My deepest apologies for such a long absence! Many of you have asked for updates and I figure better late than never, so here it goes…

I moved to Sincelejo the first week of September. After 10 months of not having a home base, I am thrilled to feel settled into one place for a good while. My house is a second floor apartment and is really too big for me – it has three bedrooms and I have nothing to fill them with. It is a really nice house, though. I am renting from a pastor of one of the communities where a Seeder lives, so he’s giving me a really cheap rent price, his children live downstairs which is great for hanging out together and sharing food, and he’s really helpful with things that need to be done or that I’d like to change in the house. I live about a 7-minute’s walk from Sembrandopaz, so its really nice to be so close to work every day, and I’m not far from downtown. The house is really open-air which I love, I haven’t been hot in my house yet, the only problem with so much openness is that when it rains with a lot of wind, the rain enters my house A LOT, so I’m working on that…here are a few pictures of the house:

I am still getting to know Sincelejo, but so far, I really enjoy living here. Honestly, there’s not much to do. Sincelejo is the capital of the department of Sucre, which is the second poorest department in the country. Many say this is because of so much corruption – Sucre is known to be the most corrupt department in Colombia, in fact. Today is actually election day so we’ll see who the new local government is and what they do. Sincelejo is a city of 300 thousand people, but it doesn’t feel that big – there are few restaurants, no coffee shops, hardly any public community spaces or recreational spaces. As I said, the consequence of so much corruption is that there has been very little development done for the city and its citizens. Approximately 90 thousand, almost a third, of Sincelejo’s population are displaced people, moving to the city from the period of violence that dominated the area in the 90’s and early 2000’s. Violence in the region has diminished, although continues in different forms into today. Sincelejo has no formal bus system because motorcycle taxis have taken over the transportation here – if I look out on the road from my office any given day, I’ll see at least 50 motorcycles pass by within 2 minutes. So anytime I need to go somewhere I can’t walk, I’m on a motorcycle. J Vallenato blares from street corners, houses, bars and more at all hours of the day, it feels like your life has a soundtrack (or a broken record that keeps playing over and over). Vallenato is the costal music here in Colombia, if you’d like a taste of it, turn your speakers as loud as possible and play this: vallenato. Sincelejo is also a much milder climate than was Zambrano, because it is not on the river, is close to the ocean (30 min), and is a bit higher. Right now it is rainy season, so weather is cooler anyway, but in general, Sincelejo doesn’t seem so hot and unbearable to me either, which is wonderful.

I am slowly building community, although it is a process. I’m looking for a church community, but haven’t been real drawn to the options I’ve seen so far. On Saturday nights, I participate in a reflection group/bible study at Sembrandopaz that Ricardo leads. It is a small group of us, but I really enjoy it and that has been the church setting most important to me so far, as I think will continue to be. There is a young woman from Sembrandopaz who is becoming a really close friend. We share an office and I really enjoy hanging out with her and working together as we build a friendship. She is also married and we spend quite a bit of time together the three of us going out, having dinner together, etc. My group of friends is very small, though, because I am traveling so much its really hard to build community.

I’m enjoying work a lot, but, as I said, I am traveling a crazy amount. Some weeks I might be at home only two or three days. Tuesday I leave for Bogota and other Seed placements and I’ll be gone for more than three weeks! Mostly, my travels are going a first round of visits to Seeders to make sure all is going well with them. At this point, they all seem to be happy with where they are and content with the work, although it is a bit too slow-moving for a few.

Besides that, I’ve been working on the website a lot, which is also slow moving. I don’t know much about websites and I don’t have access to everything, so it’s a process, but we’re excited about the possibilities. Check it out if you’d like – seed.mcc.org – but if you look in a few weeks it will be better than it is right now! J It is pretty excited to see thing start to take form, like the website. We’re also working on a Seed e-bulletin that will come out bi-monthly, we’re hoping to organize a Seed Learning Tour, and even thinking about making a small promotional video, which would be great. I don’t especially like office work, but I feel passionate about what we’re doing and I travel a lot, so that gets me through long days at the office.

One of the big things with work right now is finding a balance between Seed work and off time that I have to give to Sembrandopaz. I think this will be a constant struggle…my work is technically only Seed program stuff, however since I am working out of the Sembrandopaz office, since I worked here before, and want to support/help out where I can, I try to do so. Sometimes expectations get a bit high, however, and I’m working at drawing clear boundaries in terms of what I do with Sembrandopaz. The big thing I’m working with (as are all the Seeders here) is a project that is trying to help communities, as well as Sembrandopaz, become more sustainable. We’re hoping to create a farmer’s market/coffee place/organic hang out here in Sembrandopaz. It’s all in its beginning stages, but I’m excited for what it might become.

MCC Colombia is also moving offices, just to keep everyone informed. It is basically just around the corner, but it will be a better and larger space for us. For those of you who have once in awhile used the MCC Bogota address, therefore, you should know that this is the new address: CCM Colombia
Calle 28A No. 16-41 Piso 2
Bogotá
Telefono: 245-6570

If you want to send me something, however, it is easier to send it right to Sincelejo where I live, which is the address at the top right of the blog. Just fyi...

Some people don’t like to read long blogs, so I’m going to stop here. I will work at updating more frequently, however. Much love to all…

rides to communities on the moto...great bridges!

the boat to get to the mojana, where leonel (seeder) lives

in the visit to leonel's community, i took a mosquito electrifying raquet because the mosquitos are HORRIBLE and it was the hit of the night!

eating fish!!!

rice fields....crossing the river.....

below are a number of pictures from a weekend i spent in zambrano, a wonderful three day escape from work...







and the house.......