In the midst of leafy trees offering shade from the Colombian heat lies the city of Florencia. Here, the light of truth shines through an institution that began in 1991 and has continued with firm steps to the present. I am referring to Shalom Christian School.
In August of this year, I had the privilege of visiting this place with the team from the Education Department of the General Conference: Sisters Margie Seely and Manuela Di Franca and Pastor Danilo L. Monterroso.
Shalom Christian School began with twenty-one students. At present, it has eighty-six students and a faculty of eleven teachers, of whom six are members of the church. I was especially happy to meet a graduate who now serves as a teacher here. In addition, several young graduates now send their children to study in this school, which offers a comprehensive education from pre-school and kindergarten through elementary (grades 1 – 5) and middle school (grades 7 – 9). Shalom is all-inclusive and accepts students with cognitive and learning disabilities.
The school directors told us that some parents, who are financially able to send their children to more prestigious schools, choose instead to keep them enrolled at this school. Why? The parents say it’s because “here [their children] are taught about God and about moral, social, ethical, and spiritual values” – and this is of more importance to them than all other types of instruction.
Shalom has one chaplain, who is very involved in the education of the children. She, among other things, provides the teaching staff and the students with spiritual counseling, administrative assistance, help with educational activities, direction of daily devotions, training in areas of religious and ethical education, and visits and advice to parents and students with discipline problems.
This school maintains various internal activities. One caught my attention. The patio looked very clean. It turns out that both students and teachers sweep it daily. Community activities include participation in the “Fair of Technological Inventions,” “Exhibitions of Natural Treatments,” “Municipal Water Company Activities,” and others. School staff also reach out to the community through Father’s Day programs, Week of the Family activities, and Week of Prayer services, and by offering psychological counseling.
According to the Divine plan, the church and school sit side by side. The property they share is a rectangular strip. The school faces the street on its side of the block while the church faces the street on the other. Having the church and the school together is in harmony with the revealed and recorded will of God (3 Selected Messages, 227).
Next to the church are a health food store and a restaurant that offers breakfast, lunch, and dinner to students, parents, and the community in general. Cooking classes for parents are also provided.
Interestingly, a large part of the community actively participates in the evangelistic programs carried out by our local church in the area.
No great endeavor is without its challenges. Shalom Christian School is growing and plans to add high school grades 10 and 11. In order to do this, Shalom needs financial support to build four additional classrooms and to buy instruments for the chemistry and physics laboratory – a requirement for the approval previously mentioned. Also, it is necessary to install insulation in the ceilings to lower classroom temperatures since they can reach up to 95 – 100oF during the dry season.
I invite all readers and friends of the “Navigator” to contribute a “grain of sand” so that the light of truth can continue to shine out from the jungles of Colombia.
by Alfredo Fisicaro
