This is an informational video that some other volunteers made about Damien House. It gives you an idea about what Damien House is all about and you get to see some of the patients and staff at Damien House that I have gotten to know so well in the last eight months. Its also nice that you all get to see Sister Annie, who has been like a mother to me since I´ve arrived here in Ecuador. I have a short cameo washing the dishes. Yes Mom, I have learned how to wash the dishes here haha.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Friday, April 8, 2011
Carnival Update and Medical Groups
So Carnival had started out slowly but quickly got crazy after that. On Sunday we loaded 25 people into the back of our neighbor´s pick-up truck and drove to a small town called Salitre about 45 minutes outside of Guayaquil . In every town that we passed through we were doused with buckets of water by people standing alongside the road. We spent the day hanging out with Eduardo, one of our guards, and his family. In Salitre, there was a large river full of people swimming and splashing around. The river was lined with makeshift restaurants and bars made of bamboo that served traditional Ecuadorian food. We spent the day swimming in the river and smothering each other with this paint powder that was being sold everywhere. Even strangers would come up to us and just rub red or blue or purple paint in our faces.
On Monday and Tuesday we had Carnival parties at Semillas with the kids and retreat groups. We played games with water balloons, sprayed each other with silly string and foam, and covered each other with paint. The kids had a blast, especially because it was for once acceptable to throw things at us and the visitors. Walking around our neighborhood became very dangerous for those few days, as I would never know when a group of little kids or a random old lady would attack and smother paint all over my face. Carnival was a blast but it did get annoying eventually. I spent about two hours Monday night scrubbing myself with rough sponges and showering in the hose trying to wash the purple dye out of my ski; and hair, and teeth, and eyelids, and ears, and nose, and just about everywhere else. I used alcohol pads to get it off my face (but it looked like I was wearing mascara for 2 days after) and floss and mouthwash to clean the purple off my teeth and gums. Fortunately, I have dark hair so it was difficult to see the purple streaks. Brendan and Christina were not as fortunate. They had purple hair for a week. I was eventually able to clean myself enough so that I didn´t look like a purple smurf, but my clothes and shoes didn´t survive. I´m glad Carnival only comes once a year.
This past week a group of doctors from the US has been performing orthapedic surgeries on poor kids in Guayaquil´s children´s hospital. I have been helping organizing the surgical equiptment and getting them finding whatever they need for the operations. I´ve also helped a little with translating, talking to the families of the patients, and doing odd jobs such as asking around the hospital for a saw to cut a pair crutches that were too big. The team is small, only five people, so I have gotten to know them pretty well. They are from New Mexico, Kansas, and Pittsburgh and performed about 15 surgeries in the past week. They let me hang out in the operating room and watch whichever surgeries I want. It is absolutely amazing to watch as the surgeon cuts into tendons and drills into bones, sewing things back together to change the shape of people´s feet or hips. They have been teaching Ecuadorian doctors how to perform the operations that they are doing and it has been really interesting to watch that process. They will leave the country on Sunday but I´ll be working with another group in three weeks.
I´ve heard some really random English phrases since I´ve been here that have made me laugh. People in my neighorhood often yell out whatever English words they know when I pass by. One of the most common greetings I hear is "Good AAAAAAAAAAfternoon" with the emphasis incorrectly on the A. Last month, however, I was caught off guard when an Ecuadorian passed me and said "waz up nigga" in the same tone as if he were saying "hello, how are you." I assume that he heard that in a movie and has no idea that it is not a normal greeting in English, but I can´t help but break down laughing whenever I hear it.
Oh and if you were wondering, it is still hot here.
Miss you all and take care.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
St. John´s and Carnaval
The end of last month I had my first retreat group, a group of 5 high school boys and two teachers from St. John´s Prep in Massachusetts. I went with my housemates to pick them up at the airport on Saturday night and spent 16 hours a day with them until I dropped them off at the airport the following Saturday. It was an exhausting but fun experience. It was fun getting to know the guys and showing them around Duran and Guayaquil, introducing them to friends and neighbors, driving and translating for them, giving them a tour of Damien House, and taking them to meet the kids at Semillas. Both of the chaperones were first-year teachers who weren´t too much older than I, so it was fun hanging out with them and getting to know them. The group had a lot of questions and made many observations about our neighborhood and our program which spurred my own further reflection. By the end of the week, it was hard to say goodbye, but i hope they all had a meaningful experience and keep the people they met here in Ecuador in their hearts and prayers.
Carnaval starts today in Ecuador and in much of Latin America and Europe, and ends on Tuesday. Caranaval in Duran and Guayaquil means throwing water, mud, paint, and whatever other liquid you can find at friends and random passerbys alike. I have been hearing stories for the last few months about how wet and dirty I will be getting in the next few days, but I´m still not too sure what to expect. A lot of locals head to the beaches or the mountains during Carnaval, but I´ll be staying home to avoid the crowds and because I have to give tours at Damien House to retreat groups on Monday and Tuesday. Possibly I´ll be able to make a day trip out of the city to relax for a day. Since Carnaval just started this morning, I haven´t had much thrown at me yet, although on my way to the cyber to write this I did get a bucket of water thrown on my head from a friend on a second story balcony (it felt great in this heat!)
Speaking of the heat, its been extremely hot and sunny here the past three weeks, with tempatures rising to over 40 degrees C (104 F). The rain has stopped for now, the mud quickly dried up, and the dust has returned. In an attempt to cool off a little, I went with Brendan and some Ecuadorian friends Ricardo, Aide, and Daniel to a pool complex outside of Duran. It had a few crowded pools, two waterslides, and lots and lots of people doing whatever the hell they wanted! Unlike most American waterparks, this place had neither staff nor lifeguards and sold lots of beer. There were people diving into crowded pools, others chugging beers and jumping off the roof of storage sheds into the pools, and lots of soccer balls flying around hitting people in the head. The waterslide was awesome but I decided not to go on it anymore after the first three times that I smashed into little kids that were climbing up it the wrong way or had just stopped to rest in the middle of the slide. Despite the chaos, it was lots of fun and a great way to cool off.
The last month at Damien House I have been working to organize medical brigades from the U.S. who are coming to Guayaquil to perform surgeries on both Hansen´s patients and other needy patients in local hospitals. I´ve been helping the staff at Damien to gather the montains of documents needed to get approval from the Ecuadorian government for the doctors to perform surgeries and get their medical equiptment past customs. I am excited to serve as a translator for the groups and will hopefully get to watch them perform a few surgeries. We have groups coming in April, May, and June.
We will be busy with retreat groups the next month, as we will have 3 groups visiting us in Arbolito in March. I will let you all know how carnaval goes and what the doctor´s groups are like. I hope everyone is doing well. I miss you all but feel very much at home here and I can´t believe how fast the time is passing.
Carnaval starts today in Ecuador and in much of Latin America and Europe, and ends on Tuesday. Caranaval in Duran and Guayaquil means throwing water, mud, paint, and whatever other liquid you can find at friends and random passerbys alike. I have been hearing stories for the last few months about how wet and dirty I will be getting in the next few days, but I´m still not too sure what to expect. A lot of locals head to the beaches or the mountains during Carnaval, but I´ll be staying home to avoid the crowds and because I have to give tours at Damien House to retreat groups on Monday and Tuesday. Possibly I´ll be able to make a day trip out of the city to relax for a day. Since Carnaval just started this morning, I haven´t had much thrown at me yet, although on my way to the cyber to write this I did get a bucket of water thrown on my head from a friend on a second story balcony (it felt great in this heat!)
Speaking of the heat, its been extremely hot and sunny here the past three weeks, with tempatures rising to over 40 degrees C (104 F). The rain has stopped for now, the mud quickly dried up, and the dust has returned. In an attempt to cool off a little, I went with Brendan and some Ecuadorian friends Ricardo, Aide, and Daniel to a pool complex outside of Duran. It had a few crowded pools, two waterslides, and lots and lots of people doing whatever the hell they wanted! Unlike most American waterparks, this place had neither staff nor lifeguards and sold lots of beer. There were people diving into crowded pools, others chugging beers and jumping off the roof of storage sheds into the pools, and lots of soccer balls flying around hitting people in the head. The waterslide was awesome but I decided not to go on it anymore after the first three times that I smashed into little kids that were climbing up it the wrong way or had just stopped to rest in the middle of the slide. Despite the chaos, it was lots of fun and a great way to cool off.
The last month at Damien House I have been working to organize medical brigades from the U.S. who are coming to Guayaquil to perform surgeries on both Hansen´s patients and other needy patients in local hospitals. I´ve been helping the staff at Damien to gather the montains of documents needed to get approval from the Ecuadorian government for the doctors to perform surgeries and get their medical equiptment past customs. I am excited to serve as a translator for the groups and will hopefully get to watch them perform a few surgeries. We have groups coming in April, May, and June.
We will be busy with retreat groups the next month, as we will have 3 groups visiting us in Arbolito in March. I will let you all know how carnaval goes and what the doctor´s groups are like. I hope everyone is doing well. I miss you all but feel very much at home here and I can´t believe how fast the time is passing.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Retreat groups and graduations
2011 started out just as busy as 2010. We had 3 retreat groups visit us in january, from Boston College, Iona College in New York, and Manhattan College. It was great hanging out and getting to know the visiting students. They asked a lot of good questions and noticed a lot of things about our lives and the community that we have long grown accustomed to and no longer notice. It was especially rewarding to spend time with the BC group because of my own experience leading the BC group to Duran last year. I didn´t know any of the students this year but it was great seeing my former staff leader Chris Darcy, an administrator at BC, who returned to Ecuador with this year´s group. Retreat groups are one of our few connections to the US and it was great to get to know all the students and staff that came to experience life in Duran.
In mid January, local schools let out for a 3 month vacation, the equivalent of summer vacation in the U.S. A lot of kids that used to go to school in the afternoons have now started going to our After-school program. We now average 100 kids at Semillas everyday, making discipline and planning activities a real challenge. We have been slowly adapting the program to run with twice our normal attendance, but having over 100 energetic kids ages 4-15 running around at the same time has been crazy.
The rainy season is now fully upon us, which means mud everywhere, lots of mosquitos, very humid weather, and wading through standing water in rubber boots in order to get to work.
The last weekend of January all the volunteers went to the beach for our 6 month retreat. I have mixed feelings about my year in Ecuador being half over. Sometimes I feel that the first months flew by and i will be leaving before I know it. Other times it feels like I´ve been here forever and I can´t believe I still have another 6 months left. Our Ecuadorian neighbors are already getting sad about us leaving, but I try not to think about that yet, 6 months is still 6 months no matter how quickly the days pass.
I´ve been to two high school graduations in the past month. A few weeks ago Syrah Cuenca, one of our neighbors and the sister of a Rostro staff member, graduated from Nuevo Mundo School as the valvictorion of her class. She gave a very emotional speech thanking her parents for instilling the values of education in her and her siblings. We celebrated at her house afterward with dinner, cake, and lots of laughs and dancing.
Yesterday, my friend and neighbor Joseph Bonilla graduated from his high school in Duran. There is a tradition in Ecuador where children and their parents choose a "padrino" or God-parent to support them in each of their major childhood accomplishments, including baptism, first communion, confirmation, graduation from elementary school, and high school graduation. I was honored to be asked to be Joseph´s "padrino" for his high school graduation. After the ceremony we gathered at the his family´s house for dinner, more cake, more dancing, and lots of fun. Too few kids graduate from high school in our neighborhood, and I have so much pride and respect for those that do, especially given the conditions that they are raised in. One thing both Joseph and Syrah have in common is at least one parent that would do anything to see their child succeed.
In mid January, local schools let out for a 3 month vacation, the equivalent of summer vacation in the U.S. A lot of kids that used to go to school in the afternoons have now started going to our After-school program. We now average 100 kids at Semillas everyday, making discipline and planning activities a real challenge. We have been slowly adapting the program to run with twice our normal attendance, but having over 100 energetic kids ages 4-15 running around at the same time has been crazy.
The rainy season is now fully upon us, which means mud everywhere, lots of mosquitos, very humid weather, and wading through standing water in rubber boots in order to get to work.
The last weekend of January all the volunteers went to the beach for our 6 month retreat. I have mixed feelings about my year in Ecuador being half over. Sometimes I feel that the first months flew by and i will be leaving before I know it. Other times it feels like I´ve been here forever and I can´t believe I still have another 6 months left. Our Ecuadorian neighbors are already getting sad about us leaving, but I try not to think about that yet, 6 months is still 6 months no matter how quickly the days pass.
I´ve been to two high school graduations in the past month. A few weeks ago Syrah Cuenca, one of our neighbors and the sister of a Rostro staff member, graduated from Nuevo Mundo School as the valvictorion of her class. She gave a very emotional speech thanking her parents for instilling the values of education in her and her siblings. We celebrated at her house afterward with dinner, cake, and lots of laughs and dancing.
Yesterday, my friend and neighbor Joseph Bonilla graduated from his high school in Duran. There is a tradition in Ecuador where children and their parents choose a "padrino" or God-parent to support them in each of their major childhood accomplishments, including baptism, first communion, confirmation, graduation from elementary school, and high school graduation. I was honored to be asked to be Joseph´s "padrino" for his high school graduation. After the ceremony we gathered at the his family´s house for dinner, more cake, more dancing, and lots of fun. Too few kids graduate from high school in our neighborhood, and I have so much pride and respect for those that do, especially given the conditions that they are raised in. One thing both Joseph and Syrah have in common is at least one parent that would do anything to see their child succeed.
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| Joseph and I |
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| Jospeh with his Mom, sister and me. |
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Christmas and New Years
My Christmas in Eucador was definitely not like any other. To start, it didn´t snow (as you may have guessed). The Ecuadorian Santa Clause does still drive a sleigh pulled by reindeer (presumably to slide through the mud that now fills the streets due to the arrival of the rainy season) and people still decorate there houses with fake snowmen and Christmas lights and fake Chirstamas trees. They still listen to many of our popular Christmas carols but have some great songs of their own, such as the one about the Donkey on its way to Bethlehem.
Christmas Eve started out with a mass and a nativity play staring a 1 month old baby as baby Jesus, an Ecuadorian pre-teen as Mary, me, as Joseph, and the other volunteers as shepards and wisemen. It was so much fun to participate in something that means a lot to the community but it was a real challenge to keep a straight face when I walked down the aisle barefoot wearing a robe and looked around to see everyone I know from Duran giggling at me. After mass we went to our neighbor Eduardo´s house to celbrate his son´s 9th birthday. We ate dinner and cake and did manadatory salsa dancing for a few hours before heading back to our house. Our boss Megan had a party at our house for a group of teenage boys from the street boy shelter who had nowhere else to go for Christmas. I had a blast spending Christmas eve with them. Their crude humor reminded me of my friends from home and we joked around and threw a football. We ate a big turkey dinner at midnight on christmas eve, which is customary here.
Christmas morning I hung out and had breakfast with my fellow volunteers. In the afternoon we went to Damien House to spend time with the patients there. We sang them Christmas carols and served them ice cream sundaes and soda. They were soo happy to see us becuase for many of them we were their only visitors on Christmas day. That night we went to Sister Annie´s house for a delicious Italian dinner (hadn´t had that since I left home). Sister Annie made us sing and act out the 12 days of Christmas which was a blast. It really felt like a family gathering, complete with my adopted grandmother Sister Annie.
For New Year´s Eve we were invited to a neighbor´s house for a late dinner, followed by burning some fireworks with the kids afterward. At midnight, we returned home to burn our ¨Año viejo¨ or old year. The people here make or buy paper dolls that are supposed to represent all the bad things about the past year, and they burn them in the streets on new years eve. We made a big rat to symbolize the 20 or so mice which we killed in our house this year, filled it with firecrackers, doused it in gasoline, and watched it explode. We then went on the roof and watched firework shows from all over the city. Everyone was hanging out in the streets blasting music, dancing, and blowing things up. That is my kind of celebration. Happy New Years to all.
Christmas Eve started out with a mass and a nativity play staring a 1 month old baby as baby Jesus, an Ecuadorian pre-teen as Mary, me, as Joseph, and the other volunteers as shepards and wisemen. It was so much fun to participate in something that means a lot to the community but it was a real challenge to keep a straight face when I walked down the aisle barefoot wearing a robe and looked around to see everyone I know from Duran giggling at me. After mass we went to our neighbor Eduardo´s house to celbrate his son´s 9th birthday. We ate dinner and cake and did manadatory salsa dancing for a few hours before heading back to our house. Our boss Megan had a party at our house for a group of teenage boys from the street boy shelter who had nowhere else to go for Christmas. I had a blast spending Christmas eve with them. Their crude humor reminded me of my friends from home and we joked around and threw a football. We ate a big turkey dinner at midnight on christmas eve, which is customary here.
Christmas morning I hung out and had breakfast with my fellow volunteers. In the afternoon we went to Damien House to spend time with the patients there. We sang them Christmas carols and served them ice cream sundaes and soda. They were soo happy to see us becuase for many of them we were their only visitors on Christmas day. That night we went to Sister Annie´s house for a delicious Italian dinner (hadn´t had that since I left home). Sister Annie made us sing and act out the 12 days of Christmas which was a blast. It really felt like a family gathering, complete with my adopted grandmother Sister Annie.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Merry Christmas
A quick update on the last few weeks:
A few weeks ago we were supposed to go to a bingo at our church to raise money. We showed up on Saturday night only to find that the power was out in that section of town. After talking it over for a few minutes, we decided to invite the 30 or so people that were waiting in the dark back to our house, which still had power, and hold the bingo there. Everyone picked up the church benches and the bingo prizes and started a procession back to the volunteer house. We started setting up for the bingo in our courtyard as more and more people filed in. Soon the 30 or so people at the church had multiplied to almost 200. I think when people heard that the bingo was at or house, they all wanted to attend because they were curious to see what our house looked like. Bingo night at the volunteer house ended up being one of the most fun nights of the year and the church was grateful for our help. I guess we probably should have asked permission from our boss before inviting the whole town over to our house. Oops
On Christmas Eve the 6 of us from Arbolito will be participating in a reinactment of the nativity scene. I am playing Joseph, which means I get to grow a beard and don´t have to talk, but I do have to carry a real baby, which is making me a little nervous. We have been practicing a lot and will hopefully be ready for next week. We all feel very out of place going to nightly play practice with a bunch of high schoolers, but it should be an interesting experience.
We have a week free to travel between Christmas and New Years and we wanted to go on an expedition through the rain forest. Unfortunately, a volcano started erupting right near the town we were supposed to go to. We have made back up plans, but it has been a little frustrating. If its not a coup attempt its a volcano eruption that ruins your travel plans. That is Ecuador for you I guess.
I hope everyone has a great Christmas. I will miss all of you and you will be in my thoughts and prayers this holiday season. If anyone would like to give me a gift, they can make a donation in my name to Rostro de Cristo and/or Damien House (the links are on the right). Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Thanks for reading!!
A few weeks ago we were supposed to go to a bingo at our church to raise money. We showed up on Saturday night only to find that the power was out in that section of town. After talking it over for a few minutes, we decided to invite the 30 or so people that were waiting in the dark back to our house, which still had power, and hold the bingo there. Everyone picked up the church benches and the bingo prizes and started a procession back to the volunteer house. We started setting up for the bingo in our courtyard as more and more people filed in. Soon the 30 or so people at the church had multiplied to almost 200. I think when people heard that the bingo was at or house, they all wanted to attend because they were curious to see what our house looked like. Bingo night at the volunteer house ended up being one of the most fun nights of the year and the church was grateful for our help. I guess we probably should have asked permission from our boss before inviting the whole town over to our house. Oops
On Christmas Eve the 6 of us from Arbolito will be participating in a reinactment of the nativity scene. I am playing Joseph, which means I get to grow a beard and don´t have to talk, but I do have to carry a real baby, which is making me a little nervous. We have been practicing a lot and will hopefully be ready for next week. We all feel very out of place going to nightly play practice with a bunch of high schoolers, but it should be an interesting experience.
We have a week free to travel between Christmas and New Years and we wanted to go on an expedition through the rain forest. Unfortunately, a volcano started erupting right near the town we were supposed to go to. We have made back up plans, but it has been a little frustrating. If its not a coup attempt its a volcano eruption that ruins your travel plans. That is Ecuador for you I guess.
I hope everyone has a great Christmas. I will miss all of you and you will be in my thoughts and prayers this holiday season. If anyone would like to give me a gift, they can make a donation in my name to Rostro de Cristo and/or Damien House (the links are on the right). Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Thanks for reading!!
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Happy Thanksgiving
Hey Everyone
I realize its been a full month since I last updated you on my life, so I´ll cut to the chase.
Halloween Party
We had a party for the kids at Semillas just before Halloween. They made masks and we taught them how to say trick-or-treat and gave them some candy. At first we handed out the candy in an orderly fashion, but then decided it would be much more fun just to throw it in the air and watch them scramble for it. Maybe that was a little mean but we made sure that everyone got a few peices and we got some entertainment out of it. The little kids were adorable running around with their masks.
Jair shows off his pumkin pictures which will soon be made into masks.
Retreat
Halloween weekend we had our first retreat. All 16 Rostro volunteers piled into the vans and we drove out to the beach for the weekend. It was nice to relax on the beach and reflect a little bit on everything that had happened the previous 3 months (although it was actually cold and cloudy for the first time in 3 months, go figure). Ethan, a former Jesuit Volunteer came down to Ecuador from Seattle to lead some reflections. In all it was a nice relaxing weekend and we got to spend some quality time just hanging out together.
Trip to the countryside
The first few days of November are holidays in Ecuador, one of which is the Day of the Dead. On this day, many Ecuadorian families go to the cemetary to visit their fallen loved ones. They bring flowers like we do on memorial day, but they also bring much more. Families bring food and drink to the cemetary and have full picnics and parties at the graves of their relatives. They make traditional bread shaped like people and a special fruit drink which is served either hot or cold. On this day, Brendan and I accompanied Germania, the Ecuadorian director of Damien House to the countryside to deliver donations to Hansen patients. We visited some little villages where almost half of the households have at least one Hansen patient. We were greeted warmly at every house (we ended up eating 3 lunches that day) and learned a little bit about the challenges of providing quality medical care to poor people living so far out in the countryside. It costs these people more than a day´s wage ($5) to travel into Guayaquil for treatment, many doctors in the countryside do not recognize their sickness as Hansens, and many people are afraid to seek treatment due to the stigma surrounding leprosy. We visited one town where a woman had been treated for Hansen´s at Damien house and now works to connect other sufferers of Hansen´s in her town with medical services from Damien. It was nice to spend a day out of the city and learn a little bit about the conditions that the patients at Damien house come from.
A Visitor from the US
The highlight of this past month was definitely a visit from my girlfriend, Kristen. I brought her to work with me to meet the patients at Damien House and to spend time with the kids at Semillas. We then spent a few days traveling in Cuenca, a colonial city in the mountains about 4 hours southwest of Guayaquil. In Cuenca we enjoyed the colonial architecture, the cool (sometimes downright freezing) weather, the international restaurants, and the beautiful mountain scenery. It seemed a world away from Duran and even from the noise and smog of Guayaquil. We went hiking in Las Cajas National Park which contained dense forests, sparse alpine terrain and lots of lakes . We returned to Duran for a day of hanging out with some of my neighbors and a night hanging out on the malecon (boardwalk) in Guayaquil. We both had an amazing week but it was tough to say goodbye again at the end.
Mountain landscape in Las Cajas National Park.
Retreat Group
Our first student retreat group arrived in Arbolito the day Kristen left. The group consists of only 5 students from Pope John Paul II high school on Cape Cod, Mass, and their chaparone Allan Lynch, a former in-country director of our program. The group spent the week in Duran and Mount Sinai getting to know the people and helping out at the after-school programs. It was fun to chat with them a little bit and hear Mr. Lynch´s stories of how our neighborhood used to be when he worked here.
Thanksgiving
We celebrated Thanksgiving on Friday night at the Nuevo Mundo school in Guayaquil whose headmaster is American (three of our volunteers teach at this school as their job placements). We enjoyed a delicious homemade Thanksgiving dinner (the stuffing was nothing compared to yours Nana) with all the volunteers, some staff from the school, and Father Jim, the founder of our program who was visiting for the week. Spending Thanksgiving under palm trees reminded me of our Fricchione family vacations although no one at this dinner was quite as entertaining as my family usually is. I left our Thanksgiving dinner
feeling a little closer to home and much fuller than usual.
Census
So tomorrow is the national census of Ecuador, so everyone in the entire country is required to stay in their houses from 7 am until 5 pm while high school students walk around to collect information. All businesses and roads are closed and even mass is canceled, which is a very different way of doing the census for us, but I think we will enjoy the forced day of rest. These first 4 months have passed quickly and I can´t believe it is almost Christmas. I hope everyone is well and had a very pleasant Thanksgiving.
I realize its been a full month since I last updated you on my life, so I´ll cut to the chase.
Halloween Party
We had a party for the kids at Semillas just before Halloween. They made masks and we taught them how to say trick-or-treat and gave them some candy. At first we handed out the candy in an orderly fashion, but then decided it would be much more fun just to throw it in the air and watch them scramble for it. Maybe that was a little mean but we made sure that everyone got a few peices and we got some entertainment out of it. The little kids were adorable running around with their masks.
Retreat
Halloween weekend we had our first retreat. All 16 Rostro volunteers piled into the vans and we drove out to the beach for the weekend. It was nice to relax on the beach and reflect a little bit on everything that had happened the previous 3 months (although it was actually cold and cloudy for the first time in 3 months, go figure). Ethan, a former Jesuit Volunteer came down to Ecuador from Seattle to lead some reflections. In all it was a nice relaxing weekend and we got to spend some quality time just hanging out together.
Trip to the countryside
The first few days of November are holidays in Ecuador, one of which is the Day of the Dead. On this day, many Ecuadorian families go to the cemetary to visit their fallen loved ones. They bring flowers like we do on memorial day, but they also bring much more. Families bring food and drink to the cemetary and have full picnics and parties at the graves of their relatives. They make traditional bread shaped like people and a special fruit drink which is served either hot or cold. On this day, Brendan and I accompanied Germania, the Ecuadorian director of Damien House to the countryside to deliver donations to Hansen patients. We visited some little villages where almost half of the households have at least one Hansen patient. We were greeted warmly at every house (we ended up eating 3 lunches that day) and learned a little bit about the challenges of providing quality medical care to poor people living so far out in the countryside. It costs these people more than a day´s wage ($5) to travel into Guayaquil for treatment, many doctors in the countryside do not recognize their sickness as Hansens, and many people are afraid to seek treatment due to the stigma surrounding leprosy. We visited one town where a woman had been treated for Hansen´s at Damien house and now works to connect other sufferers of Hansen´s in her town with medical services from Damien. It was nice to spend a day out of the city and learn a little bit about the conditions that the patients at Damien house come from.
A Visitor from the US
The highlight of this past month was definitely a visit from my girlfriend, Kristen. I brought her to work with me to meet the patients at Damien House and to spend time with the kids at Semillas. We then spent a few days traveling in Cuenca, a colonial city in the mountains about 4 hours southwest of Guayaquil. In Cuenca we enjoyed the colonial architecture, the cool (sometimes downright freezing) weather, the international restaurants, and the beautiful mountain scenery. It seemed a world away from Duran and even from the noise and smog of Guayaquil. We went hiking in Las Cajas National Park which contained dense forests, sparse alpine terrain and lots of lakes . We returned to Duran for a day of hanging out with some of my neighbors and a night hanging out on the malecon (boardwalk) in Guayaquil. We both had an amazing week but it was tough to say goodbye again at the end.
Retreat Group
Our first student retreat group arrived in Arbolito the day Kristen left. The group consists of only 5 students from Pope John Paul II high school on Cape Cod, Mass, and their chaparone Allan Lynch, a former in-country director of our program. The group spent the week in Duran and Mount Sinai getting to know the people and helping out at the after-school programs. It was fun to chat with them a little bit and hear Mr. Lynch´s stories of how our neighborhood used to be when he worked here.
Thanksgiving
We celebrated Thanksgiving on Friday night at the Nuevo Mundo school in Guayaquil whose headmaster is American (three of our volunteers teach at this school as their job placements). We enjoyed a delicious homemade Thanksgiving dinner (the stuffing was nothing compared to yours Nana) with all the volunteers, some staff from the school, and Father Jim, the founder of our program who was visiting for the week. Spending Thanksgiving under palm trees reminded me of our Fricchione family vacations although no one at this dinner was quite as entertaining as my family usually is. I left our Thanksgiving dinner
feeling a little closer to home and much fuller than usual.
Census
So tomorrow is the national census of Ecuador, so everyone in the entire country is required to stay in their houses from 7 am until 5 pm while high school students walk around to collect information. All businesses and roads are closed and even mass is canceled, which is a very different way of doing the census for us, but I think we will enjoy the forced day of rest. These first 4 months have passed quickly and I can´t believe it is almost Christmas. I hope everyone is well and had a very pleasant Thanksgiving.
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