There is a saying in martial arts that my kids repeat over and over each time they grade. My husband knows it too. I am paraphrasing a bit but it’s a little like this – I come to you with empty hands. If I should be forced to use them. These are my weapons: my empty hands. It’s the end of 2014 and so everyone is wrapping up their year with little red bows and packaging it away to start fresh on January 1st. There is beauty and peace in that. We are building our resolutions, hopes and plans. We…
By now you know that gifts from the World Vision gift catalogue 2014 matter. They matter to children like these girls who are able to attend school in Colombia thanks to sponsorship and often thanks to donations from the gift catalogue. They matter to the boys in this picture playing soccer and building a healthy outlook for life in an area where drugs, gangs and poverty are very real threats to children. They matter to children you might never meet all over the world in so many countries that need help. Tonight on twitter, we are talking about the impact…
Johan Espinosa has been linked to World Vision for most of his life. He was sponsored at the age of five and grew up to be sponsorship coordinator in Bucaramanga, Colombia where I visited recently with World Vision Canada. His journey from sponsored child to inspirational leader building futures for sponsored children in Colombia is nothing short of remarkable. His story is a beautiful illustration of what becomes of sponsored children in Colombia. One of Three Brothers Espinosa was one of three brothers. They lived with both parents and their father worked, but they were still barely getting…
The women of Morales Duque, in the south of Colombia, have gathered us inside a community centre. I am here to listen to their stories, as a representative of World Vision Canada visiting this country of contrasts. They hand us treats, and a traditional Colombian corn drink and a certificate signed by each member, thanking World Vision Canada. I thought I knew what strong resourceful women looked like. I know a lot about strong women in the context of Canada and the United States. I have never had to look far for brilliant female role models. My Mother, my grandmother,…
People told me I’d be changed after travelling with World Vision Canada. That’s fair, of course and true and yet also trite. Inadequate. Changed Words sometimes are so thin, evasive and even limiting. Changed doesn’t begin to capture the depth or range of emotions that I felt when walking through Asimiflor, a brand new area development program in Bucaramanga, the saddest place I have ever seen children living. My week travelling with World Vision Canada was jam packed with big adventures and interviews and so many stories shared that I will be recounting them for a decade or more. Eye…
I never thought a soccer ball in Taminango Colombia could make me cry. Let me explain… How Does the Gift of Sports Change Lives? This is what the gift of a soccer ball looks like in Colombia. A team in the middle of a dirt field practising every night. Two young men, sponsored as children, now coaches, committed and clear-headed. Mentors in every way. This is the living breathing outcome of presents from a World Vision gift catalogue. A vulnerable space made into a soccer field in a community where drugs, gangs and crime are extremely big threats to a…
I travelled with World Vision Canada as a guest so I could tell these stories. This week I am sharing my posts from my trip with World Vision Canada. These are two youths, Peace Keepers, we met in an area called Taminango, near Santander De Quilichao. They were incredibly inspiring. You can read about them tomorrow. You can read all of my stories if you follow my hashtag #TMMWVC or follow my blog and read about some of the incredible work being done in Colombia. Peace Keepers is a unique program here in Colombia that builds strong youth…
Hope is the thing you see in the faces of the students here. Inside a small school called Policarpa, in an area of Colombia called Santander De Quilichao, where domestic heroin use rages and gangs and guns are very real threats to children and entire families. But here, inside this school the children celebrate Amor Y Paz Month – Love and Peace Month. What Hope Looks Like Here Words hang in Spanish on the pillars in the school. Loosely translated they read: Tolerance, Love, Punctuality, Respect, Friendship. It is September and I have flown to South America with World Vision…
This is what greets you on entering the Bogota airport in Colombia. Part of the El Dorado Airport is under construction, but there are cheery artistic displays in many common areas. It was one of the brightest displays I have seen in an airport. I love that airports are getting so much savvier about their use of art in public spaces. This is some of the nicest and most colourful airport art I have ever seen. I recently traveled here with World Vision Canada to tell some stories about child sponsorship and the work being done in many areas of…
Courtesy of Shutterstock Five Facts about Colombia 1. The official name for this country at the top of South America is the Republic of Colombia. It comes from the last name of the explorer Christopher Columbus, who arrived in 1499. It was originally called New Granada and only took its modern name in 1861. 2. Colombia is the only country in South America which has coastlines on both the Pacific Ocean and the Carribean Sea. It also borders five countries: Panama, Venezuela, Brazil, Ecuador and Peru. 3. Colombia is known for its emeralds and coffee. 4. The official language is…