Cartagena, Colombia…[Libna Stevens/IAD]
During a short ceremony at the Mayor’s office of Cartagena, Colombia, two Adventist leaders received the keys to the city, an honor only bestowed on highly distinguished guests of honor visiting the city.
Mayor Felipe Merlano De La Ossa presented Wally Amundson, Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) director for Inter-America, and Mitsuo Chris Ishii, ADRA director for Japan, with the keys to his city on behalf of their commitment to ADRA and the contribution the organization has made around the world, particularly in Cartagena.
“It is an honor for ADRA and the Adventist Church to receive this honor,” said Gabriel Villarreal, ADRA director for Colombia. “They are possibly the first Seventh-day Adventists to ever be granted keys to the city in our country.”
Amundson and Chris Ishii were recently in Colombia, to participate in the boxed dinner drive, an event planned and supported by the church and ADRA, which delivered meals to 100,000 of the cities’ poor people in a single day. Before the drive, the pair were traveling throughout the country when Mayor de la Ossa invited them to Cartagena to present them with the prestigious gift.
Mayor de la Ossa thanked ADRA and the church for such dedicated work to the less fortunate in the city. In addition to feeding the poor, ADRA and the church in Colombia also run four training centers for displaced women and single mothers, one of which is in Cartagena. The centers teach sewing, cosmetology, hairdressing, small business management and more to hundreds of women every year.
