This past three and a half weeks in Medellin, Colombia, had been so impactful to me. I honestly don’t know where to start writing because my eyes have seen so many different things and my heart has been broken for people. Literally, you couldn’t lose sight of the brokenness in this city. Medellin was 20 years ago the most dangerous city in the world. Murder and drugs were common. Since then a lot has changed but it left nevertheless its mark in the streets of Medellin and in the people’s life. Comuna 13 was the most dangerous neighborhood in the 80s and 90s. I did a free-walking-tour with a local guide who was grown up there at Pablo Escobar’s time. She told us how walking over dead bodies and hearing the sound of gunfights were the norm for her. To witness her enthusiasm for the positive change that is continuing to go on has been catching. I did not only feel the hope the local people have, I could see it in beautiful graffiti artwork all over the neighborhood.
Knowing these brief information was valuable for understanding at least a little bit of the background from the people at the ministry called Ciudad Refugio – what means city of refuge. I stayed at this five-storey building situated in an unsafe neighborhood all my time in Colombia. It’s a shelter for men who were homeless or drug addicted. They can pass through a rehab program while working in the bakery on the first floor. This bakery is by the way part of the reason why the foundation is self-financed to 80%. There are less women living and passing through another rehab program at Ciudad Refugio. Every night homeless people came to sleep on the first floor. They were provided with water, food, a shower and a sleeping mattress. Every Saturday was a homeless church service at the foundation. On Wednesday evenings and Sunday mornings were church services as well.
For all interested, this is the website from the ministry: http://ciudadrefugio.org/en/
What was my mission being there?
Being part of beauty for ashes: Spending time with the women from the program by spoiling them with sweet delicacies and just having time for chatting, sharing stories and laughing together. Beauty for ashes met them in their loneliness and let them feel special because every one of the women are beautiful in their own way and every one of them carry a unique story that matters!
Being part of assisting a little homeschooling class and assisting an English class for adults. (No more explanation needed, my favorite stories are at the end…)
Being a helping hand at the food donation by sorting out bad fruits and vegetables, chopping them and packing them up in little bags ready for consuming. I enjoyed doing some manual labor while chatting with some squad mates, sharing my testimony with one of them or just loosing myself in my thoughts.
Being a help in the kitchen where the women cook for the 27 of us, for the men in the program and for themselves. I spent 2 and a half hours there with only washing the cooking dishes – that’s how much the help was needed.
Being part of Pa’Mi Barrio which is a ministry in a poor neighborhood that provides activities for children beside the public school. It made the impression to me that it’s kind of a life school for these about 5 to 15 years old kids and teenagers. At lunch time they aren’t allowed to eat with the fingers (even using cutlery for chicken wings!), they have to eat everything from the plate (even when they don’t like something) and aren’t allowed to share the food with each other. Only kids are allowed to sit on the little kids chairs, no adults. These rules illustrates how they learn to do life well. The ministry gives families a perspective for the future. For example are some mothers of the children involved in preparing lunch for the program and have therefore a job. My function there was to help making bracelets. The kids know thanks to cards showing the pattern how to knot them pretty well. And they have a lovely elderly woman who assists them day by day so patiently how to do it. The finished bracelets are sold to cover some costs of the ministry. The picture shows one of my bracelets I made.
Being part of the park outreach every Wednesday afternoon. It was a park with a lot of homeless people where we sang Christian songs as a squad (yes, a bunch of gringos as known as people from the United States attracts the people), distributed flyers of the foundation Ciudad Refugio to people who are interested in it and poured out juice. The main goal was to build relationship with people there. My experience was that I met some of the people I started talking with every Wednesday again. Personally, it was leaving the comfort zone and starting a conversation with random people. But it was so worth to take the courage stepping out. I met a guy from Venezuela every week who finally ended up coming a bunch of times to the church services and who slept at the foundation instead of the park. I talked almost to an hour with two policemen. I prayed for a man’s situation with help of a translator while he was crying. I hugged an old man smelling of alcohol after I prayed for him…to name a few encounters. Going every week to the same park knowing how the outreach looks like started to make me more comfortable with the fact about not knowing how God wants to use my stepping out this time.
Being part of the Agua Panela group who went out every Wednesday evening after the church service. Agua Panela is a street. Not just any street. It’s a street where people who are living there say about it that it’s a dark place. A street where needles and trash lay on the ground. A street where you see people with candles in front of them realizing that they’re practicing witch craft. A street full of people sitting on the ground with no hope and no perspective dealing with drugs. A street where the light of Jesus shined so bright in the darkness of all the bad spirits around there. I can’t really describe what I felt when I was there. I can’t describe the people’s facial expression of despair and obsession. I can’t describe adequately my emotions. I was there knowing that people from us handing out agua (water) and panela (some kind of bread) while I was walking through the street with somebody telling them about Ciudad Refugio, listening to them and praying for them all in the hope that they feel the presence of the light. And the hope that they come to the shelter called Ciudad Refugio and realign their lives. And last but not least that they find the ultimate hope and shelter in Jesus!
Being part of the Ciudad de los Ninos program in Manantiales.
This is a place that has my whole heart! 40 minute drive away from Medellin is this poor village situated. Stony and dirty ground led to little brick houses everywhere on the hill. Chickens clucked.
And in the midst of that were a lot of kids. I played with them different games, shared stories from the bible, loved on them, handed out food for lunch and clothes – basically this ministry was about making a fun experience possible to the kids who don’t belong to the spoiled. Kids in need of care, some of them with a heart-breaking background.
I met a boy who has seen how his father killed his mother. Because of that the boy tried once to strangle his sister. When I looked into his clear green eyes, I saw destruction. Destruction of an experience that no child should ever experience. But I saw loveliness as well. Loveliness of a broken soul. Loveliness of a bold boy. I twice broke out in tears because my heart was full of compassion for him. I will never forget how he seeked me out, how I could meet him in his need of affection. And as hard as it was to say goodbye to him I know I need to let go. To let go and trust that Jesus cares for him better than I ever could.
The ministries looked different every day but repeated itself every week. That’s part of the reason why I liked it so much to stay there – the variety to spread light in brokenness!
