Greetings from Colombia, the home of great coffee, cocaine, and kidnapping guerrillas! We have arrived safe and sound, though some of our teammates had a detour through Peru and Ecuador. After a safety briefing we made way from Bogota to a nearby town of Fusagasuga.
We are currently serving at a camp site run by New Horizon Missions (under the umbrella of New Tribe Missions – www.usa.ntm.org). The heart of New Tribe Missions (NTM) is to share the good news with the unreached people groups throughout the world. In Colombia, the mission of New Horizons Missions is to reach out to the 95 ethnic tribes. Currently, there are 9 tribes being reached within the country,
but the organization would like to reach another 15. With only 45 missionaries remaining in the country after threats from guerrillas almost 15 years ago, there is a great need for more labourers here. At the moment, 125 additional missionaries are needed in order to successfully reach out to these people groups.
The camp site in Fusagasuga was originally intended to be a training facility for the incoming NTM missionaries of Colombia. Here, the missionaries were trained in the areas of linguistics, theology, cultural integration, and Bible translation.
Once, a thriving training institute that housed 60 new missionaries at a time is now empty and deserted due to the political situation and the security being compromised by the guerrilla threats.
Due to difficult circumstances they have decided to sell the property but there still exists a flicker of hope that this will once again be the training facility it was intended to be. As Southbound, we have been faced with our first labour intensive challenge since leaving South Africa. We have been blessed with the privilege of serving alongside Juan, Stella and Diego (NTM
missionaries). Together we are aspiring to accomplish 4 projects:
• Yellow team was given the menial task of building retaining terraces to prevent erosion of the soil underneath the housing facilities of the camp site. However, a new problem arose as a sewerage leak was discovered and the yellow team’s focus was redirected to fix the problem at hand. This requires:
o Digging 1½ metres beneath the foundations to uncover the piping.
o Purchasing and replacing the existing piping.
o Redirecting the piping to the sewerage system, newly improved by the Blue team.
• Blue team has taken on the task of uncovering the current sewerage system of the
camp site and replacing it with a more effective draining method.
• The Silver team is currently digging holes and planting concrete poles to complete an already existing fence on the campsite property. This fence will be key in preventing theft and vandalism on the grounds. This requires:
o The purchasing of concrete poles
(17 poles @ R118 each = a total of R2006)
(17 poles @ 17,80USD each = a total of 302,44USD )
o The purchase of wiring for securing the fence (R700 or USD100)
It would be such a blessing for us to complete these tasks. Unfortunately we do not have the sufficient funding at this point in time to complete all of the above tasks. The truth is, we need help, prayerfully and financially.
If you would like to contribute towards this effort financially, please refer to the banking details below:
Bank: ABSA
Account name: Global Challenge
Account number: 9206963077
Please leave as reference: Fusagasuga Project
(You can also visit our Support Us page)
God bless
Southbound 2011