Sunday, January 31, 2010

Our visit coincided with the first day many of these children attended the facility. Some tears and some bewilderment on their faces. They were all too cute.



One of the objectives of the foundation is to teach the mothers of these children skills. Above are some dolls wearing the uniforms of different private schools in the area which these moms made and which will be sold to parents of students attending these private schools. The goal is to help these moms become more self reliant.



We had talked with Amparo Rueda, a friend who used to work at the Library of Congress, about a foundation founded by her father, Roberto Rueda Williams, who was a well-known professor and promoter of good nutrition in Colombia. The Fundacion Nutrir has four "casas" in a very poor area of North Bogota where 1400 poor children and pregnant and lactating women (mostly young single women) are served two meals each day. We toured the "casas", talked with the director of the foundation, and invited them to submit a proposal listing the needs of the foundation to continue their work. The first two photographs show the streets of two of the "casas".

In this photo are two children waiting for their meal. Each of the 1400 children have a very thorough examination by a (volunteer) doctor and then a nutrition plan is formed for each child to give them the daily nutritional meals they each need. They are closely monitored to see if their needs are being met.


Changing subjects. Occasionally, Royal and I will go to lunch at the mall across the street. Each time we do this, we literally take our lives in our hands. Notice the taxis, the motorcycles and the street venders which are strategically located every couple of hundred feet apart.


This pictures shows we made it across the street. The building on your left is Liberty Seguros, the building where the church has its offices. Notice the bus. To get on the bus, you have to hail it down and then while it "slows" down, hop on and go through a very obnoxious turnstile. You have to get off really rapidly as well. We have seen people literally fall on the ground as the bus slows down and then starts up again. Needless to say, we take taxis. You might notice how small the taxi is in front of the bus. About the size of a volkswagen.


In the food court in the mall, is a place that sells American pizza. Very tasty. This young man that Royal is ordering from is our friend now and when we come up, he immediately puts two pieces of pizza in the oven. He always picks the two best pieces.


Liberty Seguros is well patrolled by many, many security people. This guard is one of the most friendly of all of them greeting us warmly whenever we go into the building or exit the building

posted a picture earlier of a street vender in front of Liberty Seguros. This vender is located behind the building and we pass it on our way to our favorite Mexican restaurant. Notice the variety of treats you can buy. Really, it beats stopping at the safeway for some doritos or some candy.

Royal is standing in front of the Mexican Restaurant. It is open aired, clean and the food is delicious. We usually share an order of beef nachos. This picture is taken inside the restaurant. You order your food where the two men are standing and then they give you a number and you go pick it up to the left when it is ready. Good hot sauce too.


5 comments:

  1. It is fun to see how and where you live. I am sure you have lots of friends there who give you the best pizza, etc. I wish I could come explore Bogota with you.

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  2. I made a mistake on posting this blog today and my son in law tried to fix my mistake. A couple of the comments are in the wrong place but hopefully you can figure it out. Thanks Tom for once again fixing my mistakes.

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  3. It looks like you are staying busy. Thanks for the update.

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  4. That picture of Dad with the pizza man made me cry!! Dad always makes friends like that :) It warms my heart and reminds me of going to the Tortilla factory. You and Dad make friends wherever you go, what blessings you are!! Loved the pictures, glad you are not going on that bus though!!

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  5. i just wrote a big long comment on your post and it would not work. anyway - loved the post. thanks for including us in your amazing adventure. so glad you are taking advantage of all the fun things to do there. so proud of you. Love you so much. Julie

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