Summary of Fall 2011

June 15th, 2012

After almost eight months of not posting any information on this blog, I have decided to come back to inform everyone that doesn't follow me on Facebook or Twitter about the campaign.  With work, going to school, and working so much on this great and prosperous campaign, my time is very limited; however, I think that it is important to keep everyone up to date with Beyond the Wall.

The last few posts of 2011 consist of working to build a park in El Talon, as well as having a distribution and medical mission- all in December 2011.  Even though the goal seemed very difficult to reach, in reality, it wasn't something difficult to do.  I flew to Colombia in mid-October 2011 to speak to the Mayor of the Municipality of Turbaco (where El Talon is located), Miguel Arnedo, and he promised to donate many acres of land in order to build a children's park in El Talon.  Beyond the Wall was responsible for paying for the actual construction of the park, but I was very happy about the Mayor's "donation."  When I came back to Orlando, we had car washes to raise funds for the park and ColSA-UCF organized a party and soccer tournament for us in order to pay for all of our costs.  In November 2011, the Mayor and the head of planning disappeared and never returned our phone calls, e-mails, letters, and my family went to their office many times and they only found themselves with lies from their secretaries.  The idea to build a park was scratched because without any permits, nothing can be done.  At that point, I was disappointed, but I had to complete my goals and mission in El Talon.

In December 2011, all of the donations were sent to Colombia, and Adriane Norman, Juan Esteban Cajigas, and I arrived to prepare for the project with the help of my family.  On December 22nd, 2011, I still had seven missing boxes, which made me panic.  I found out that the missing boxes were in Barranquilla, so I immediately had to go and pick them up.  After a day trying to go back to Cartagena/Turbaco with seven large boxes, I got back and began packing with my family.  A census was completed a few days before, so all we had to do was pack and have everything organized for the residents of El Talon.  Natalia Navarro Galvis (Miss Colombia 2010), the Colombian National Police in Turbaco, Samuel Alvarez from El Unviersal, coasts guards, and doctors from the Naval Hospital in Cartagena were among the guests invited to participate in the December 23rd, 2011 distribution/medical mission event in El Talon.  Luckily, everything went very well and I'm happy to announce that it was a successful event.  I'd really like to thank everyone that supported us with the campaign.

All in all, my view on politicians hasn't changed; I'm not surprised that the Mayor ran off that way, but it doesn't matter because I know that one day, El Talon will prosper with or without the help of politicians.

I invite you to follow me on Facebook (Beyond the Wall Campaign-Colombia) and through Twitter (@BeyondTheWallCO).