Tumaco and Illegal Aliens

Adriana Guiand, on the right, is the Colombian director for the International Relief and Development (IRD) a large US-based organization that has a major humanitarian project which the Church is supporting in Tumaco, a very poor city in south western Colombia near the Ecuadoran border. In Colombia, internally displaced persons (called Desplazados here) -- people driven off their property and out of their homes -- is a big problem. About 10% of the population of Colombia is desplazado. The photo shows a view of the Pacific ocean from a restaurant where we ate lunch. Adriana is talking with one of her Tumaco staff. The shrimp we had was the best we had ever eaten.

Our first stop was at a fish processing plant. The women in the picture above are all desplazados that IRD placed in the plant. They peel shrimp 6 days a week; eight hours a day.

The shrimp is processed; quick frozen and the above picture shows the finished product before it is packaged.

The plant also receives other catches of fish. In this photo, is a boat of fresh fish and the men are about to walk up the slippery steps with their catch.

Our next stop was to see where some of these desplazados live. They have to build these houses above the ground as water comes up every evening at high tide.

Two children that reside in the village. IRD weighs and measures these children when they arrive in Tumaco. As you can see these children are very malnourished.

A woman that lives in the village is explaining to us about the water she gets from the well. They use the water to drink but I am uncertain how clean it is. IRD provides water purification tablets with a grant from the US state department.

The second day of our trip we went to a food distribution held in front of the IRD offices. The photo shows the people that are there for their second months food. IRD provides food for them during the two months it takes the government to process their papers. The food consists of rice beans and cooking oil donated by the Church. It is at the first distribution that these people are given hygiene kits, newborn kits and school kits also donated by the church.

I love this photograph. The children who have come with their mothers to get the donated food are playing with toys that have been donated by the church. Each child gets to take one home.

This photo shows the bags that have been prepared for distribution. Each woman gets enough in her bag for her own family for a month so the size and amounts vary.

IRD tries to make this a happy occasion and always invites a group to perform for the desplazados. These kids are all from displaced families that a foundation supports that teaches music to children of displaced persons in their school. They asked us if we knew President Obama among many other questions. Carolyn always enjoys interacting with the kids.

At the airport as we were leaving Tumaco, it was brought to our attention that we were in the country illegally. Our visas had expired. Not good. This situation was resolved last week as Royal and Carolyn along with another senior couple and two elders flew to Pasto, Colombia, a town two hours from the border. For the next three days, we stood in long lines in Colombia and Ecuador but when we left we were legal again. The photo is of us and Hermana Morgan crossing the border from Colombia to Ecuador.

The elders crossing the border.

A common sight everywhere you go in Colombia is people selling things along the road. This young boy was running down the road selling fruit as we travelled back to Pasto. He is the youngest person I have seen doing this selling.

We passed several of these buses on our trip from the border. Inside the bus is filled with people who crossed the border from Ecuador into Colombia. On top of the bus is all their belongings. I am not sure what the job of the two men were. Perhaps to make sure the stuff didn't fall out.

Vision and Clean Water Projects

This is a photo of Royal visiting with the first lady of the department (state) of the Valle del Cauca (in green blouse) after our meeting to discuss humanitarian projects with her.

After our meeting in Cali we went to lunch where I ordered barbecued chicken. Here in Colombia, they serve your chicken with plastic gloves so you do not need to bother with a knife and a fork.

Dr. Christiansen (we are related through the Merrill line), Patriarch Barbosa of the Cali Stake and Royal at lunch.

Out of order!! This photo was taken at a restaurant in Bucaramanga that the notario took all of us to for dinner on Royals birthday. The young lady sitting in front of the entertainers works in the notarios office and helped us with the NRT when we were there a few months ago. This photo is taken in Bucaramanga in the office of Governor Uribe of the department of Santander. He is standing to the right of Royal. Next to him is Presidente Ardila, the Christiansens and to my left is Presidente Barreno and Henry Mendoza the public affairs person that helped arrange our visits. In the background is the ever present portrait of the Great Liberator, Simon Bolivar.

A photo with the mayor of Bucaramanga at his home. He is standing next to me.

We were greeted on our arrival to Bucaramanga by the two stake presidents on Royals right and Henry Mendoza on my left.
This photo is taken in Barranquilla at a vision clinic. Our friend and driver Cristian Juliao is standing between the very handsome doctor and Royal. The other doctor is head of the clinic and he is standing next to Dr. Christiansen.

Moving right along to Cartagena, you see Royal and me ready to take off on our unforgettable boat ride to Baru.

The boat with the blue trim was our means of travel to Baru.

A house along the inlet to Baru.
A typical street in Baru. Notice the water buckets.
This is the well where the folks come each day to get their water. The water is clean but salty. It's not for drinking but is used to cook, wash clothes and bathe. For drinking they have to wait for a small pond to fill up with rain water or buy clean water that business men transport by boat from Cartagena and sell to the Baru residents.
While Royal walked through the town of Baru to look at the now-empty pond where rain water is collected, I found a shady place to rest. Before long, I had a group of curious children surrounding me laughing at my spanish and examining my camera. The little boy standing in front of me was the most talkative and inquisitive of the group.

As we walked through the streets, we saw this young man either repairing or finishing this chair.
I have seen several iguanas in our travels but this was the closest I came to one. I didn't ask if they bite!!!

We ended our trip with a lovely horse and carriage ride through the old section of Cartagena. The old town was lively and beautiful and the ride was very relaxing. Our friend Cristian is sitting in front of us.

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.

Feliz Ano

The photo above is inside the house of Amparo Rueda Arciniegas at Chia Colombia, a small pueblo about one half hour outside Bogota. I knew Amparo when we both worked for the Libary of Congress. A few years ago, Amparo moved back to colombia (she is Colombian) and lives in the house her paents built on a small finca (farm) soon after they were married. Amparo's family is part of Colombia's "elite". She has a cook/housekeeper and three gardeners/drivers/handimen to help her manage things. Even though it's a warm day, inside the house it's cold, hence the fire in the fireplace. Amparo invited us to a lovely lunch.

This photo is of the grounds surrounding Amparo's house. She is now an event planner and often has weddings and big parties on the grounds of her home. There is even a small Catholic church on the grounds for marriages. We had a picture of us with Amparo and it went away. We will post it later. She is a very gracious woman.

One morning we ventured into a part of Bogota we were unfamiliar with to go to a warehouse where some of our humanitarian supplies are being stored. It wasn't easy for the taxi driver to find. It was nestled in a building among many buildings where there were enormous amounts of food of every kind stored. There were also venders all along the way selling their produce.

This photo was taken inside the warehouse of our humanitarian supplies. You are looking directly at the boxes of hygiene kits. There are 5 hygiene kits in each box. We figure there is a total of 2,000 right now. To the left is our supply of Atmit. Atmit is a nutritional drink that does miraculous things for young malnourished children.

The new year brought us to our final resting place, office wise. This is the third office we have occupied since coming to Colombia. We are pleased with this office. Although it is small, it is light and airy and for the most part quiet. Carolyn sits in the empty chair across from Royal

Our first church meeting of the new year was at the small branch of Sesquile about an hour drive outside of Bogota. We went with President and Hermana Hacking. President Hacking tries to visit a different branch or ward each week where he has missionaries serving. This branch is particularly unique because many of the branch members are from an Indigenous tribe of people from Otavalo Ecuador. The Otavalo natives are strong members of the Church, because, one brother told us, they have the blood of Laman. There are two strong stakes in the town of Otavalo. One of their cultural traditions is for the males not to cut their hair. It's worn in long braids down their backs and they are the only people, we are told, whose young men don't have to cut their hair when they go on missions. About 40 years ago, a few families from Otavalo moved to Sesquile Colombia and have formed the strength of the branch their. The older members maintain the traditions of Otavalo but some of the younger people, born in Colombia, are not following the old ways -- at least in dress and hair style

This photo shows the women in their black skirts, each with a shawl and many strands of gold beads around their neck. They have beautiful white blouses with hand embroidery on them. The men wear the little white cloth shoes and the white midcalf pants.

This photo shows Royal with one of the members. Their hair is simply gorgeous

We love the hat, pants and shoes but especially we love these people. They are warm and friendly and gracious. It was a wonderful meeting.

On the drive back to Bogota, we drove through several quaint pueblos. We took this

picture to show the typical narrow streets, white buldings and the traditional pauncho and hat worn by many of the men.

We drove through the mountains and the scenery was breath taking. We stopped just as we entered Bogota and took this picture capturing a view of the city. We completed our lovely fast Sunday by joining the Hackings at their beautiful apartment for dinner. We were so grateful for this choice opportunity and the new friends we made that day.