Preparation for Distribution Day

February 18th, 2010

After all the donations from central Florida were picked up in Barranquilla on February 15th, 2010, they were taken to my family's home in Turbaco, Bolivar where I began to prepare all the donations for the distribution.  Every night, for the week that I was in Colombia prior to my distribution (February 13-18), I was organizing the donations for the people of El Talon with the help of all my family.  My family stayed up with me for many hours just to help me with my donations.  We organized them by using the July 2009 census that I had from July 2009.  Every family recorded in the census had every family member's size of shoes, shirts, and pants...as well as their ages and gender.  The bags that the donations were put in were black for a specific reason: we did not want anybody in El Talon seeing through the bag to avoid conflicts.  We packed clothes for over 600 residents, and as mentioned, it took four nights to pack them all.


During the day


When I wasn't packing donations with my family, I was planning and organizing my distribution event.  During the day, I spent most of my time in Cartagena; I had to get my Beyond the Wall distribution day poster custom made, I was interviewed by El Universal and RCN News, and many more preparation errands.  As of Wednesday, February 17th, 2010 at 4 PM, my distribution was scheduled to be on Saturday, February 20th, 2010 at 10 AM.  In fact, Miss Colombia 2010, Natalia Navarro Galvis, had made a video for me supporting my distribution and apologizing for not being able to go that day due to her busy schedule.  However, that quickly changed when I had to go to the Miss Colombia Organization headquarters (Concurso Nacional de Belleza), and I met up with the President of the organization, Raimundo Angulo Pizarro.  He confirmed that Miss Colombia and the first runner up, Leydi Viviana Gomez, would be able to attend my event, but on Friday, February 19th, 2010.  This immediately changed all of my plans, since I had one day less to prepare for my event.  Of course, I accepeted the fact that the beauty queens would be able to participate in my event, and I began to prepare for the distribution at a faster pace.  Every evening in Turbaco, before I began organizing the donations, I was organizing security with the Colombian National Police in Turbaco.  At the police station, most of the officers knew me, so they were all very cool.  I also had to organize everything with the Colombian Civil Defense, who are located near the police station.  When I entered the Civil Defense headquarters in Turbaco, they had pictures at the entrance of my last event in July 2009.  They all greeted me with an applause and with much respect.  After many hectic days, I was finally ready for my distribution by Thursday night (February 18th, 2010).

Schedule change

February 17th, 2010

The distribution in El Talon that was originally scheduled to be held on Saturday, February 20th, will now be held on Friday, February 19th at 10:30 AM in El Talon (Turbaco, Bolivar- Colombia).  The change of plans is due to the fact that Miss Colombia, Natalia Navarro Galvis, will be able to participate only on that date, as well as other presenters.

A day in Barranquilla

February 15th, 2010

On Monday, February 15th, 2010, the donations for El Talon were picked up by some of my cousins and myself in Barranquilla, Colombia.  There was absolutely no issue, unlike last year (I had to pay many unnecessary fees!).  The city was in the middle of their Carnaval de Barranquilla, declared by UNESCO as a "masterpiece of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity," and everyone seemed to be in a good mood, since everyone helped me out.

I departed Cartagena on a bus at 6 AM and arrived Barranquilla at 8 AM with two cousins.  At the bus terminal, we met up with another cousin, and we all went to the Barranquilla cargo terminal at the Ernesto Cortissoz International Airport.  At the Tampa Cargo office, we filled out the necessary paper work, had a customs agent inspect the donations, and that was it!  We later hired a small cargo truck to take us to the terminal, but in order to save some money, we were advised to catch the bus at a bridge where busses heading to Cartagena had to pass by.  However, there was no room for all of us inside the truck, so my cousin and I were forced to stand up in the back of the truck with the donations.  When we got there, we had to carry all the boxes into a bus in the middle of the street with temperatures at around 90°.  The bus operator only charged me $40 USD to take all the donations with me.  When we got on the bus, I was expecting air conditioning, like most busses that travel between cities in Colombia have, but this one didn't.

About 15 minutes after leaving Barranquilla, a bus operator assistant began charging passengers for the ride, and she tried to rip off a couple of passengers.  The passengers began arguing with the assistant, and everyone started yelling and giving their opinions.  With the good attitude that identifies Colombians, eventually everyone started laughing and making jokes about the situation.  An hour later, we made a stop, and we had arepa de huevo.  When we made it back to Cartagena safely, we had to carry all the boxes off the bus and wait an hour for a cousin with a large vehicle to pick us up.  After an entertaining yet very tiring day, we eventually made it back safely with all of the donations.

2010 Service Learning Conference

February 14, 2010

On February 13, 2010, I was invited to participate in the 2010 Service Learning Conference at Timber Creek High School, as mentioned in an earlier post.  My workshop was a success!  It began at 8:30 AM and ended and 10 AM.  Unfortunately, I was unable to participate in any other activity after my workshop because I was scheduled to fly to Colombia at 2:30 PM that same day.  I want to thank Mrs. Doromal for her invitation and congradulate her for her successful annual conference. 

Donations on their way to Barranquilla

February 12, 2010

On Thursday, February 11th, I picked up a U-Haul truck I booked in order to transport all of my donations to the Tampa Cargo heardquarters in Miami, FL.  The next day, I departed to Miami with my donations at 4 AM, prepared for a four hour trip.  I successfully delivered the donations, and they were ready to be flown to Barranquilla the next day.  I delivered the U-Haul truck in Miami, and I was supposed to go back to Orlando in a van that transports people between the two cities.  My designated pick-up time was at 11:30 AM from the Miami International Airport, but the van never got there. 

As I waited for another van to take me to Orlando, I had lunch and watched a Carnaval de Barranquilla presentation at the Avianca Airlines ticket counter.  After leaving Miami at 2:30 PM and passed through traffic and rain the whole way, I got back to Orlando at 7:45 PM. 

2010 Service Learning Conference

February 8th, 2010

On February 13th, 2010, the 2010 Service Learning Conference will take place in Timber Creek High School in Orlando.  The conference includes workshops that mostly high school students and service learning followers present.  At the conference last year, I presented the Beyond the Wall Campaign for the first time; it was at that conference that Beyond the Wall was officially presented to the public.  This year, Wendy Doromal, the conference director and my Service Learning Council teacher during high school, has invited me to present a workshop about the Beyond the Wall Campaign.  I will speak about the campaign's beginnings, how it is ran, and what projects are coming in the near future.  My workshop is scheduled to begin at 8:30 AM and it should end at around 10 AM. 

Timber Creek High School is located on 1001 South Avalon Park Blvd, Orlando, FL 32828-7764.  For more information, please visit the Service Learning Council website:
http://www.servicelearningacademy.blogspot.com/.

I will not be able to participate the whole day since I will travel to Colombia that afternoon.

Donations ready for Colombia

February 8th, 2010


After a period of delays, the Beyond the Wall Campaign continues its final steps for a successful distribution in Colombia.  The donations were originally planned to be sent to Colombia on Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010.  However, due to many inconveniences, I had to postpone the shipping for Friday, February 12th.  The donations will be sent via Tampa Cargo, the company that sent my donations in July 2009.  I will take the donations on a U-Haul truck to Miami on the morning of the shipping.  They will arrive Barranquilla, and I will personally pick them up.  I am scheduled to travel to Colombia on February 13th in the afternoon, after the Service Learning Conference.  The video above shows all the donations being sent to Colombia before they were packed, and the video below shows all the donations packed and ready to go. 


Stay tuned for more information this week!

Beyond the Wall prepares for distribution in Colombia

February 1, 2010

The Beyond the Wall Campaign once again prepares for a distribution in El Talon, Turbaco, Bolivar (Colombia). On January 31st, 25 boxes began getting filled with donations; over 4,000 clothing items will be sent to Colombia. This preparation is due to the distribution that was postponed in December. All the items
will be shipped on Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010. The distribution is scheduled to take place in El Talon on Saturday, February 20th, 2010 at 9 AM (Colombian time).

Orlando Rescue Mission

January 11, 2010

The beginning of 2010 was very cold for most Floridians; we had record low temperatures and even snow!  Unfortunately, we have thousands of people living in the streets of central Florida, and most of them are not prepared to handle freezing temperatures. Luckily, many people donated winter clothing during the fall, and I already had plans to donate it to the homeless. I had over 900 winter clothing items, canned food, and books! On January 9th, I rented a U-Haul truck and decided to take all the donations to the Coalition for the Homeless. I contacted Central Florida News 13 and they promised they would do a story about the homeless project. I contacted the Coalition that afternoon and confirmed that I would take the donations at 10 PM. The Coalition said it was perfectly fine to donate anything at anytime. With this confirmation, I drove the U-Haul truck packed with donations to the Coalition for the Homeless. I called the coalition five minutes before arriving to confirm my presence and their location; everything seemed to be okay. I arrived at the same time News 13 did: 10 PM. I called the receptionist, the person confirming all this information with me, to tell her that I had arrived. She told me that someone would be at the gate to open it for me. However, security would not let me in. He said that donations were not being accepted at that time. I called the receptionist again, and she said she would call the security guard, and tell him to let me in. I later called her back five minutes later, and she said that I had misunderstood her; I couldn't donate anything past 6 PM.

If that is true, I would understand. However, I spoke with the receptionist many times before arriving, so there is no excuse for that rule. I had to leave the Coalition without donating anything. News 13 witnessed everything, including my conversation with the Coalition representative, and unfortunately, no story was published. The next day, I called the Coalition back to see if I could drop off the donations, and they said no. I later ended up at the Orlando Rescue Mission. They gladly accepted the donations; they even gave me a tour of the facility. Fortunately, I was able to distribute clothes for many people that were in the streets of Orlando with no proper winter clothing.

I want to thank Central Florida News 13 for their intentions, and at the same time apologize for the inconvenience the Coalition caused. I also want to thank the Orlando Rescue Mission for their good attitude toward my work. 

This is also the first successful Beyond the Wall project in 2010.  I want to point out that this campaign not only helps Colombia, but everywhere possible.  This time, I had the opportunity to help the needy in my country, and I will continue to do so whenever I can.