The Bronx, Medellín Colombia

Hey all! I am currently still in Medellín, Colombia, we’ve been here for about 3 weeks now, which means we are already halfway! It is crazy how fast time is going by. It feels like we just got here yesterday. We are still all learning what life is like here, how to communicate better through the language barrier (google translate is my best friend as well as digging into the 5 years of Spanish that I took) and how to live peacefully with 40+ people!

As I mentioned in my previous post, most of our ministry is done inside the foundation. However, every Wednesday, 2 of our teams (8 people per team) have an opportunity to do ministry in the Bronx. The Bronx is the roughest part in Medellín which is full of homelessness, poverty, crime, and drug addiction. As someone mentioned, it’s basically “everything that is wrong with Medellín in one place”. Once I went, I would agree with that statement. When we were there, we handed out bread and water from the back of the truck and walked around talking and evangelizing and praying with the people there. I’ll give you a more detailed rundown of the night:

To start off the evening, we had a church service at 5:30-7:15 which includes worship and a message, and a send off prayer for the team that goes. then, we load the truck and make sure we aren’t taking any valuables such as phones, wallets, earrings/jewelry, and other items like that. The truck we take has some seats in the front, but we all pile in the back and hold on to the bars on the top of the truck. its always so fun riding in it, even when we are crammed or flying all over the place because of quick turns or hills! When we were driving there, I could tell that we were approaching the area. Looking out of the back of the truck, buildings became more run down, there was a lot more trash, the area became crowded, and it smelled.

We unloaded the truck, split up into groups, (some of which stayed at the truck to pass out bread and others going out to the streets) and put on orange/yellow vests. We were also given pamphlets to pass out which had information of the foundation on it, encouraging the people living in this area to come to the homeless shelter or join the program (which is a little over a year at the foundation growing in your faith and pivoting your life away from addiction towards a life with Jesus!). Our main goal was to start conversations with the people there, be a listening ear, point the conversations towards Jesus, and pray for them!

I was in a group with my squad leader, Nick, and another racer, Eric. The streets were lined with piles of trash, buildings were covered in graffiti with broken windows, and the smell was unbearable. Garbage, urine, drugs, and smoke are not a good combo. It was so insanely crowded as well. People were everywhere. People were standing shoulder to shoulder, or sitting in crowded clumps on the street. it was very easy to get separated from my group if we weren’t practically back to back with one another. There were both women and men, not many kids though. Most of their clothes were very dirty or ripped. One woman was only wearing a sheet for her clothes. Most women weren’t wearing much, mainly short shorts or a bra-looking top. My heart broke for them, their conditions, and how they were treated. There were a few instances that we saw women being beaten. Lots of catcalling as well, which is present everywhere in Medellín, not just the Bronx.

One street was lined with a row of black tents. I didn’t a great look to what was inside, but from what I did see, they were tents for drug deals. Every where you looked, there was a new type of drug or way to consume it. We started a conversation with an older man who ended our conversation and our offer to pray for him because he said he wanted to smoke whatever was in his pipe instead. This happened quite a bit. I hardly saw anyone eating food, but just consuming drugs. I still wonder where they get food, or even if they eat at all. One of my friends saw someone vomit, and another person eat it.

In general, I seriously couldn’t comprehend that somewhere like this existed. It was only something I’ve ever seen in pictures or movies, but nothing to this extreme, or in person at least. As we were talking with people, most were pretty high and under the influence. You could tell by how they acted around you, in their speech or mannerisms, or their eyes. While we were talking to people there, I realized that we were talking to God’s children, with real stories, and with real pain. They aren’t just characters in a movie, they aren’t acting, but are suffering in real life. It truly broke my heart and I was overwhelmed with sadness. But, there were sometimes that I felt pretty uncomfortable. Being a girl in this setting was challenging just based on some the guidelines they want women to follow, such as not shaking hands of the men and being mindful of the length of conversations we have with them. There was one instance where one of the men we were talking to put his arm around me. That was definitely a crossed boundary, but was glad I had Nick there to turn to. After that, I definitely was walking in fear. Fear of man and the fear of something bad happening to me. I was scared that something worse would happen, which definitely put a chain on my willingness to talk to more people. After spending time in prayer, debrief with my team, and reflection time, I’ve felt the fear slowly strip away and I feel more prepared and ready to go back if I get the opportunity.

It started to rain a little when we left, and then stormed pretty bad later that night. Myself along with my other teammates couldn’t stop thinking about how the people there were doing because they had no shelter from the rain. We were so thankful that I had a place and a home to go back to and be safe.

The whole experience was very eye opening and definitely something that I have never ever seen in my entire life, and I don’t think most people will ever see, or if I will ever see again. I would urge you all back home to be praying for the people in the Bronx. They need Jesus! Help them have the urge to chase after what Jesus has for them and God’s amazing design for their lives.

Thank you for reading!

Ellie 🙂