It started by meeting Friar Pia where he lives in a less well off area of the city commonly referred to as the Red Light District and where he provides with support, a good meal to the local children and the old, but also soup to any homeless who turn up, he kindly gave me a tour of his home and in all honesty it is as sparse and bare as you would expect from a missionary type lifestyle including the profusely leaking roof. (Yes it was raining).
We then went to a second house the group had recently bought for 40 Million Peso (About £10,000) It is a large property lots of space but totally run down. The money they paid is equivalent of a small fortune and would be in the £80,000 range in UK easily. Outside a small crowd gathered and Friar Pia who speaks passable English explained they were mostly Drug Addicts and Prostitutes. One young lady probably in her late teens or early twenties wandered over she was very thin, dressed in what could be called a pretty outfit if you didnt look too closely, and she carried a plastic bag that she was breathing into and out of every few seconds, the friar explained it was a form of glue sniffing where they sniff the glue that is used to fix soles to shoes. It was upsetting to see someone still so pretty and so petite but who was on a downward roller coaster, her life based only about keeping her plastic bag close, at least the spaced out smile and vacantly focussed eyes probably stopped her from caring too much about the terrible situation she was actually in.
From there we set off up into the mountains the main reason for the journey as in the southerly area there is another house to provide food and support to those who cannot even afford to live in the squalor of the town area we had been in. All these areas are completely unsafe for any one even Colombians, and it was only due to being with the Support group I could see these areas. We arrived at an area where the People I see using a Horse and Cart around the streets live, well away from mainstream society. Here I could see kids playing in the dirt, houses made from corrugated iron and wood, roofs held down with bricks. I commented on the look of poverty, Friar Pia smiled and told me these people were seen as well off compared to those further south. The people here at least had wood and metal protection ffrom the elements, though as he pointed out the best room in the house was always given over to the horse, again I found my thoughts going back to the life of Robert Burns in the 1700's I wonder what he would say about life for some in Bogota today. The children were so keen to be seen, little boys and girls running over hugging the Friar then crowding around me, I found one little girl taking my hand, it was a very poignant moment her big eyes looking up, with what I guess was happiness at seeing someone different, even while I knew that I would be back in the warmth and comfort of my flat and she might not be inside at all.
Look closely the humour should not be lost amongst the poverty - stenciled on the side of the house at the front is the word Penthouse.
Some one is well off they have a calf, but check where it is tethered, no grass for this bovine, just waste and rotting vegetation.
These photos show the living accomodation of those who provide the support in this out of the way area.
From the top floor of a rickety building looking down on the streets.
Our last visit was to a building that had been donated to the group by the governement, buildings that belong to the state but have run into ruin for whatever reason can be donated to support groups for periods of time, 5 years 10 years etc... This last building had been a school, then was taken over by the Police for a prison, then after it had been effectively demolished apart from the walls and remnants of the roof it was passed to the Support group who will spend time renovating and rebuilding it to some form of weather tight use. Remembering it was raining the electrics here are frightening.
Everything the Support Group do is supported through Voluntary Work, the fact they achieve anything could be classed as a miracle in a country where everything seems so split 50-50 between those that have and those that dont.
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