Settling in, in Bogota

Hello all! (Please excuse any spelling or grammatical errors, Spanish keyboards are weird.)

This week has mainly been orientation and finding our way round Bogota:
We arrived on Monday after a very long day of traveling. We made our connecting flight in Miami (but only just!) and were greeted by the in country co-ordinator, Abi, at the airport. We were taken to our first project, the Philadelfia College for the Deaf, which is where we are both working and living for the next 2 months. The accomodation is lovely, we are in separate rooms with comfy beds and WiFi access! Monday evening we were introduced to arepas (a typically Colombian and Venezuelan corn pancake type of thing, filled with cheese) and the Colombian hot chocolate, which is AMAZING! It comes in bars which you melt in hot milk and its so, so much better than at home.

From Tuesday to Friday we completed a number of important tasks: getting bus passes; beginning to understand the Transmilenio (bus/metro system); learning how to use the charts in taxis so we don't get ripped off; finding our way around the nearest neighbourhood (called Las Galerias); sampling the delights of Colombian restaurant chain, Crepes&Waffles; discovering the nearest supermarket and stocking up on some essentials like laundry powder and hot chocolate.

We have also had our first sign language lesson, which will now be a bi-weekly occurance. It was great fun and I'm so excited to learn more! The contruction work here is on hold as something didn't go through with the plans, so instead we are going to be spending much more time with the pupils, which I'm so excited about! Next week we will be teaching a number of classes, including cooking and percussion which will be great fun. Our timetable looks quite busy, but hopefully it won't be too hectic.

Today was our day off so we went into the centre of Bogota to the Museo del Oro (Gold Museum) which was very well done and really insightful into the history of Colombia. Tomorrow we will be off to church with Abi, and then we have been invited for lunch with some of her friends, which will be a fantastic opportunity to get to know some locals.

Since as we have quite good internet here, I'm going to try keeping a blipfoto daily photo journal here: http://www.blipfoto.com/rachelhpreston
The idea of a blipfoto journal is to upload one photo for each day as a way of helping you remember and share what happens each day. I might not be able to include a photo every day, and I will probably update it weekly with the past 7 days photos,  but I'll give it a go and see if it works out!

Prayer requests:

• For a great week with the pupils here, that we will connect well and really inspire them
• That we will pick up sign language quickly
• That the team continue to get to know each other and bond well
• That we will continue to settle in and not feel totally lost in this culture

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At the airport

Just a quick one to say we're at the airport. Check in took forever, but the kind man moved Naomi and I to extra leg room seats for free! Had to unpack my bag again at security, but at least we have plenty of time. I'll try and update you when we get to bogota!

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What will I actually be doing in Colombia?

Right, well I'm about to leave home but just thought I'd write a quick post to let you know a bit more about what I'll be up to in Colombia (or at least, what I think I'll be up to in Colombia - Latin America is similar to Africa in that plans don't mean anything and we might end up doing something totally different to what we thought!)

We have two projects - one in the capital city, Bogota, and the other in Santa Marta, a city on the coast.

The first couple of months in Colombia will be spent in Bogota working alongside the Colegio Filadelfia para los Sordos (CFS) – The Philadelphia School for the Deaf. There are two main aims for the Step team
whilst you we on this project. The first is very much of a practical nature as we will be helping the college as it begins to extend the current building to help create more space for their ongoing work. Part of this work will involve helping to construct a foot ramp to the entrance to enable wheelchair access to the first floor. We’ll get your hands dirty with a spot of brick laying, mixing concrete, clearing away rubble, painting etc. This practical help will be of huge benefit to the project as it will mean they are able to reach more people, offer better access to those with disabilities and reach out further into the community.

The second aim of the project will be to help facilitate and engage with an activity programme for the students. We’ll help out with things such as taking the young people to the park for sports/games days, host board game events in the school, run beauty days with the girls, help with cooking activities (particularly something typically British – maybe some kind of cookies) and much, much more.

The last 2 months will be spent working alongside a Vineyard church (La Viña) in a poor area of Santa Marta. 

The church we will be working alongside has very limited facilities and next to no space for running any children’s activities. With this in mind one of the main aims for our time in Santa Marta is to help with the construction a terrace area and an additional room. The practical work involved in doing this will be 

fairly simple however due to the heat it will definitely be bit of a challenge! In addition to the above, the team will also help with the weekly running of the church. This will involve helping in Sunday services, getting stuck in to children’s work, and then attending various mid-week groups. The church is also keen for the team to help with a variety of activities they have planned for reaching out to the local community.

I'll do my best to keep my blog updated for you, but we will also be writing weekly reports which will be put on the Latin Link website here.

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1 week till Colombia!

1 week to go till I’ll be in Colombia! It’s come round so fast, I can’t believe we leave on Monday!

I’ve just come back from our Latin Link Step Team orientation, and it has been an amazing few days. We started off on Wednesday and Thursday with team leaders’ training where we looked at some of the biblical principles behind good leadership. We also focussed on the more practical aspects of leading a team like planning our week, leading team devotions and resolving disagreements that may arise in the team. This was really useful and I now feel much more prepared for the task of leading a team. It also gave me chance to really get to know my co-leader, Josh, and to share ideas with the leaders of the step teams going to Nicaragua and Peru.

The rest of the teams arrived on Thursday evening. The weekend involved getting to know each other, sharing meals, lots of practical sessions to help prepare us for our time in Latin America, as well as an exciting photo challenge around London.

My team is amazing and I’m so excited for what God is going to do during our time in Colombia!

 

Team Colombia - Rachel, Bunny, Josh, Naomi, Mary (Top to bottom)

Once again, I’ll try to include prayer points on my blog updates. Your support in prayer is invaluable to my team and me!

Prayer requests:

• Final preparations this week go well, everything fits in our luggage and we don’t forget anything.
• That God would calm any nerves and fill us with excitement for our time away.
• For Josh and I, as we continue preparations for leading the team, that God would equip us and give us a sense of peace over the responsibility, and that we would trust in Him for everything.

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Photos from Tanzania!

Here, at last, are a few photos from Tanzania, sorry for the wait!

1 day old chick!

Mixing concrete for the chicken shed extension

Three water tanks completed

The market garden

Working with the Rehema ladies

Sports afternoon talk

Hostel lunch

Next stage of the health centre done

Church choir

Worship at sunrise

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Reflections on Tanzania - Part 2

Hello again! I'm sorry I've only just got round to writing this, Christmas happened and I never quite managed to make it to my blog. I will get some photos up asap for those of you who haven't seen them on Facebook. As I was away with a Christian charity and living with a bunch of Christians there was plenty of opportunity for faith based discussions etc. so this blog post is about some of the God stuff that was particularly important to me during the trip.

Bible verses: 
When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Ephesians 3:14-20

For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity but of power, love and self discipline . 2 Timothy 1:7

For we are God's masterpiece . He has created us anew in Christ Jesus so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Ephesians 2:10

I also loved the book of Esther -I think it is now my favourite book. The whole of Romans 8 is really good too.

Quotes from Christian authors/speakers: 
"If it's God's will then it's God's bill"
"God's finger never points the way without his hand providing the strength to accomplish the the task he has for you"

Worship songs:
On Sunday evenings we would worship together. These are 3 of my favourites:
My Guardian
Saviour of the World
He Reigns

Spiritual reflection day: 
Half way through the trip we had a day which we dented entirely to God. It started with worship up Eagle Rock at sunrise and ended with worship up Eagle Rock at sunset. The rest of the day we spent listening to and discussing a sermon, reading the bible and praying. It was a great day and the sermon we listened to was particularly inspiring. It was titled 'The adventure of calling' and talked about how each of us has a calling, how it is exciting not knowing the entire map of our future and that sometimes God calls us to go first before he reveals why we are going. It is important to live by faith and not by fear. we should embrace risk for God's glory as unless there is an element of risk in our work for God there's no need for faith.

I also want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who supported me in prayer whilst I was away , God was definitely with me the whole time!

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Reflections on Tanzania - Part 1

Well I'm back home, and have been for a few days. I am finding it quite weird, but I just need to give myself time to adjust back to this culture! During my time in Zanzibar, my travel home and my few days here I've been reflecting on my trip and here are some of my thoughts:

What were my highlights?
Take a deep breath, this is a long list!
+ Getting to know people in the communities we worked in and building relationships, especially with the children who were amazing and such good fun to work with! It was also great working on building projects with locals who work so hard, especially a lady called Tabatha (who gained the nickname 'The Machine'). It was also a huge privilege to get to know Mtani whose joy and faith really inspired me.
+ The incredible natural beauty of the area. My favourite spots included: the road to the market garden where you had an awesome view of the lake; kyamajojay where you could see for miles out towards the lake and the surrounding hills; up Eagle Rock where we would go and watch stunning sunsets behind the lake.
+ Sunrise up Eagle Rock on spiritual reflection day. This deserves to be a separate highlight to the previous one because it was just SO amazing. The colours were incredible and worshipping together as we saw the sun come up means this was probably my highest point of the whole trip.
+ Rehema! So much to say about Rehema: I loved spending days off there, relaxing in such a peaceful environment (unless we were playing Irish snap, in which case peaceful is not the best word...!) with delicious food and milkshakes. It was also one of my favourite projects we spent time working with. Spending time with the amazing ladies who make the products for the shop was so good. They work so hard and it's a really lovely environment to work in and they were so welcoming and it was a real privilege to work alongside them. Rehema craft days also meant chai time (see my highlight about food!) It was very cool to see them moved into their new workshop by the end of my trip too. The Christmas fair we organised at Rehema was also great fun and it went really well - one of my favourite days of the trip.
+ Seeing the market garden develop over the time we were there. The first time we visited, it just looked like a field of weeds but by the time we left, the first plot was well developed with the maize and sweetcorn plants nearly as tall as me. It was great to see the dedication of Dowdi and the other guys who work there everyday and to see them taking some initiative with planting some watermelon, okra and cucumbers in a spare patch of land that wouldn't be used for a few months.
+ Building projects - these were a lot more fun than I thought they might be. I especially enjoyed concreting for some slightly peculiar reason! I loved seeing things like the chicken shed and water tanks develop and grow over time, and it was nice to see them through from start to finish. The day out at Murangi was another one of my favourites because we got to demolish things and brick lay (which rivals concreting for my favourite building thing to do...) but we also had a picnic by the lake which was super cool. This is probably the highlight that surprised me the most, I never thought concreting and brick laying would make it into my trip highlights!
+ Living with a group of Christians, spending time praying, worshipping and studying the bible together. I particularly loved studying the book of Esther with Jess and I think it's currently my favourite book. During the trip God challenged me on a number of things and I definitely feel my faith has been strengthened through it. I'll blog about this separately at a later date.
+ Swahili: it's a beautiful language and I loved learning and using it. My Swahili is still very basic, and is better in some areas, such as ordering building materials, than in others, like holding a normal conversation with someone!
+ Material shopping was great fun. I love the African material with all the vibrant colours and beautiful patterns. Material lane was one of my favourite places in town as there were loads of shops with all the gorgeous fabric hanging outside.
+ I wouldn't be a proper foodie if food didn't appear somewhere on my highlights list! Although there were some things I missed including cereal and milk, food is another of my somewhat unexpected highlights. I knew the fruit would be amazing (mangos, pineapples, bananas and passion fruit to die for) but I expected to be fed up of everything else by the time I left, not missing it when I got home! Sodas were so good, especially the passion fanta, to which I might have developed a slight addiction and have possibly brought two home for when I'm having withdrawal symptoms... The hostel lunches of rice, beans and beef were also surprisingly good and I am definitely missing those. Chai time at the hostel was also so good, with battered potato and goat skewers being my favourite, closely followed by mundazi and chapatti. I LOVE chapatti, and I learnt how to make them whilst I was in Kenya so I can make them at home. Chip omelette (chips mayai) is another very good Tanzanian dish which I will definitely make at home, despite Mum's protests that they aren't healthy.
+ Oddly enough, our special leaving service makes it onto my list of highlights, not because of the goodbyes, which were sad, but because the atmosphere was incredible. We started off by sharing chai, chapatti and mundazi (which is a highlight in itself as we have already established) whilst a decent Tanzanian storm was raging outside. Then the singing and dancing together went on for a while and it was such good fun. The atmosphere was electric, with everyone joining in and the speakers turned up over the noise of the storm. I won't forget that in a hurry.

What things did I find the hardest/ what were my low points?
Inevitably there are a few low points, but only a few and they are nothing in comparison to the highlights. It is also a comfort to know that God uses the difficult things we see to spur us into action, and uses our weaknesses to demonstrate His strength.
- Seeing the way some people in town treated mama, our friend with downs syndrome. It made me both upset and angry to see them hit him or take his money or shout at him and to know there was very little I could do to change that, other than trust it to God.
- Seeing Mtani when he was in too much pain to even sit because of his sores, which meant he was confined to his bed and couldn't even use his chair when we'd got it adjusted properly. However, I am so glad we were able to take him to the Coptic hospital in town and get them seen to and to see him recover towards the end of our trip and to know he was much better when we left.
- My lowest time was probably when I was feeling too ill and tired to work and having to stay at home. I felt quite guilty as there were things that needed doing and everyone else was working hard, but God used that time to challenge me on other things and to make me think.

There's so much I'll miss from Tanzania (mosquitoes, mosquito nets, mosquito bites and anti-malarials being about the only things I won't miss!) I had the most amazing time, and I want to say a HUGE thank you to GoMAD, Graham, Deb, Andrew and my team (who I already miss loads) for making it so good. And to everyone who supported me financially and in prayer who helped make this possible. And of course to God, who planned this all before I was even born and who walked with me every step of the way! I'll post some pictures and another reflections post over the next week so check back soon.

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