Kim goes to Barranquilla, Colombia to do accompaniment with the Presbyterian Churches of the U.S.A. and Colombia

Christine Caton and Kim Kavazanjian in Barranquilla, Colombia


My time here in Colombia has been wonderful so far. The people that I have encountered have been so warm and welcoming that I feel like I have lived here in Barranquilla for years already. It is quite an intense and amazing experience.
When I stepped through customs to the gate in the Colombian airport, Christine Caton and German Zarate greeted me with open arms. Christine and I will be accompanying together until June 30th. She has been in Barranquilla since May 1st. German is the Director of the Diaconia Program of the Presbytery of Barranquilla and Coordinator of the Acccompaniment Program in the Presbyterian Church of Colombia (IPC). The minute I was in their company, I knew that I was going to have a great time in Barranquilla.
I have experienced amazing hospitality from people. I am loving the time that I get to spend with Christine. We have only spent a week together, but I feel like I have known her for years. We are staying on the grounds of the Reformed University, which is the seminary, as well as a school for other subjects, and it is also the grounds for the Presbytery of Barranquilla. Christine and I each have our own bedroom and bathroom, and we share a kitchen that is about the size of a closet. We have been using the kitchen – we make coffee at breakfast and we cook dinner every night. In the afternoon, we go to the seminary cafeteria and get an amazing meal for about $2.50 per person!
I have been able to share life with the Colombian youth. The other night I went out dancing. I danced the salsa, merengue, and I learned the vallanato. If you don’t know already, I love to dance! So I really enjoyed my night of dancing.
German is already exposing us to much of the reality of the “least of these” in Colombia. We have talked with both indigenous people, whose communities are disappearing, and with displaced people, who are also dealing with an extremely difficult reality.

Here are some of thoughts that have been shared with me this week that I would like to share with you:

~An indigenous person asks us from the West, that we return to the way we were; back to Nature, back to Mother Earth, back to the light, back to the water; a return to spirituality instead of materialism.

~An indigenous person tells us, “We never cut big trees. Energy goes from body to body; we hug the trees.”

~An indigenous person explains, “Riches are not measured in money or hamburgers. We need to go back to the earth. Colombia is rich in diversity – cultures, languages, music. They connect us with nature.”

~German passes on to us the knowledge of an indigenous person, who once told him, “Personal Security is:
1) How are you with yourself? Are you happy? What do you not like about yourself? What are you going to do about it? What are you willing to change.
2) What is around you? What are you doing? What is your relationship with yourself and are you satisfied.
3) What is around you that is bothering you? What are those things that you are willing to transform?”



What are we willing to transform??????