“You Just Have to Do It”

By Awake! correspondent in Colombia

A YOUNG couple from Missouri in the United States explains: “We first heard about the International Volunteer Construction Worker Program in the summer of 1988 when some friends returned from an assignment at the branch office of the Watch Tower Society in Honduras, Central America. ‘You just have to do it!’ they said, bubbling over with enthusiasm.”

The construction program mentioned is the one that has been developed by Jehovah’s Witnesses for construction of their branch offices around the world. To qualify for it, prospective personnel must first work at the Watch Tower Society’s Brooklyn, New York, headquarters, where their work habits and abilities can be evaluated. So the husband from Missouri contacted the Society’s office in Brooklyn and volunteered to work there temporarily.

While at the Brooklyn headquarters, the husband signed up to work in another country. Then, upon returning to Missouri, he and his wife began saving for their anticipated trip. Several months later their assignment letter came. They would be going to Colombia, South America!

From 1987 through 1990, over a thousand temporary volunteer workers paid their own way to Colombia to spend from two weeks to two months helping with the construction of the large new printing branch of Jehovah’s Witnesses there. In addition, some 80 other volunteers from 14 different countries have spent more than a year working on this large Colombia project. Some of these short-term and long-term workers had previously helped build new branch facilities in such countries as Nigeria, the Philippines, Guyana, El Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Peru, and Ecuador.

Volunteer workers who arrive in Colombia are helped by their hosts to proceed through immigration and customs. Then they are taken by car to the construction site at Facatativá, about 30 miles [50 km] northwest of Bogotá.

Orientation

For a typical new arrival, the first day on the project includes a tour of the facilities and instructions on living as a part of the construction crew. Most of the international construction workers​—in recent years there have been from 40 to 60 at any given time—​live in housing facilities that have been acquired near the construction site.

The new construction workers receive instructions regarding schedules for work, for attending Christian meetings, for sharing in weekend preaching activity, and for proper care of their living quarters. Information is also given about laundry service, as well as participation in the morning program of Bible discussion and related matters.

The rooms provided are comfortable, the meals are hot and nourishing, and the laundry comes back promptly, washed and ironed. Even medical care is available if needed. Nothing is overlooked to make things as pleasant as possible for the volunteer workers.

These new arrivals are usually surprised to find that the building project is much larger than they expected. On a slope leading up to a deep evergreen forest on the mountain behind, there is a buzz of activity in the two five-story residence buildings. These will eventually accommodate up to 250 members of the branch staff in Colombia, called the Bethel family. Over the past months, new arrivals have seen crews putting in plumbing, wiring, and steel-stud framing for the walls.

The dining room, which seats 400 comfortably, is crowded with 600 or more on weekends when an influx of local volunteer workers eat meals cafeteria style. Except for some final touches, the dining room has now been completed.

In the large two-story factory building, the Shipping Department and the Job Press Department have already moved in. As new arrivals pass through the second floor of the factory, the one conducting the tour proudly points out the huge new Hantscho rotary offset printing press. Several members of the pressroom in Brooklyn supervised its installation, ably assisted by other volunteers.

This computer-controlled printing press​—65 tons and 88 feet [27 m] long—​is one of the finest available today. It is now producing 38,000 copies an hour of the Spanish editions of the Watchtower and Awake! magazines for distribution throughout northwestern South America. More than 155,000 of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Colombia, Venezuela, Panama, Ecuador, and Peru have just recently begun to receive their magazines from this printing press​—all in full color.

Local Support

Many Colombian volunteers are on the construction project too, both men and women. They are proud to be working on their new branch, as they call it. Some of these live in temporary housing near the construction site, and others commute regularly from Bogotá and other nearby towns. On weekends and holidays, an additional 50 to 150 volunteer workers come, by turns, from about a hundred congregations of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Bogotá and its vicinity.

A volunteer construction worker from Canada, who has experience in steel-stud framing and drywall installation, observed: “The local brothers here are eager to learn, and the quality of their work is as good as, if not better than, what you see on a commercial project at home.”

A worker in charge of heavy equipment and earth-moving since 1987 adds: “We have a good group of men, including a number of local brothers, working with us. Some of these hardly knew how to drive a car before, but they have developed into excellent equipment operators.”

A number of young Colombians who have been working regularly on the project have made application for permanent service in the Bethel family, which will soon be considerably enlarged. Others will return to the full-time preaching in Colombia. All of these have added greatly to their spiritual stature by having served as volunteer construction workers here in this Bethel family atmosphere.

A Rewarding Work

Thousands who have participated in the International Volunteer Construction Worker Program have testified that it has been a highlight of their lives. “It is very special,” said a worker from Mississippi, U.S.A., about the Colombia project. “The people make it special. I would love to do it all the time if that were possible. You can build buildings anywhere, but it’s working with the brothers that makes the difference.” Daily rubbing shoulders with Christians who display the fruits of Jehovah’s spirit is so different from working in the secular world!

Departure time for the temporary workers usually comes all too soon. There are hugs and plenty of tears. How often the parting words are heard: “We wish we could stay longer.” “We would love to stay on!” All leave with a deepened appreciation of the international brotherhood of Jehovah’s Witnesses. They have experienced a foretaste of what it will be like to live and work together in the future, extending Paradise to the ends of the earth.

Everyone, of course, cannot participate in this international construction program. But for those whose circumstances permit, a large new and exciting door of opportunity has been opened by the International Volunteer Construction Worker Program.