{"id":1235,"date":"2021-11-19T10:21:42","date_gmt":"2021-11-19T15:21:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/plaincompassion.org\/?page_id=1235"},"modified":"2023-12-08T15:25:35","modified_gmt":"2023-12-08T20:25:35","slug":"colombia","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/plaincompassion.org\/fields\/colombia\/","title":{"rendered":"Colombia"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Colombia <\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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mass migrations from Venezuela<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Project closed<\/h4><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Thank you to everyone who has helped with this project, whether by volunteering, financial contributions or prayer. We couldn't have done this without you.\n\nOn behalf of everyone who has been impacted by your generous help: Thank you and God bless you!<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Back in 2019, every day, approximately 5,000 Venezuelans were forced to leave their homeland in search of food and shelter. More than 4 million have left Venezuela in hopes of finding security with more than 1 million having left in the last year. Most of them are heading into Colombia looking for work and a safe place to sleep. On foot, carrying a few belongings in backpacks and bags, many of them with little children, they have become know as the Walkers.<\/p>

Venezuela is in the midst of a leadership struggle, with authoritarian President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro facing challenges from opposition leader Juan Guaid\u00f3. Guaid\u00f3 has been recognized as Venezuela\u2019s leader by many countries, including the United States. This leadership struggle has caused Venezuelan currency to lose most of it\u2019s value, with inflation of more than 30,000%. To put this into perspective, if you had one million dollars worth of Venezuelan currency in 2014, that same currency would now be almost enough to buy one dozen of eggs. Most of the people crossing the border are without any savings, having lost it all to the hyperinflation.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Providing shelter<\/h3>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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the scouting trip and the following months<\/p>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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PCCR sent a team to Colombia during the summer of 2019 to see how we could help with the Venezuelan refugees crisis. The biggest need was providing the refugees (aka Walkers) with food and a safe place to sleep. The\u00a0walkers left Venezuela on foot, and were walking hundreds of miles to cities in Colombia and countries beyond with the hope of finding a job that would provide food and a roof over their head.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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On October 5, 2019 we traveled to Colombia again with a man who was interested in taking his family there to assist with the crisis. We connected with a local Christian in Colombia who had a passion to help the Venezuelan refugees. With his help we were able to open a simple shelter at a strategic location where the Venezuelan walkers could stay overnight. At this shelter we were able to provide bathrooms, shower facilities, a safe place to sleep, breakfast, and a gospel message and literature.<\/p>

After several months this shelter location was closed and we moved to a location close to the Venezuelan border where our team is currently working.<\/p>

There are many opportunities to reach out and be the hands and feet of Jesus in Colombia. Most of the Venezuelan refugees are from a Catholic background, and have idol worship mixed into their religion. Our goal is to reach out in love and compassion, meet their physical needs of food and water, their emotional needs of safety and knowing someone cares, and their spiritual needs by introducing them to this man called Jesus.<\/p>

We are reaching the Venezuelan refugees, and the most needy Colombians by going into the shantytowns, camps, and the poorest communities and doing food distributions, church services, children’s programs, and discipleship. We are doing “walker ministry”, which is providing food, water, and prayer support to the many Venezuelan refugees that are still walking the long journey from Venezuela to other locations in Colombia. There are also hundreds of hours spent discipling the people that God has placed into the lives of the team there.<\/p>

PCCR is a crisis response organization that focuses mainly on short-term outreaches in times of crises. Due to this fact and the ongoing need in Colombia, we are transitioning the established outreach to another ministry who will carry this long-term work.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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