Do NOT use Heart for Change

I'm back home in the USA after my month away in Colombia.  I had an amazing experience, met incredible people and saw spectacular sights - all in spite of Heart for Change.  Had I only judged Colombia and its people on my interactions with Heart for Change and their "excursions" I would've left South America with a very negative view of Colombia

For anyone interested in traveling through Colombia, volunteering in Colombia, learning more about Colombian culture, etc. do NOT use Heart for Change, Ambassadors for Prosperity and/or Partners of the Americas.  There are better ways to see the beauty of Colombia that will not leave you bogged down in regret and frustration.

Heart for Change and the Ambassadors for Prosperity program make promises they are NOT capable of keeping, set expectations that are impossible for such a disorganized organization to meet and continuously put you down for your cultural upbringing and your disappointment and disapproval over the repeated lack of professionalism, consideration and competency.

Brilliantly, the fledgling non-profit puts very little in writing so most of the problems you have with them become exactly that - YOUR PROBLEM.  Heart for Change rarely takes ownership - only when backed into a corner.  It's extremely difficult to prove exactly how they've screwed you over if you're like me and don't realize you should be documenting every face-to-face encounter through audio or video recordings or saving every text message and email exchanged even over the most seemingly mundane things.  Yes, it will all come back to bite you in the end.  The time you thought was for learning about and absorbing all Colombia and its people have to offer is actually time when you should be doing everything in your power to cover your ass! (Please excuse my language.)

Take this text exchange for instance.  This is a conversation between myself and the head of the program, Andrea.  Christie - mentioned in the end - is the Partner of the Americas employee who I was told to contact if there were problems while I was in Colombia.  Needless to say, she heard from me a bit although I tried hard to solve issues directly with Andrea.  When I contacted Christie, she suggested that we (Andrea & I) I should be more upfront and clear about the plans and expectations.  Solid advice unless the only person in front of you (Andrea) constantly speaks indirectly and without details which means my constant stream of clarifying questions quickly began to sound annoying and argumentative.  Not a good situation especially considering it was most often just Andrea and I on our own - extremely uncomfortable and not at all enjoyable.

In the exchanges just before what you see, I explained that I needed to arrive at the Hogar location at 10:00 AM and I was told not to go to FANA before that.  Andrea responded by saying she would pick me up at 7:00 AM to drive me there (it was approximately a 30-minute drive) because her schedule was full later in the morning.  What makes this worse, in my eyes, is that I asked about the Monday morning ride on Friday afternoon.  Andrea didn't have a response so I said, no problem (she often made fun of my "American ways" - asking about the schedule "far" in advance), just let me know sometime this weekend after you have time to think about it.  When I still hadn't heard back by 8:30 PM on Sunday night, I finally initiated the text conversation below.

This happened at the beginning of my fourth and final week, but demonstrates the type of issues that continuously came up throughout the month.  I am writing in the green bubbles while Andrea is in the white bubbles.

This was the last I heard from Andrea via text, email, phone, face-to-face or otherwise.  That text convo happened Sunday night and I left Colombia on Friday morning.  Nor did I ever get that taxi reimbursement.  Not that it really matters at this point.  I paid just over $3,000.00 USD for this 4-week program (not including airfare) and so much of what I paid for and was promised was never delivered!!  The taxi ride - roundtrip - was just $11 USD.   I'm really not shocked that they decided to pocket that as well.  It would've been more shocking if they had acted as honest and trust-worthy professionals. Just to put this in perspective, I left Colombia a week ago, tomorrow morning.  Again, I had tried to give them the benefit of the doubt.  I do have a Skype conversation scheduled with one of the Partners of the Americas employees tomorrow, but my hopes aren't very high.  Can you blame me?

The Heart for Change program is not consistently listed under the same name.  At the moment, their program is called Ambassadors for Prosperity.  This program is actually a partnership between Heart for Change and Partners of the Americas.  However, you may see any of the 3 names at any given time - - steer clear of all of them, at least in Colombia.  YOU WILL NOT GET WHAT YOU PAID FOR and the time you should be using to enjoy and soak it all in, will instead be spent (almost DAILY!) in meetings, on phone calls, through email or in person trying to explain what went wrong (yet again!) due to poor program planning.

Please spread the word.  Please do NOT allow anyone else to go through the headaches, to say the least, that I went through with Heart for Change and their incompetent, ill-managed ways.

Also, if you have any connection to Partners of the Americas and/or FANA, please encourage them to immediately terminate any and all partnerships with Heart for Change.  All they will do is run their hard-earned, long-lasting reputations into the ground.

That would be a real pity because FANA really is a fantastic organization who deserves all the love and respect and generosity it gets from adoptees who want to volunteer in an effort to give back all we have received from them, in addition to many others who also want to give.

Not My First Rodeo p1

This is actually my second time here in Bogota, Colombia.  The first time was last year: October, 2012. That's when I learned how insane the airport here is and how overwhelming the flood of people (pushing one another just to catch a glimpse of the person they came for) can be, especially when you're nervous about finding your ride after landing in a foreign country.  Thank God I wasn't alone that first time and that, when I was this second time, I was already prepared for the frantic mess.




 David and I came to visit Katalina and her family.  Kata had been my host daughter (female homestay student) a few months earlier.  MI CASA ES SU CASA.

She came to Boston from Switzerland, but it turned out she was originally from Colombia.  Her family had just moved back to the area a year or two earlier and she was planning to stay with them for a little while, a few months after leaving Boston.  The timing was perfect!

We immediately got an introduction to the rainy, cold weather here in Bogota.  It was pouring and the airport was under construction. What a mess!

Traffic was horrendous too.  Kata explained about
PICO Y PLACA.  Basically, your license plate number determines whether or not you can drive during the day, Monday-Friday.  This helps to eliminate many of the cars that make up rush hour traffic.  Then again, as happened for our airport pickup, many people just help one another out by lending and borrowing cars to avoid restrictions.
click here if you're still curious

Kata welcomed us with open arms...as did much of her extended family.  We stayed with Kata and/or some member of her family nearly every night of our week-long visit.

Bogota Protests: Friday the 13th

It's been days and I still haven't had a chance to post the protest photos and videos from Friday afternoon.  Before I post them, here's a link to help you catch up and fill in some of the gaps left from the last blog post.

Pink slip for Bogota mayor Gustavo Petro could lead to resurrection

This is the first group I saw come through the area plus (near the end of the video) you'll see the riot-gear police ready for action and waiting on the sidelines.

As the day went on there were more and more people in a wide variety of costumes and all from different groups: Taxi drivers, students, artists, etc.

Really, the pictures speak for themselves...

BEST DAY...but there's much more!!

What an incredible day!

First of all, GRACIAS, Andrea, POR LA ENTRADA.  I really appreciate your generosity in giving away your ticket when you found out I'd been dying to attend a TED talk!

 

So, this morning began with the fear that, by the end of the day, I might be hurt or killed due to aggressive, impassioned protestors who are quickly becoming more and more agitated.  I was going into this situation alone and, as you know from the last blog, with very basic Spanish skills plus not much knowledge of Bogota's current political problems...a dangerous combination of course!  Well, at least according to my vivid imagination.  I'll let you be the judge.

However, my host mom, my driver and Andrea all independently evaluated the situation and decided I would be fine as long as they warned me of all the precautions I must take and tried to set me up with chaperones along the way.  It didn't really work out the way they originally said it would - but nothing much seems to have gone as expected for me here, so that wasn't really a shock - but I couldn't be happier about never getting the contact info and, therefore, never getting in contact with my chaperone at TED.  Had I been with her, I never would've been able to sprint up the street from the theater to get --- OOPS!  I'm getting ahead of myself; LO SIENTO.  Let me backup a bit.

Assuming you're as ignorant of Colombia's capital's politics as I was, please check out the backstory first:

Colombia's ousted Bogota mayor rallies thousands in protest

BOGOTA'S MAYOR WARNS OF CRISIS IF HE IS OUSTED

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — The mayor of Colombia's capital has told thousands of supporters the city will become ungovernable if he is forced from office. 

Colombia's inspector-general has ordered Bogota Mayor Gustavo Petro removed and banished from politics for 15 years, deeming unconstitutional his behavior in a showdown last year with private garbage collectors.

Petro refuses to accept the order and has called supporters into the streets two consecutive nights.

Speaking from a city hall balcony Tuesday night, the mayor said that if the ruling is applied "Bogota will enter a crisis of governability."

Petro, a former rebel, accuses Inspector-General Alejandro Ordonez of doing the bidding of Colombia's far right.

Thousands march for sacked Bogota Mayor Gustavo Petro

Ok, now you need to know about Plaza de Bolivar (Bolivar Square) - seriously, don't skip that link...the pictures are gorgeous and the description is super brief, but extremely informative and important to the story!

Andrea took me to La Candelaria - a historic neighborhood in downtown Bogotá, Colombia; the equivalent to the Old City in other cities...the architecture of the old houses, churches and buildings has Spanish Colonial and Baroque styles; the neighborhood includes Plaza de Bolivar.  During our visit is when I first really learned about the people's displeasure/the mayoral controversy, but it was really just the tip of the iceberg.  We didn't see much in the way of trouble - with the exception of armed guards around the government building...but they were similar to the guards outside Buckingham Palace with tourists taking pictures alongside them and everything, so I didn't think much of them.

MIRA, here we are in the Plaza last Saturday, December 7, 2013:

Well, another attraction in this neighborhood happens to be TEATRO JORGE ELIECER GAITAN.  Check out some holiday singers attracting a crowd of kids and adults alike in front of the theater this morning, Friday, December 13, 2013

OMG!  Just realized it's Friday the 13th!!  That would've been the last straw if I'd realized that this morning before I left to head into this area...I was already freaking out a little and just trying to be brave, but questioning if I should just cancel...that would've sealed the deal and I would've missed out on this scary, eye-opening, educational, fascinating, empowering, inspirational, long day.
Phewww!  Thank goodness I rarely have reason to look at the calendar here JAJAJAJA :)

Alright, I got sidetracked.  Back to the video of the morning activities at Teatro Jorge Eliecer Gaitan and the surrounding area:

Pretty low-key, right?  Nice, family-friendly Colombian morning in Central Bogota, wouldn't you agree?

So, I parked myself at the OMA cafe across the street from the theater and waited for the proper time to go into the theater.  Well, first I went shopping through that "mall" of souvenirs next door and took a quick walk up the street and saw some other interesting things:

As I walked back, the line to get into the TED event was already super long, but that was nothing compared to how many lined up behind me.  For a while I just stood waiting and trying to listen in on other people's conversations to see if I could understand them.  Then I realized, I need to just dive in and attempt my own conversation.  Just my luck!  The guy standing in line behind me lived in New York City for 6 months a while back and tried to learn English at the Embassy while he was there.  Unfortunately for him, but lucky for me, he didn't meet with great success.  This meant nearly our entire conversation had to happen in Spanish and that he completely understood how frustrating and difficult it could be to find conversation partners who are willing to put up with such slow and stuttered speech.  PLUS he was happy to interrupt with grammar and pronunciation corrections.  He even repeated and spelled out a few new words for me so I could add them to the iPhone Notes I've been keeping in an effort to study what I learn in conversation.  If I didn't keep those notes, much of what Spanish speakers teach me in passing would go in one ear and out the other.

Anyway, the line did not move for almost an hour.  So, we just kept talking until finally I requested a picture of our conversation (right). This pulled in a new conversation partner, originally our photographer (in the suit) - and, in order to get the picture of the 3 of us (left), we pulled in the very sweet couple that was standing behind him laughing at me being a total TOURISTA!

Eventually, we got in and immediately got separated as new lines formed for bracelets, bag checks, etc.  But now I had more motivation to attempt additional conversations - YAY! So, as soon as I scored an aisle seat close to the stage, I wasn't afraid to say - in Spanish, of course - "Hi.  Please excuse me, because my Spanish is very basic, but can you take a picture of me with the...umm...the area (circling stage in the air with my hand) in the .... umm ... errr ... sorry <blush>"

"Fondo! You want to say background.  The word is fondo." Oh thank God...someone else speaks English.  I turned and thanked him for his help, got the picture and began the next conversation.  Turns out, he didn't really speak English, just like I don't really speak Spanish so we had a great mini Spanglish convo with all the basics.  Where are you from, how long are you here, why are you here...

And my responses to these questions led me to Guillermo.  He worked with international families, helping them with their adoptions for many years.  As we continued to talk, he called all kinds of contacts who could help me to answer questions about the new international adoption laws in Colombia, etc.  [People here are just so nice...but that's another blog post for another time] 

At that moment, I thought Miryam would be joining me around 2:00 pm and then driving me home after the event, so I had saved a seat for her.  Guillermo was happy to hear I wouldn't be there alone because he didn't feel it was safe outside and asked more about Miryam (my host mom) and how I had found her...

Six degrees of separation - that is Colombia.  Andrea is Guillermo's wife's cousin.  And, he lives in Miryam's neighborhood.  Talk about a small world!  I would say what a coincidence, but I'm beyond that now...it just IS in Bogota.  Everyone is connected through family, friendship, business or otherwise here.  Not so different from Small Town, USA except this city has a population of roughly 8 million people.  Wow!

Mi Vida en Colombia

Hahaha...I have a love-hate relationship with this video.  This was completely unplanned.  I started the recording expecting just to say "Hola" and then go into an English explanation of the kitchen and what Miryam was cooking.  Instead, something possessed me to try to use my crappy Spanish and MI MAMA was so cute in her response to being filmed I just had to keep going.

Isn't she so sweet?  How lucky am I to have such a great home-stay?!?

Ok, check out a little piece of our life here in BARRIO BELLA SUIZA en Bogota, Colombia.  We've already watched the video several times and although I'm ashamed to post it because I look like an idiot, she is just so excited so I have no choice.  DISFRUTA!

Don't get dizzy

At this point, I've been here for over a week.  While much of Colombian life is pretty much the same as life in the United States, there are many very small differences.  For example, nearly every home I've visited has a maid who cooks and cleans and takes care of all the household chores.  She doesn't typically live in the home - or at least not in the homes I've been to - but she seems to work long hours there.  More on that as I visit more homes and have a chance to ask more questions.

Today, I want to focus on the small, but significant differences in my home...well, in our building.  Most of the homes I've visited, including ours, have a secured entrance.  EL PORTERO guards the front entrance whether you're entering by foot or by car.  He'll help to carry up heavy items to your apartment; he'll clean your car, both interior and exterior; he'll accept packages or anything else you may need him to collect and protect until you arrive home to accept them yourself; he's always friendly and polite even to EXTRANJERAS like me who can't quite communicate clearly ;)
So, there's a locked gate entry if entering by foot and a separate locked gate to enter by vehicle plus a bunch of security cameras plus EL PORTERO himself...but they still lock their doors.  That wouldn't seem so strange to me IF there weren't three locks on our front door -- all 3 of which Miryam uses.  I'm sure I'm just feeding into the Colombian stereotype that there is unthinkable danger that must be averted at all costs, but honestly that's not the case.  I feel so safe and secure here in our home, in our building and in our neighborhood!  Hmmmm, maybe one day I'll ask...but I don't want to offend anyone with that question.  If you have suggestions on a better way to ask than "Why are we locked up like Fort Knox here?" please let me know.  LOL!

Ok, let me show you a few more of the differences here in my building...

Estoy enferma :(

Well, I suppose it was unavoidable.  The weather here changes throughout the day from hot and sunny to super cold and rainy and back again.  In addition, I'm working in the infirmary with the babies at FANA. And, last but certainly not least, I'm sleeping far less here than is typical for me.  There's just so much going on so I've had very late nights and early mornings and busy hours in between.  Wish me luck getting rid of this ASAP.  I really don't want to miss any time with the kids, but I can't be with them like this...here, see for yourself:

Speaking of the weather, how's it going in Boston?  Any snow yet?