship goes...
We also found a possible home for me to rent!! I am so excited!! and it´s only 1 min from where Amanda lives...it is such a cute house...one level, with one room, a living room and kitchen adjacent...it also looks like there´s a patio due to a random door off the kitchen. We couldn´t actually enter, but hopefully tomorrow or Thurs. I´m amazed at the price too...180,000 pesos, which equals about US $90/month. i´m so excited to have a place to arrange, a place where I can invite people over and they can stay the night...I can cook for them, have gatherings...that is, when I make friends here. sniff sniff. Maybe I shouldn´t be so hard on myself...it´s only the first day here. :P
Another part that Amanda and I talked about was an internet cafe, for the teens to do research for school...schools are requiring much more research work, and the internet is now the best source to do that. There are some internet cafes in Modelia but obviously they all cost money, and money is hard to come by in Modelia. Another aspect that needs to be considered is the space in Modelia...I was amazed at how small it is for how much they do: preschool, soup kitchen, microbusiness, church services, a small library.
In short, there is much desire to develop programs and leadership in Modelia, and tomorrow I will spend my first day in my new community: Modelia, Ibagué, Tolima, Colombia.
