By the end of the 2.5-month summer vacation, our family felt ready to get back into the school routine again.
The school year: challenges and accomplishments
There are fewer students attending Colegio Americano Menno (CAM) this year, about 400 compared to 425 last year, due to low kindergarten enrollment (only six, while other classes have 27 or more). The reasons for this relate to kindergarten not being required in Colombia, declining birth rates, youth migration for job opportunities, and economic pressures to pay for a private school versus a public school.
A small number of students resist the hard work toward growth, perhaps amid today’s many distractions. Encouragingly, those everyday struggles seem to fade; students are mastering material better than last year, and overall morale has soared. Even the seventh graders — whom I now assist in grades seven and up — are excelling and staying focused, a marked improvement from reports of last year.
Two new teachers have joined the CAM family: Profe Manuel Alejandro, who teaches music and physics, is a brother of Oscar Suarez, a Colombian Mennonite missionary serving in Cambodia; and Profe Lilibeth Guzman Macea, who teaches English, religion and art, is the daughter of a Colombian Mennonite pastor. Both bring exceptional work ethic and have made strides in classroom management — a challenge at CAM due to large class sizes (sometimes up to 40 students), the students’ spiritedness, and the inherent difficulties that come with teaching students to channel that exuberance towards their futures.
The teachers at the Colegio seem to be hitting their stride and we sense God working through them.
Profe Ruth, who teaches English to the older grades, infuses every lesson with fun and engagement, transforming the stress of learning into something constructive. Her strong classroom management, enthusiasm, and energy inspire the same in her students. Learning from her has been a profound gift — preparing me not only for continued service here but also for my future as a physical therapist in the U.S., where patient education is key. I thank God daily for this opportunity.
Nick said, “During my work at La Concha, a rural school supported by Iglesia Cristiana Menonita de Colombia (IMCOL—Colombian Mennonite Church), I quickly found that the secret to success was to channel my inner Ruth. Silly, high-energy memory games make lessons stick.”
Even though we are not leaving for four months, students are already saying they will miss us dearly when we’re gone. Mentions of our eventual leaving prompt a chorus of “AWW!” — a touching reminder of the bonds formed. We will miss them too, very much. The big hearts we encounter here inspire us; if our presence encourages even one more person toward such generosity and love, we are grateful. Communities worldwide achieve extraordinary things when we work together.
Encountering need
One day, walking home from school, we encountered a group of men sleeping on the sidewalk. Nick describes the event:
“Can we help them!?” Brielle eagerly asked me. All we had was money, so that’s what we gave them.
Later, sharing the story over the telephone with my father-in-law John Sharp, I confessed mixed feelings: joy at Brielle’s compassion, yet concern about enabling poor choices, recalling lessons from my own father.
“I think the point is to be indiscriminately generous so that we are acting as God acts,” John responded. “Check out Matthew 5:43-48. Your dad is probably right, but we are not called to be morality police. What the recipient does with the money we share is not our business. There are no qualifiers in Jesus’ command to feed the hungry.”
43 “You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. 44 But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! 45 In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. 46 If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. 47 If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. 48 But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.” Matthew 5:43-48, NLT
A few weeks later, I met a woman with two young children without shoes in the street. It is not uncommon common to find people in need on the streets asking for help, but not many have small children alongside them. She shared her story: hospital bills, family elsewhere, saving for a bus ticket home.
I know the right thing is to give, and that is what I do. But I sure tend to give a lot more to the groups with small children, and to those adults who are not obviously intoxicated in the middle of the day. Is that discriminatory?
At home, Laura gathered food and outgrown shoes. We returned and talked more with them. An even larger family was just down the block, with small children and a three-month-old baby. We split up and spent time trying to demonstrate God’s love how we could. We discretely helped them get diapers, formula, hygiene items and the like from the corner drogería (pharmacy).
Laura reflected, “I’m still trying to decode my own tears. Sadness about how little they had? Happiness that I was in a position to help? Anger at the inequities of our world? Confusion that my children have so much more than this woman’s children? Joy at the love this family clearly had for this baby and each other? Frustration that the solutions to such inequities are simple but greed prevents resolution? Powerlessness that I can’t do more? Gratitude that God is ever-present with all of us no matter our circumstances?”
We continue to appreciate our community in La Mesa and feel very well connected in our church and school. We have many regular friendly interactions with people who live and work along our walk to school and with folks at the nearby grocery stores, empanada stands, ice cream shops and the pharmacy we frequent.
To our family, friends, and supporters near and far: thank you for your prayers and encouragement. We are truly blessed.
