Ecuador update: Looking back, looking forward

This is a brief recount of where we’ve been and what we are doing now in Quito, Ecuador.

Nate, Cecilia, and some of our work-mates at the church, Dulce Refugio

We left for Africa last July and it seems like a lifetime ago.  We have memories of our very patient night guard at the house in Togo who tried with all his might to teach us a bit of French, but I think he just wanted us to keep him company at night.   We remember how in Benin, Stefan rounded up five  moto-taxis for our group to ride out to the orphanage because the van broke down.  We remember how we were treated like honored guests in Accra, Ghana by our good friend, Faustina.  She took us to a friend’s birthday party with traditional foods, dance, and music.  The Archbishop of Accra even showed up with his big hat and robe.  In Sierra Leone we had to ride a water taxi to get to the city from the airport.  In the middle of the night after a long flight, the rolling waves and the sound of the sea was calming.  A TV was playing American music videos and when the music video of “We are the World” came on I had to choke back tears.  The song is not great, but it was a call to action from the most well known rock and pop stars in the United States at the time all in one studio singing together trying to change the world.  Watching it together with Sierra Leonean citizens in the middle of the night on a giant river heading for the distant lights of a huge dark city in an un-known country which had recently experienced terrible civil war, I paused to reflect.   We really want to help people who are suffering.  We really want to share the love of Jesus with people.  “We can’t do it alone” I thought, “We have to come together and learn from each other, teach each other, and most importantly love each other.   All those in Mercy Ships, citizens of Sierra Leone, missionaries, aid workers, government agents, poor and rich, anyone wanting to make a lasting difference in people’s lives.”   Nate and Cecilia will only play a small part.  I hope we can look back and say we truly sought to understand each other and to love each other as equals in the eyes of God.  If we can do that daily, consistently, won’t that make all the difference in the world? 

Now we’re in Quito, Ecuador where the daily climate is always sunny and always rainy, somewhere in this sprawling city in the clouds.  I can look out the huge picture windows of the apartment and see the whole city stretch out to the North and South.  To the East are the high peaks of the Ecuadorian Andes with their snowy tops and their ever-present drapery of clouds hovering around the peaks.  This is the context in which Cecilia and I are living and working part-time with Cecilia’s church and after-school program, “Dulce Refugio”, where disadvantaged kids get a free lunch, get help with their homework, get to use the computers, and get a positive influence in their lives.  We’re focusing on helping with the building project they are doing, and I’m learning more about concrete building techniques.  We’ve also been in contact with organizations outside Ecuador and the US who we may be working with soon.  Every day is full of work and play, conversing with family and friends, and for me, learning the language more and more every day.  Now I can communicate with my mother and brother in law clearly!  We met a very nice Haitian couple who are struggling with the Ecuadorian immigration system, and we’re starting to become friends with them.  We met in the ministry of the exterior because I needed a visa this time.  Right now in Ecuador, I don’t think the government is prepared for the huge amount of foreigners pouring into this country from places like Columbia, Peru, Cuba, and Haiti.  Ecuador’s cost of living is still very low, the health care system is pretty good, trade and commerce is excellent, and the public transportation system of buses and trolleys is so prevalent that you can pretty much get from any part of Ecuador to any other part in less than 2 days, cheap.  That is, unless you want to go deep into the Amazon or fly to the Galapagos Islands which are a bit more remote. 

We look forward to another month of work with the church, and we will be back in the US for a few weeks at least as we get ready for our next big adventure. 

Pictures to follow.