Welcome to COLOMBIA

information About COLOMBIA 

Colombia is a wonderful country. Thanks to the Isaza family we were able to learn a bit about Colombia this week. If you want to learn more about the country, try the link to National Geographic for kids. It is a great site to learn about Colombia. Enjoy!

Fun Videos From Katie and Julio Isaza and Family

Weekly BIBLE VERSE

See if you can memorize it! The Isaza family has joined God in the passionate pursuit of peacemaking in Colombia. When we asked them to share with us how they have seen God at work recently, they shared:

“We have seen God at work in helping to rebuild relationships between people and helping them to live in peace, with each other and with nature. Colombia has experienced much violent conflict, but there are children and youth who are learning what it means to be peacemakers in their homes, schools, neighborhoods and cities. They have learned that God created us to live in shalom - which means peace, or in Spanish, la paz. And it is peace that includes wholeness, harmony, good relationships, and justice.”

For this reason they shared two bible verses. See if you can memorize one, or both!

Matthew 5:9 - Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God.

Romans 12:21 - Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

They also shared a few favorite memories from their work in Colombia. “We love having people in our home. We have had up to 30 people in our house for a class, a bbq, a Christmas celebration. People in Colombia love to be together and we love hosting people. We have also had lots of people from the USA come to visit and serve in Colombia with us and we love showing them the beautiful country of Colombia. Another favorite memory is seeing children and youth from El Bagre (a small town 8 hours from where we live) carry out a peace fair, with different booths, games, and crafts where they learned about peace and had fun at the same time.”

Songs

This song was suggested for this week by the Isaza family. One of their boys has even been learning it on the piano. Katie said, “It has been a kind of reminder of who God is in our lives.”

RecipeS

Games

"El Rey/La Reina manda" (The King/Queen requests)

This is common game played in Colombia that the Isaza family has continued to play (even in their virtual meetings). It is called "El Rey/La Reina manda" (The King/Queen requests)

How it is typically played - This requires a leader (this could be anyone in your family who is the “King/Queen”. Everyone else then is a servant, and their job is to find whatever the King/Queen requests. The servant must find the object named and bring it to the king/queen. The king/queen will only receive the object from the servant that gets to him/her first. That servant receives a point and whoever gets the most points wins. For example, “The King requests 2 Bibles….The King requests 3 shoe laces….The King requests a white shoe…The King requests a necklace…..etc.

This can also be play with teams, if your family/group wants to pick two leaders and two teams.

Cinco Huecos (Five Holes)

Cinco Huecos is a Colombian game, played with small holes dug in the ground or created out of repurposed cardboard. Make five holes, four in the corners, and one in the center (like the 5 on dice). Then players agreed to a distance from which they will toss coins (two meters is standard). The players then try to throw their five coins into the holes. The person who scores the most coins in holes at the end wins. Another alternative is to give the hole different point values, as you might see on a bean bag toss. If one person throws all five of their coins into the center hole in one round, they automatically win. You can play one round, or play multiple rounds to number of point agreed on.

Soccer

Fútbol is the most popular sport in Colombia. Grab a friend or family member and play some soccer, jugar fútbol!

Crafts / Art Projects

1. Colombian Flag – supplies needed: crayons, colored pencils, a copy of the flag (download here), or use yellow, red, blue construction paper or tissue paper and glue.   

The flag colors and what they stand for: yellow (top rectangle) = the wealth or produce of the land – the gold, the wheat, etc., blue (middle rectangle) = the 2 seas that border Colombia – the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, red (bottom rectangle) = the blood shed for freedom.

Kids can either color the flag or rip up strips and bits of paper and glue them on to create the flag (see picture of kids doing this craft).

2. Make Bracelets or Bookmarks with the Colombian flag colors – supplies needed: yellow, red, and blue beads and/string string. Card stock if you are going to make bookmarks. Strings will need to be cut out and knotted to keep the beads on. These can remind children to pray for the children and their families in Colombia. (see picture of an example of a bookmark that can be made. You could use any Bible verse. Perhaps Matthew 5:9 as it is the verse of the week.)

3. Making a silleta (flower display) - this is a little more complicated. It could be made from some thick posterboard or a styrofoam base cut into a rectangle. Kids could use colored tissue paper or construction paper to make the flowers and designs. They could even make it look like the flag of Colombia. The silleta is very famous in Medellin as it is part of the flower parade in August. People, including children, carry these "floats" on their backs. See here for a description of the tradition and pictures of what the actual silletas look like.

Below are two videos. The first shows you how to make 4 kinds of flowers, and the second a tutorial if you want to try to create an actual silleta. Their both in Spanish, but you can see an example of how these could be made. And it definitely doesn’t have to be that elaborate. Have fun!

SCAVENGER HUNT DECODER SHEET