[Colombia 2013] Tuesday 26th of March – Ibague
On Tuesday we were happy to be invited by the Shekinah foundation in Ibague. We had a time slot from 8 to 12. We left “El Palmar” around 7, giving us the chance observing the awakening of the city, glancing through the windows of the cars that our friends from the farm had borrowed us.
The Shekinah foundation is located in a small house with an inconspicuous frontage. Only a small sign stating “Fundacion shekinah” confirmed us we were right.
We were warmly welcomed by Juan Carlos and Ruth, who are the founders of this great project. We learnt that Shekinah means “cloud of God – the place where God stays” in Hebrew. The small house we have entered is welcoming 40 kids, giving them a new family, a warm and secure place to rest. During their stay, a team of doctors, teachers, nurses put all their efforts to rehabilitate the kids, majority of which have been victims of drugs or sexual abuse. We heard heartrending stories, affecting us all deeply. We entered the room where the kids were waiting for us with mixed feelings, changing between pity, fear, respect…
As mixed our feelings were, as big was our surprise when, having barely entered the room, all of us received a warm hug from an 8 year old boy, apparently extremely excited by what would come next, erasing all our doubts and fears.
Starting our presentation we felt a higher distance to the kids than with the kids from the day before. We had in front of us a very calm but concentrated audience. It didn’t last long to break the ice. When Cesar explained the principle of lift, drag, propulsion and weight, using five volunteers (one as the airplane, one as the drag, etc..), the laugh was big.
We used the break to go outside to fly our little airplane and launching our water rocket. This gave us the chance to exchange more personally with the kids, sharing with us their dreams and hopes as well their plans for life. We were happy to hear some wanting to become nurses, other pilots, mode designers….
Until the end of the morning all the ice had melted. The quiz at the end of the four hours, transformed the atmosphere in the room in a heathen up stadium with a lot of shouting, laughing and big smiles.
We left Shekinah’s kids our hearts full of hope and trust, knowing that devoted persons are taking care of them with love and patience and we sincerely wish that their plans will come true!
Hereafter a group picture with Juan and Ruth. Pictures of the kids shall not be published.
And what about your photos ij colombia?
Hello William,
in Ibague we couldn’t take picture. But for all the other pictures, we are currently processing them. You can find already find some on our facebook page or in the blog posts.
Please be a little bit patient, we all have started our work again, and are pretty busy those days 🙂
But I am glad that you have interest!!
solo puedo dar gracias a Dios por regalarnos momentos tan lindos y con personas tan bellas que dejaron su pais sus ocupaciones por brindarles a nuestros niños una mañana de ilusion y alegria.
solo mil gracias, esto es un hermoso regalo para nuestras vidas, esto no motiva a seguir luchando por nuestros niños.