November

Wow! I realize it has been a super long time since I have updated my blog...ooops.


The bad thing about it being so long is that a lot has happened.


I will try to get better about this... really... but know that if I am not spending much time in the cyber I am spending more time out with my wonderful Ecuadorian neighbors who I see so filled with God´s love.


We´ll do story by story to start this blog





W explains a part of Ecuador to Melissa and Tracy


So this past week Tracy and I gave a presentation on the benefits of breastfeeding at work and afterwards headed off to don W´s house to visit him. When we arrived he wasnt there so we sat and talked to his mom and learned how to make another yummy dish out of plantanes where it is basically this massive plantane ball that you eat... super yummy and yet ANOTHER great plantane dish! Nobody steal my idea, but I think i will just open up a plantane restaurant back in the USA to sell all of these awesome dishes made out of plantanes! :) When W came home we got to talking about how he has been helping his lawyer friends out with some cases and he explained a case to us that really opened ones eyes to the difficulties of corruption. His lawyer friend is a defense lawyer for a case where a guy got caught with drugs... aparently there is a certain amount of drugs a person can have on them and once it is over that weight then is when you can get in trouble. Well, long story short, the guy with the drugs says that the police put the drugs on him. W used to be a police officer and said that that is actually a very common thing that happens with the police officers. It was just so interesting and frustrating to learn all about this. W was super patient with us and was very willing to answer all of our questions about the Ecuadorian politics.... ok so my write up about this might sound boring... but really it was very interesting and a great conversation.


OH! So towards the end of that conversation Tracy and I were talking about saftey in Ecuador and it was really touching to hear W say that he prays for us very often and thanks God for our friendship. I cant describe the feeling that gave me but it was something that warmed me inside and and left me feeling almost overwhelmed by how blessed I am.



Comedor (soup kitchen) Friends

So things have been really busy at the soup kitchen lately.

I go straight there after I am done with work at the clinic everyday and it is a really rewarding part of my day. One thing I love so much is that as I walk in the doors of the little soccer court that is in front of the comedor I hear my name called out from all over and then get nearly tackled by a circle of BEAUTIFUL kids that come and give me a kiss on my cheek!! I LOVE KIDS !!! After that happens I seriously just want to jump up and give a lil shout for joy but I know it would scare a few people ---haha.
I have been trying to spend more time talking with the people that come to eat before we serve the food... I know there is a much greater emphasis at many soup kitchens back home on talking with the people there and getting to know them and understand them... hear their story. So that is what I have been trying to here in Ecuador. I sat down the other day and talked with a very nice and caring older woman with white hair... I had noticed that she was not there for a couple of days and she explained to me that she had been sick. She then explained how she lives all alone and how none of her kids check on her any more or maintain contact with her. So when she is sick, nobody knows. Later in the conversation I learned that she lives fairly close to my house and so I told her that I would like to stop by and visit sometime. The following week I left the soup kitchen with her (which means i didnt help do dishes...) and went to her house. Maria Avela lives in a situation like the majority of the people here in Duran. Dirt floor, no water. Some of her walls were old wood, others cane and she had metal over it all as a roof. She kept on telling me how this is all she has but that i am welcome to come over any time-¨if the padlock isnt on the door then I am here¨is what she would say. She invited me to come in and sit on her bed in a very small small room and she showed me her box of clothes that she keeps so that she can sew them to different sizes and sell them because that is the only way she can make money. The day before she had sold a dress and with that money had bought a jug of clean water to drink ( drinking the water here is dangerous). In one corner of the room she had a lil wooden shelf . That corner was covered with pictures of Jesus, crosses, saints, and rosary beads. She explained that that is where she prays every day when she wakes up, before she leaves the house and when she goes to bed. She then pulled out an old photo album and showed me pictures of all of her kids and her husbands funeral announcement. She began to cry as she explained to me that she has 10 kids and none of them have even talked to her in years. She said that they used to call a neighbors cell phone and then sometimes talk to her but that hasnt happended for a while. (NOTE- people have cell phones but not because they are rich... they are the phones like you can buy at target and put minutes on with a phone card... and they are used because hardly anybody can afford a landline) Talking with Maria was so hard because it was such reminder of the extreme difficulty so so many people live with here... true poverty... it left me feeling hurt but I know that was good. Even though what I really want to give Maria is a nice place to live and plenty of food to eat ( like everyone here) I know that I cant but I do want to make sure to give her what I Can - I want to give her my time and friendship and help her to know what a beautiful person she is and see God in her. I will actually be walking over to her place today and hopefully introducing her to someone from my house.
The little time with Maria really helped me to remember to think more about the situations that our kids at Valdivia come from and be more patient with them.

As I said earlier, I have been getting know the kids at the comedor too. Several of them come to Valdivia everyday so I know them really well. One little girl, Tabatha, gives the absolute BEST kisses on the cheek. She tells everyone that she is my sister so as I bring the kids their food they will ask me if its true and I just smile and say yes and then we all laugh. So our lil joke there is that Tabatha, who is 4, is my sister. :) I have decided that I want to teach my kids to give people kisses on the cheek so that they can brighten peoples day the way they do mine here.

First Communion
So the ladies at the Comedor invited us to come and help last saturday with preparing the food for the First communion. We were really excited to help with this because this was a special first communion of kids from the comedor and some of the kids were also Valdivia kids. So Karen and I went ot the comedor at 8 am on Saturday and helped prepare chicken salad sandwhiches and hotdogs and then we asked if we could sneak out for a bit to watch parts of the mass. SO we went into the church and saw all of the kids dressed so cute and we just looked at eachother with faces of excitement and like proud parents. I really felt like a mom... i was so happy for them, so proud of them, and i just about wanted to cry. 2 of our kids actually got baptized too so it was SO Incredibly touching and exciting! We got right up front and were taking pictures like moms too.
Karen is good about posting those so I will have to get them from here but i just wanted to share another exciting day in Ecuador.

Valdivia After School Program
So our Valdivia program has been going really well and we have been getting more and more kids. This week we had about 30-35 kids each day. Another thing I love about Valdivia.... kids! (Which is good consider that is what Valdivia is all about... right??)
I just sit back at different times during the time there and think to myself what wonderful kids these are and how I want the world for them!
Last friday we had the 3 different after school programs get together for a soccer tournament. So all last week during our free time we had our kids playing soccer (which is actually results in a lot of whining and requires a daily pep talk for some of our kids because so many of them love playing basketball instead). Considering this, we had many of our kids on a cheer squad and so during free time they made signs and cheers instead of practcing their soccer skills.
Oh! and by the way, Valdivia is super crafty! So Karen and I have been saving all of these nutrigrain granola bar boxes from the Soup kitchen (they got a huge donation and have been giving people them as they leave) so we have been creatively using these boxes in our valdivia activities. Andrew, another volunteer, was very creative and thought to use the boxes to make the kids jerseys to tape on to their shirts for the game. SO, lets just say that our kids definitely had the coolest most chevere uniforms at the tournament!!. :)
So we met Friday and had 29 people with us after taping the cardboard jerseys to the kids shirts, we all hopped on a bus and went over to the Arbolito community´s sweet soccer court that has a roof which is great because that means SHADE!
Lets just say Karen,Andrew, and I were all super pumped to bring our kids there but we were pretty sure that we would be bringing home the 3rd place pop-bottle trophey that our kids had made and not one of the 1st or 2nd place pop-bottle tropheys :)
Well lets just say that it was some super intense games that had me screaming out cheers until I nearly lost my voice and jumping and running all over the place cheering my kids on!
I was SO proud to see our kids playing so well... they werent fighting, pushing, complaining or anything!!! All of our pep talks about kindness and fairness duriing the week must have actually sank in!!! IT was AWESOME!!!
BUT!!!!! waht makes it even more awesome is that somehow our kids WON!!!!!!!! Both of the big kid games were won by team Valdivia!!! YIPPIE!!!
I left that day feeling super proud of our kids and just super filled with happiness.
The kids we work with are truly amazing and such blessings from God!

One thing that I would like to ask of all of you reading this is to please keep the kids in Valdivia and all of the afterschool programs and just in Duran in your prayers. They all live in very difficult situations and so many are malnourished and hungry for both food and so much more.
We are actually trying to gather kids vitamins to give to the kids at our afterschool programs.
SO if anyone would like to donate any or would know of any more sustainable ideas for vitamin donations please message me or drop me an email at melissaviaene@gmail.com