Well, the day has finally arrived. Marisol and were married tonight in Pereira, Colombia. We had a very busy week leading up to our Greek-Colombian wedding.
We’ve been able to do a few more things for the school in Belén de Umbría since our last update in March. Once the construction finished and supplies were given to the students, we decided to look at the smaller issues affecting the school.
Marisol, Lina, and I would like to express a heartfelt thanks to every donor who made this project possible. In just over a month, you were able to completely make over a school and change the lives of 30 students.
The school building, as mentioned in the video in the previous post, had several problems. It hadn’t been painted in many years, the roof had huge holes in it and leaked terribly every time it rained, and the school was in bad shape in general.
In Belén de Umbría, a tiny two-room school serves a marginalized community. Andrés Escobar Primary School has two teachers and 30 students from preschool to 5th grade. Many of the students have discipline issues or learning disabilities. Some come from broken families, have just one parent, or are raised by their grandparents. A few students have been displaced by violent conflict in Colombia while others have drug addicts or prostitutes in their families. All of the students come from very low-income families that struggle to afford school supplies, uniforms, and lunches.
Buga, one of Colombia’s prestigious Heritage Towns (Pueblos Patrimonio), is not typically on the tourist radar. This small Colombian city of nearly 100,000 attracts over three million Catholic pilgrims a year to the Basilica of the Lord of Miracles (Basílica del Señor de los Milagros), but there are other points of interest to visit besides its beautiful churches.
