Pushing Ahead
Well it’s been way too long since my last blog update and for good reason. Life has been busy but progress has been slow. There are so many things going on but as for progress with the orphanage, things are slow and I will explain why. However, do not be discouraged as this update packs in plenty of good news and will surely leave you in a chipper mood, and now without further delay…..I bring you The Blog….
A Snail, a Sloth and a Colombian Government Worker
“Take your positions” yells the announcer. The gun fires and they’re off. The snail slowly but consistently inching itself one slimy centimeter at a time, has the slowest start of them all. In lane two, the sloth is mid stride of his second step and seems as though he’ll never complete it, let alone finish the 100 meter dash. Then in the third lane, a short stumpy elderly woman dressed in a floral moo-moo (which reminds me of my elementary art teacher) takes the lead with two short steps. Hours pass and the snail and sloth are almost tied approaching the one and a half meter mark, only 98.5 meters to go. Meanwhile the Colombian Government worker (social worker to be exact) is sipping coffee and explaining in detail the difficulties of her job to a sideline referee. Weeks pass into months and the steadfast snail is only inches from the finish line with the sloth closing with every intentional and well thought out step. Ninety meters back towards the starting line, the stumpy social worker sits on the track glued to the screen of her handheld TV immersed in one of primetime’s over-the-top dramatic soap operas, when she realizes that the race is almost over. Not accustomed to moving she staggers clumsily towards the finish line but it’s too late. The sloth stubbing one of his 3 toes loses his balance sending himself stumbling over the finish line.
Such is the reality of working with the Government in Colombia. After a 4 month process that by Colombian law should’ve only taken 4 weeks maximum, we have our license to open the orphanage. However, don’t despair as we have made good use of the long time and have made contacts with women who work in the red-light district and they are very excited about what we are doing. We will be getting our first girls in the next few weeks as we are working directly with the moms or caretakers (as opposed to working with the gov. to get the girls). Several women have mentioned to us that they will gladly leave prostitution if they can get someone to watch their kids during the day time or during the week days and nights. We have talked with several organizations that say starting off part time, taking in girls for the week days and having their mothers or caretakers take them for the weekends is the best way to begin. Generally what will happen is the mother/caretaker will end up abandoning the girl with time because he/she can’t or doesn’t want to care for the child. The other possibility is that the mother leaves prostitution and is able to find a job that can eventually sustain her and her child, as in the case of Marie, a 28 year old mother of 5 who has been working in prostitution for 9 years. She recently approached us with the proposition of caring for her two little boys (3 and 5years old) during the day so she can take a factory job and leave prostitution.
The Detail Difference
For those of you who don’t remember from past blogs, The Detail Difference is the company that was started by our friends Brian and Sue. They brought all the supplies and know-how down to us last October and trained two people from the church and myself. We have been working on finding our niche ever since and doing work in restaurants, car dealerships and hotels. God has been really blessing us and after doing $1000 in repairs (including some leather and marble work at an Embassy Suites), we have found ourselves in the negotiation process for several large contracts with two other formidable hotels here in Bogota. As just a quick reminder to those of you who don’t remember what it is that we do, we are specialists in repairing basically any detailed surface damage (leather, wood, porcelain, marble…etc) and restoring it to new. For more info please go to the site (www.thedetaildifference.com). What’s been so exciting is that our customers (mostly 5 star hotels) are really happy with our work and realizing they can save a lot of money getting us to restore their damaged areas as opposed to replacing items (sinks, wood floors, tile, leather chairs…etc). Also, my work partner Carlos, who currently is working part time as he has been working with the same milk distributor for the past 10 years, is thinking about working with the business full time. One of several big problems in Colombia, is that hourly wage is extremely cheap and businesses work their employees into the ground. Carlos just recently got a raise after working 9 years in the same position making $250 to now $400 a month at almost 60 hours a week. If we are able to land a few of these large contracts he could easily be making $600 a month, working fewer hours and we would still be able to comfortably hit our 30% donation to the orphanage.
It has been a huge blessing from God because as anyone who has ever started a business knows, it’s a BIG risk and especially in a different country and market. With this recent breakthrough I am confident that this business could financially back the majority of the orphanage costs in 2-4 years. However, I don’t want to get ahead of myself, so I ask you, the reader, to be praying that we are able to get these bigger contracts and that God would bless our work.
Construction Project
As if there wasn’t enough going on already, the church is starting its building project for the third floor. With the orphanage filling up, we can no longer use that as classroom space for the numerous classes and meetings that the church has planned during the week. Space is of absolute importance as our church is growing and we are developing more and more programs for our community. So after a long long loooooong process (similar to our orphanage license, but a year and a half long) we have our building permit. Thanks to several generous donations we have 90% of the structure for the third floor covered. The structure includes extending the 16 columns that are 9 ft high, pouring a concrete slab (reinforced with steel beams and rebar) and then enclosing the floor with steel enforced cement, block and brick walls. We have negotiated both the steel and concrete contracts and they will be arriving in a week, as well as the workers who will be building the columns. I will be building the wood forms for pouring the cement in the columns, and be helping out with some of the manual labor of mixing and hauling cement, but apart from that, its mostly skilled professionals that will be doing the construction.
The whole church is really excited to have classroom space and many people in the church are volunteering to help in whatever way they can. In fact we held a meeting for volunteers for the orphanage the other Sunday and 50-60 people showed up to sign up for different jobs (cleaning, cooking, helping with homework, putting on activities…etc). Again, just another great example of what it means to be in community. Everyone serving in the best way they know how. In the past few months I have found myself a little burnt out at times and it is always refreshing to see others get involved. However, more than just seeing others help, returning to the basics of centering my life around love for Christ and love for others is something I have to do daily or I easily get so involved that I forget what its all for.
As always, I appreciate hearing from you all, so please write.
A Snail, a Sloth and a Colombian Government Worker
“Take your positions” yells the announcer. The gun fires and they’re off. The snail slowly but consistently inching itself one slimy centimeter at a time, has the slowest start of them all. In lane two, the sloth is mid stride of his second step and seems as though he’ll never complete it, let alone finish the 100 meter dash. Then in the third lane, a short stumpy elderly woman dressed in a floral moo-moo (which reminds me of my elementary art teacher) takes the lead with two short steps. Hours pass and the snail and sloth are almost tied approaching the one and a half meter mark, only 98.5 meters to go. Meanwhile the Colombian Government worker (social worker to be exact) is sipping coffee and explaining in detail the difficulties of her job to a sideline referee. Weeks pass into months and the steadfast snail is only inches from the finish line with the sloth closing with every intentional and well thought out step. Ninety meters back towards the starting line, the stumpy social worker sits on the track glued to the screen of her handheld TV immersed in one of primetime’s over-the-top dramatic soap operas, when she realizes that the race is almost over. Not accustomed to moving she staggers clumsily towards the finish line but it’s too late. The sloth stubbing one of his 3 toes loses his balance sending himself stumbling over the finish line.
Such is the reality of working with the Government in Colombia. After a 4 month process that by Colombian law should’ve only taken 4 weeks maximum, we have our license to open the orphanage. However, don’t despair as we have made good use of the long time and have made contacts with women who work in the red-light district and they are very excited about what we are doing. We will be getting our first girls in the next few weeks as we are working directly with the moms or caretakers (as opposed to working with the gov. to get the girls). Several women have mentioned to us that they will gladly leave prostitution if they can get someone to watch their kids during the day time or during the week days and nights. We have talked with several organizations that say starting off part time, taking in girls for the week days and having their mothers or caretakers take them for the weekends is the best way to begin. Generally what will happen is the mother/caretaker will end up abandoning the girl with time because he/she can’t or doesn’t want to care for the child. The other possibility is that the mother leaves prostitution and is able to find a job that can eventually sustain her and her child, as in the case of Marie, a 28 year old mother of 5 who has been working in prostitution for 9 years. She recently approached us with the proposition of caring for her two little boys (3 and 5years old) during the day so she can take a factory job and leave prostitution.
The Detail Difference
For those of you who don’t remember from past blogs, The Detail Difference is the company that was started by our friends Brian and Sue. They brought all the supplies and know-how down to us last October and trained two people from the church and myself. We have been working on finding our niche ever since and doing work in restaurants, car dealerships and hotels. God has been really blessing us and after doing $1000 in repairs (including some leather and marble work at an Embassy Suites), we have found ourselves in the negotiation process for several large contracts with two other formidable hotels here in Bogota. As just a quick reminder to those of you who don’t remember what it is that we do, we are specialists in repairing basically any detailed surface damage (leather, wood, porcelain, marble…etc) and restoring it to new. For more info please go to the site (www.thedetaildifference.com). What’s been so exciting is that our customers (mostly 5 star hotels) are really happy with our work and realizing they can save a lot of money getting us to restore their damaged areas as opposed to replacing items (sinks, wood floors, tile, leather chairs…etc). Also, my work partner Carlos, who currently is working part time as he has been working with the same milk distributor for the past 10 years, is thinking about working with the business full time. One of several big problems in Colombia, is that hourly wage is extremely cheap and businesses work their employees into the ground. Carlos just recently got a raise after working 9 years in the same position making $250 to now $400 a month at almost 60 hours a week. If we are able to land a few of these large contracts he could easily be making $600 a month, working fewer hours and we would still be able to comfortably hit our 30% donation to the orphanage.
It has been a huge blessing from God because as anyone who has ever started a business knows, it’s a BIG risk and especially in a different country and market. With this recent breakthrough I am confident that this business could financially back the majority of the orphanage costs in 2-4 years. However, I don’t want to get ahead of myself, so I ask you, the reader, to be praying that we are able to get these bigger contracts and that God would bless our work.
Construction Project
As if there wasn’t enough going on already, the church is starting its building project for the third floor. With the orphanage filling up, we can no longer use that as classroom space for the numerous classes and meetings that the church has planned during the week. Space is of absolute importance as our church is growing and we are developing more and more programs for our community. So after a long long loooooong process (similar to our orphanage license, but a year and a half long) we have our building permit. Thanks to several generous donations we have 90% of the structure for the third floor covered. The structure includes extending the 16 columns that are 9 ft high, pouring a concrete slab (reinforced with steel beams and rebar) and then enclosing the floor with steel enforced cement, block and brick walls. We have negotiated both the steel and concrete contracts and they will be arriving in a week, as well as the workers who will be building the columns. I will be building the wood forms for pouring the cement in the columns, and be helping out with some of the manual labor of mixing and hauling cement, but apart from that, its mostly skilled professionals that will be doing the construction.
The whole church is really excited to have classroom space and many people in the church are volunteering to help in whatever way they can. In fact we held a meeting for volunteers for the orphanage the other Sunday and 50-60 people showed up to sign up for different jobs (cleaning, cooking, helping with homework, putting on activities…etc). Again, just another great example of what it means to be in community. Everyone serving in the best way they know how. In the past few months I have found myself a little burnt out at times and it is always refreshing to see others get involved. However, more than just seeing others help, returning to the basics of centering my life around love for Christ and love for others is something I have to do daily or I easily get so involved that I forget what its all for.
As always, I appreciate hearing from you all, so please write.
posted by Jacob Grady | 12:21 PM
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1 comments
