Day 5 already? Really? Feels much longer or shorter all at the same time. What a week this has been here in Bogota. God has already shown himself so clearly and drastically time and time again through experiences in the community, at the work site, and within team members. It's time to finally take some time to share a few things, lets start with how the kids end up at CVII (as a few of the volunteers took part in this this week), then a few stories experienced by the team members.
Each child in the CVII school as an external student or the children who are taken in to live under the CVII umbrella due to being orphaned or abandoned go through a “Case study” process. The social worker first meets with the family or child in contact to do a first screening. Do they fit into the profile? Are they needy? Can CVII help them? Will they be welcomed into the family or will they cause too much aggression and potential abuse to the other children? After the first screening, a file is started and Jeanene (CVII founder), the Principle, and social worker meet with the child/family to have an interview. They ask the family questions about what they do for a living, cost for rent, while doing so they are evaluating the surrounding environment, as they state there is a difference within poverty from determination and cleanliness versus laziness and living in a “slob like environment”. This shows them that a child having to travel 1hr down the mountain will be going home each night to a family that want to help them succeed (ie. make sure they do their homework). Once the external students are accepted, they are given uniforms, fed each day at school, even given food packages for the weekends. All they have to do is take care of transportation and show up. In the interview the kids are asked questions like what they want to be when they grow up, what they like to do during the day, what they do during play time. This shows a dramatic difference when a child says “I want to be a police officer, I get to hit people with a stick” versus “I'd like to be a pet doctor and help animals who are sick”.
This past week on Tuesday, Wednesday, and today a few volunteers from the team were taken with the case study team to observe and be part of the process. Jeanene says “I try and get a few volunteers each time if we can spare them, they need to see where it all starts, they need to understand the process and where it all begins, how we choose the kids, and how God is apart of this process”. Tuesday was the first day with Donna going as one of the two volunteers (the other was a volunteer from another team). They made 5 stops and saw an array of poverty and destitute situations. The first stop was in a prostitution house where they went to evaluate 2 boys being possible students, but they were declined. The tiny building had a hallway of barely 3ft in width, it stank of human waste, and the apartment/room housing the woman and her two boys was piled up with what the social worker stated as “just junk”. This was an example of the lazy poverty they spoke of. The hardest part of the situation was hearing the 5year old boy speak so aggressively about openly hurting others if they bothered him, and the fact he kept stealing a porn book from beside his mother. It was tough for them to decline him, from being admitted, but they have to think of the 160 students at their school who have been rehabilitated out of abusive environments. “If a child is 5 years old and shows signs of being sexually active, how can I accept him into the school with the little girls at risk?” - says Jeanene. So sad, so terrifying, but it's a reality in the slums of Bogota. During each debrief in the car following a case study, Gods grace shines through as they state they know they can't accept each child knowing safety is most important and that they hope that God can find a way to help them. The other stops involved going into a “drug hole” of apartments where a mother looking no older then 15 had 2 boys, one being interviewed for preschool. Their tiny home showed such poverty, but was so clean and organized. She showed the perfect example of that determined and hard working type of poverty Jeanene mentioned. She sold candy on the street for 10 cents a piece just to feed herself and two children. It was exciting to know this little boy would be accepted into preschool and given such a great opportunity. One of the other case studies on Tuesday was a house with 2 children, a 12 year old and 14 year old being evaluated and one CVII graduate. The 12 year old described to us in tears how she was ridiculed and seen as an outcast at her old school because her abusive mother told everyone about her being raped. Her mother had abandoned her, and she was taken in by a distant cousin who now houses her. The other child, a 14 year old boy was barely accepted into the CVII school due to his hatred for school and lack of obedience, but who could blame him? At a young age he started working on a farm for money for food because his abusive father “drank all the money” in the house. He never found school useful, and 8 months ago when a rock went through one of the machines in the field and pierced his eye, he soon after lost vision in that eye and it didn't make school any easier or more appealing. The hospital didn't help the boy but only gave him a pill and sent him home, which only lead to multiple infections and loss of sight. Jeanene gave him the sobering but generous talk she gives each child, he has to put in the work and respect and that is what he will get in return. She also assured him that he will get his eye assessed by one of their doctors and will do whatever they can to help him. The cousin who had contacted CVII had recently graduated and still lived in the house with her mother and the two children. She suffers from juvenile arthritis and barely graduated, but they did everything they could at CVII to accommodate her to assure her success. She still has trouble with pain, but has bigger issues at present. She admitted to us while we were there assessing her cousins that she had gone to the hospital in November for a check up and they found a lump in her right breast but when we went through her health records we discovered she never got the ordered mammogram completed. The mother did not give a reason why, but it was evident that although this house was tidy and well managed, there were signs of neglect to each child. We managed to get her an appointment with one of Jeanenes contacts at a clinic and within 24hrs she had the blood tests and mammogram completed, thank the Lord! Sadly at the test yesterday afternoon, they had in fact found two masses where as the original report in November stated there was only one, and it was half the size of one of the two found yesterday. It was heart breaking to Jeanene and the team to hear this, knowing how much that could have been done had they known in November. Even once they leave CVII, life can still turn down dark paths for them, but PRAISE GOD he finds ways to still use his disciples to help his children.
The next day their case studies were up in a mountain town and they accepted 6 kids as external students. There was no drug holes or prostitution houses, just devastating poverty. Denae said that the smiles on the kids faces when they heard God answered their prayers and they could go to school just made her heart overflow. Jeanene instantly fell in love with the mountain community and as a VERY last minute decision, changed our mountain mission for this saturday to come to this beautiful town of 160 houses. It broke the teams hearts when they discovered the donation trucks do not make it up that far, at that point there was no question as to what we would do with our grocery and hygiene packs. We will be buying loads more, Jeanene and Richard are determined that each house will receive a gift and also take a census of this tiny community to learn what their needs are and figure out how CVII can help them. How exciting will this be for CVII and Team Canada to be part of such a mission!
Todays case study team made a few stops in the surrounding neighbourhood of Bogota. The most impressionable spot was at the house of a witch doctor. Jerid describes the experience being unlike any he has ever had. The three staff members were inside the house meeting the 2 kids being interviewed for a long time, but when they popped out, Jeanene said that it was important for them to come in and meet the children, but that it was a home to a witch doctor and there were many demons and evil spirits present. The volunteers later stated it felt strange, disturbing, even creepy, unlike anything they had felt before, but that they could feel the power of God surrounding them. Jeneane had said in devotions the previous morning how she never knows what will happen at each case study, someone might want to shoot at them, there may be evil spirits, or anything else they are not prepared for, but that is why each time they pray and place it in the hands of God and his protective angels. Jerid said that the mother and boys were so thrilled to see them come, and were aware of how possessed the house was but felt helpless. Jeanene informed them she was so excited to help the children, but the three of them need to find a place to live outside that house as soon as possible and they would do whatever they could to help her. God truly rescued a family today!
The Leviticus construction project continues to move forward, stop, saunter, move, skip, move forward, and stop again. It is tough when they need certain people with outside resources to show up, but that does not always happen when it is supposed to. The team has been working ever so intensely with whatever job needs to be done around the worksite, whether it is digging 6 foot holes for foundation, sorting heavy rocks, moving gravel in, or dragging dirt out to the dump truck ( a few times). One of the Wisconsin team members recommended praying over Richard (the other founder and coordinator of construction projects) mid afternoon after plans kept falling through and other projects have been piling up causing much stress and exhaustion for Richard and Jeanene. It was such a blessing while we were all covered in dirt and sweat to gather together over Richard and lift him up to God, and remember why he and any of us are doing this, and how much bigger God is than any of this. It is great to conclude that the engineer and gravel truck showed up unexpected by 3pm, which allowed the day to finish better than anticipated (even with a power blow out with loss of electricity for a few hours preventing any use of power tools).
I hope you have taken something from these series of stories of what the experience has been with the team members as they have walked along side the staff as they go through case studies and help Gods work take place in these childrens lives. A few of us were able to finish the day by handing out 160 cupcakes at the CVII school with cute little goodie bags. Lots of hugs and gracias exchanged.
The team has also had two evenings this week where they have shared devotions and personal testimonies with the children, first with the older girls and last night with the younger boys. Talking to them about the love God has for them, how beautiful and priceless they are, the respect and love they need to show their friends, and how we can always talk to God was such a rewarding experience for the team – despite any language barrier.
Gods love is truly a universal language, which is evident throughout each day since we have been here in Bogota.
Please pray for:
Saturdays mountain mission: going to this new mountain community with such horrible poverty, doing a census, doing many case studies for potential students, spreading the love of God
Injury and Illness: a few members have strained themselves, are not feeling well and have some injuries and the health and safety of all team members
our dinner and devotions tomorrow with the youngest kids at Genesis
Leviticus project: the flow of production and reliability outside resources
Rest, relaxation and peace for Jeanene and Richard whom are exhausted
The children and staff at CVII facility and school
Unity between team members and the two teams (there have been some conflicts but all have been resolved)
Dios de Bandega!
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