THESE STREETS

I've been in Colombia for 3 weeks now
(oh yeah... I'm alive by the way!)
and I'm still at a loss to put words to the experience. It's been amazing for sure, and this city of hustle and bustle and fear and injustice and love and mercy and Spanish and skyscrapers is certainly starting to feel like home.

But when you grow up in good old NZ, a city like Bogota can be a steep learning curve. Kinda feels like I've never had the slightest idea what "injustice", "hardship" or even "opportunity" really means.

I'm learning though, because these streets are good education.

As part of the volunteering here, we run a programme on Saturday mornings for kids near the tolerance zone - an area of town which the government has ruled prostitution as acceptable. You'll find it happening down every street there, the smell of drugs in the air, bodies sleeping among piles of rubbish, dogs roaming the streets... and then you'll see kids playing in these streets they call their own. My knees were pretty weak the first time I walked those streets.


But these kids still had so much joy in their hearts as they played on the giant playground we call "The Jungle". All the activites required the help of a leader, and you could just sense how massive it was for the kids having an adult they could trust. This ministry (Formando Vidas) is onto a good thing too. There are stories of hope reaching the darkest places here, and it's something that challenges and encourages me greatly.

And you know... I've never been able to handle those big cities where you're faced with a whole lot of need and not sure what to do about meeting it, but being a part of something here has helped me handle it so much more.
Maybe amongst all the new challenges and experiences that's all I can say for now; just be a part of something that leaves people better-off and you'll be stoked how much it changes your outlook.