They're Home !!!

Well, the big day finally arrived on Saturday, October 18th - Cory, Elkin, Norma and Libby arrived back in Portland after an exhausting three day frenzy in Bogota of court appointments, passports, doctor visits and visas.  They literally did not know if they would be leaving Friday night until just a few hours before the flight so they really had to scramble to get packed and to the airport on time.  The kids did just awesome on the flights and were in very good spirits when they arrived in Portland.  Many thanks to Brett for capturing it all on video and thanks to everyone for all your support through the long process of getting our kids home.  

Yesterday the kids got to see the ocean for the first time.  Cory took them to Libby and Will's house in Manzanita for the weekend while Papi goes to work for a few days.  I hope to have a few pictures to post of their first encounter with sand soon.

Big News!

I was just on the Skype (computer video conferencing) with Cory, Libby, Cass, and the kids, when the phone rang at their hotel. It was David (Lucia's son) calling to tell Cory that we are finally getting our appointment with the judge today for our final decree (permanent legal custody of the kids)! To say that was exciting to see unfold on the video was an understatement! Wow, after six weeks of waiting out the strike, it seemed like this day would never come. Thank you all for your thoughts, prayers and kind words of encouragement throughout this ordeal, it's meant a lot too us all.
Cory has been in Colombia now for just about eight weeks and has been doing an incredible job with the help of Cass, and Libby the last month. Two months of chasing kids around the mean streets of Bogota. Nothing quite prepares you for that, but Cory has done an incredible job and has maintained a smile on her face through it all.
So the great new is that after the final decree is in hand there are only about four more days of paperwork and appointments to get the kids their passports and US Visas. That means that everyone might be home by the middle of next week. Today is a very good day!

The Strike Continues...

For those of you that are following our blog, sorry I haven't posted recently.  

On Friday we received news that the strike was over and the judicial workers would be back to work on Monday  October 6th.  Well, we all got pretty excited, but the bad news is that this was an unsubstantiated rumor which turned out not to be true. 

 So the facts are Colombian President Uribe met with representatives form the striking workers union, ASONAL, twice over the weekend and are still unable to come to agreement after 33 days on strike.  They have a large protest rally scheduled for Tuesday the 7th, so I doubt anything will happen until that is over.  

If we had gone to Colombia 5 days earlier we would have got our day in court before the strike began and all been home several weeks ago.  Oh well.

Cory and the kids seem to be holding up pretty well.  They have moved about 3 hours out of Bogota to a small town called Villa de Leyva.  They are in a nice little hotel with a pool and lots of activities to keep the kids busy. After putting in an all star effort, Cass will probably be returning home next week to be replaced by Cory's 'lil sis, Libby.  Libby is full of energy and is a master of the Spanish language so she will be quite an asset to our team.  

I'm home biting my nails and checking the Colombian news every few hours while waiting for resolution of the strike.  Before I left Colombia I joked with Cory that they'd be home by Thanksgiving, let's hope it doesn't take that long! 

 Think happy thoughts and say a prayer if you are so inclined that this is all over soon and our family can be reunited here at home.

Government suspends wages judicial strikers

THURSDAY, 25 SEPTEMBER 2008 08:04

The Colombian government announced it will stop paying wages to the approximately 40,000 judicial workers who have been on strike for over three weeks after talks with the judicial workers' union led to no results. 

The government and the strikers could not reach an agreement about the increase of wages of the judicial workers. The government offer a 66 billion peso financial impulse, not even one tenth of the union's demand of 700 billion.

Aside the suspension of wages, Interior and Justice minister Fabio Valencia Cossio warned the government would take "disciplinary actions against officials and employees who persist in the strike."

The strike has paralyzed Colombia's judicial system for more than three weeks. According to newspaper El Tiempo, more than thousand alleged criminals have been released, because they could not be trialed.

Judicial strikers and government still far from agreement

SATURDAY, 20 SEPTEMBER 2008 13:23

Colombia’s 18-day judicial strike will stretch at least through the weekend after the workers’ union turned down an increased government offer, but with newspapers reporting conflicting numbers.

According to El Colombiano, the government is now offering US$33 million over two years for salary equalization, up about 25 percent from their offer at the beginning of the week, yet still well below the judicial union’s desired US$400 million budget.

El Tiempo, however, reports the government is offering the same amount, but over five years and says the president of Asonal, as the syndicate is known, asked for a US$125 million sum for salary equalization.

In any case, the two sides do not appear close to a compromise. 

The increase represented a 600 pesos daily increase in the salaries of the 43,000 judicial workers, a level the union could not accept, Fabio Hernández, president of Asonal, told El Colombiano.

“Unfortunately, the proposal of the government didn’t change considerably. We proposed a modest salary equalization,” he told El Tiempo.

But the government remained stern, with Judge Jesael Giraldo, president of the Administrative Chamber of the Judiciary, reiterating that payments to striking officials may be halted, reported El Tiempo. 

“The demand of the judicial branch is to double the remuneration of judges and prosecutors as well as increase 70 percent the remuneration of the judicial employees, which is impossible due to the fiscal difficulties that the country is experiencing and inequitable to the other workers of the state,” the government said in a statement quoted by El Colombiano.

Negotiations will recommence Tuesday.

Colombian judicial strike strands would-be adopters

FRIDAY, 19 SEPTEMBER 2008 09:57

 

Native Italians Elisabetta and Zamo Pavani came to Colombia 90 days ago, lugging suitcases filled with toys for two children they hadn’t yet seen but intended to adopt.

Yet today, the Pavani’s and 23 other couples who came to the country to adopt are stuck in a legal limbo, as Colombia’s more than two week old judicial strike has left not a single judge available to complete their adoptions, reports El Tiempo.

The Pavani’s plight, while hardly the gravest of the many repercussions of the present judicial strike, exhibits the wide-ranging effects the strike is having on Colombia.

Zamo Pavani, eager to carry his new children back to Verona, even visited Fabio Hernández, president of Asonal, the judicial union, Monday to ask if he could help, but found no solution.

“We can’t do anything for your family because the government doesn’t want to negotiate our demands,” Hernández told him.

The case of Elisabetti, a sports clothing retailer, and Zamo, an insurance company employee, is typical of what confronts to the other 23 families distributed across Colombia, Janeth Barragán, representative of La Dimora (La Morada), an adoption agency authorized by the Italian government, told El Tiempo.

Dulces

Today we went on a short walk to the hotel where Abuela Mimi (Cass) will be staying.  On the way, Elkin was kind enough to share his hard earned money (he gets about fifty cents for every book he reads)  with his little sister and bought her a sucker, which she then shared with her friend Alexandra.  It was a very good day!

Papi de Caballo

Leaving the Catedral de Sal

Entering the Catedral de Sal

Caterdral de Sal

Yesterday we were invited to go to the Caterdral de Sal in Zipaquira, about an hour north, by David who is our unofficial interpreter and general fixer.  He is the son of Lucia who is our official liason here in Bogota.  David is a very nice young guy who is fluent in English as well as French and has been very helpful during our stay with all sorts of things. 

The Salt Cathedral is one of the more interesting places I've ever seen.  It is basicaly a 1.5 km mine shaft that spirals through a mountain and has about ten large caverns that have been carved out in the salt/rock.  Each cavern has a sort of chapel carved into it, culminating in the last one which is the size of a large European cathedral. It is really quite impressive.hea Catedral de Sal

Passing time

While we wait for the strike to end, we have had to get creative in finding things to entertain the kids.  One big hit has been building forts out of the bunkbed. That can be good for a couple of hours of fun.  Norma has also taking a liking to putting moisturizer on dads face. 

Museo de los niños

Today we went to the Museo de los ninos in Bogota, and one of the attractions was an old (1950's) Avianca Boeing 707.  The guide gave the kids a tour outside and taught them all the major parts of the plane and then we went inside for a demonstration of what an actual flight is like.  He even did the flight attendant safety demo.  It was a good warmup for the kids as they have never been in plane and are going to be spending a lot of time on one in a few weeks.  

After that we did a guided tour through the section of the museum for kids under five years old which included some fun activities like making origami and face painting.

Bogota Botanical Gardens

Today we went to the botanical gardens which are about a twenty minute cab ride from here.  It was a very peacefull place to take a walk for a few hours and see some different plants and a few animalitos.

The kids really seemed to enjoy it and we did too.  Still no word on when the strike will be over, so we will be going on quite a few more outings in the next few weeks.

Norma loves the Colombio

Norma just loves the swing in the backyard here.  The kids all call it the "Colombio" and all the swings in the parks we've seen are painted in the colors of Colombia.

Monserrate

Yesterday we rode the funicular to the top of Monserrate, an altitude of 10,341 ft. Once on top, we walked around for about an hour taking in the view, getting a snack and briefly attending a Mass that appeared to be for victims of a military helicopter accident.  After that, the line to go down the funicular was so long that we decided to walk down to town, a descent on cobble stones of about 1500 ft. and 2 or 3 miles.  Along the way we lit at candle for the family at a shrine on the side of the trail.  

This is Rosita, who works at the Casa El Refugio.  She takes care of anything we need and also cooks and cleans.  She rides a bus for an hour and a half to work!  There are also three other women who take care of us, and one of them is always here 24/7.