Ecuador - July 28, 2011

Today was barrio day, and after so much hype, it was time to go and see what it was like.  Breakfast was the same as the day before - yogurt and granola (or cold cereal), bread, and pineapple jelly.

Before we left from camp, I had stuffed my backpack full with all the things I wanted to give away.  I am not exaggerating when I say that I could barely get the zipper shut, and I could have taken somebody down if I moved too quickly with the backpack on my back!  To explain, while packing for the trip, I had stuffed my suitcase with various toys, stuffed animals, and clothing that I intended to give away.  Each year, as part of our family Christmas celebration, my side of the family plays something called Bargain Bingo.  When we play Bingo, the winner gets a really "nifty" prize such as candy or $1.00 games.  I threw all this stuff in my backpack in the hopes of giving this stuff away, and I thought the barrio kids were the perfect recipients. 

As had been planned, Faith, Lavonne, and I were to go help prepare barrio lunch, so we rode with the rest of the pack until we reached the entrance of the barrio.  Then, Christian met us there and threw us into a taxi to travel to La Restauracion to make the meal.  It was quite a ride zig-zagging through the city streets.  The ride cost about $2.00.

When we got there, it looked way different and completely unrecognizable to me because the garage door was closed.  Therefore, we had to enter through the regular door, which was locked unless someone needed to gain entrance.  As soon as we entered the complex, the door was promptly locked behind us again.  Monica was there for a brief minute to greet us and introduce us to the cooking staff, and then, she was off for the barrio.

We explained to Christian, who was basically the only one in the kitchen who knew a little English, that we were there to work, and they shouldn't be afraid to tell us what to do.  That said, Faith was put on salad patrol - she chopped lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and cilantro.  I was put on fruit patrol, which meant I had to cut up papayas, bananas, cantaloupe, and watermelon into bite-sized cubes.  Lavonne first made juice out of tomatoes, raspberries, and sugar, and then, she helped the cook fry the chicken.  Prior to us getting there, the cook had been boiling the chicken.  In addition to fully cooking the chicken, I believe the cook's intention was to also create a broth that she could use later for something else.  Once boiled, the chicken was rolled in flour and seasoning and then fried.  I have no idea what was in the seasoning, but Team Ecuador were big fans of barrio chicken! LOL!

At around noon, we (the cook, three assistants, and us) loaded all the food into the trunks of two taxis and took off for the barrio.  Riding in the taxi seemed to take forever since it was such a hair-raising ride.  The driver cut in and out of traffic so much that I was getting dizzy.  Everytime a bus started to pull out into the left lane, I had to close my eyes because the bus would get THAT close to the taxi.

As I alluded, it took quite a while to get to the place in the barrio that we needed to be, and everywhere we looked was poverty. As expected, the roads were not paved, and they were so rough that the driver had to drive at a snail's pace in order to avoid wrecking his suspension.

Beth and her Compassion child

We arrived to serve lunch in a cement, dirt-floored garage/bunker.  Team Ecuador was already in various  states of busyness.  Several of the kids, Harold, Beth, and Deb were interacting with the barrio kids - playing ball, helping with activities, and hanging out. 

A group of guys - Mike Buer, Randy, Mike A, Nick, and Richard (and for a while, Jess Bays), and an Ecuadorian man had spent the entire morning in digging a trench something like 250 feet.  Since they didn't have precise measuring tools in the barrio, they basically used hand widths (two to be exact) to determine the depth of the trench.  Their purpose in digging the trench was to bridge the gap between a water source and the cement bunker.  Water to the bunker would mean that Compassion International would have a water source in serving the meals at the bunker, and eventually, they will be able to cook the meals at the bunker rather than transport them by taxi. 

 I think that of all the activities that Mike participated in within the past week, this project was, by far, the most important one to him.  He was very proud of what they had accomplished.  In fact, on Sunday morning (after we had gotten home from Ecuador) before church, he was sitting out on the deck, having his coffee, and he was suddenly overwhelmed.  When I asked him what was up, he said that he was just so happy that the Ecuadorians would now have water in the barrio.

Anyway, when we cooks arrived, we unloaded the taxi and set up for lunch. The kids were brought into the bunker in groups.  Most of the kids pulled their own bowl, spoon, and cup from a bag that they had brought.  Since lunch is served in the barrio by Compassion International on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, the kids come prepared.  If they do not have utensils, the staff at La Restauracion is always sure to bring extras so that everyone who wants to eat gets to eat.

Each child was given a large scoop of rice, a small piece of chicken, salad, and fruit.  The size of the child seemed to determine the size of the piece of meat s/he received.  For example, when two small girls came through the line, I saw the cook grab a chicken wing and split it in half for the girls to share.

The cook put me in charge of fruit.  I was instructed to put two cubes of each fruit in a bowl for the children.  Watching them eat was a very surreal and humbling experience for me.  I had seen the Compassion International commercials on TV, and now, I was seeing the exact scenario in real time.  I received an important education that day in that I was able to see that the Compassion money that we send each month (our sponsored child is in Ethiopia) actually gets used in the way it is intended. Likewise, if anyone I know is skeptical about sponsoring a child, I can explain to them what I've seen and experienced.

After the kids had eaten, it was time for Team Ecuador to eat.  Rather be served, we were allowed to come up and taken as much as wanted, which bothered me very much.  The kids had been allotted so little - a half a wing and two cubes of fruit - and I could take as much as I wanted?  Of course, I was the only one on Team Ecuador who was aware of the situation, but it bothered me nonetheless, and I had no appetite because of it.   

While serving lunch to the kids, Megan and Taylor had come in to help, and Megan put her camera on the wall above the serving line.  In that time period, apparently,  one of the kids had swiped it off the shelf.  Megs was understandably sick when she couldn't find her camera.  I learned that she had just purchased the $200 camera right before the trip, but she was most sick about losing all the pictures that she had already taken.  I would have been too, and I was so angry.

Of course, we searched the place from top to bottom, but it became clear, very quickly, what had happened.

I wandered outside and started talking to Michael (Delgado), and he pointed down a road, explaining that the kid who had taken the camera had gone in that direction.  I told Richard, but we really didn't know what to do.  We heard through the grapevine that the kid whom they thought had taken it had admitted to another kid what he'd done.

A few minutes later, the kid and his mom came marching up to the cement structure.  Apparently, one of the other moms, who had been in the lunch area at the time when the camera had been taken, had seen him take the camera and was calling him out  The accused kid's mom was super-ticked and insisted on talking only to the pastor (Rafael).  We watched as the mom and the accuser mom had a showdown in front of Rafael.

As all this was unraveling before my eyes, I threw up a prayer at that moment that the kid would do the right thing, and I walked away, disgusted and soured by the barrio.  I'm not going to lie; the whole experience definitely curbed my enthusiasm to interact with the kids. 

For the next few minutes, I halfheartedly helped with the picture frame project in the cement structure.  Then, Megs wandered in with a plastic bag and a big smile on her face.  Apparently, the kid had had a change of heart and had had another kid return the camera to Megs.  I hugged her, and she hugged me, and we both sobbed with joy and relief.  Here was yet another miracle on this trip to behold. 

Now that the camera debacle had come to a happy resolution, it was time for me to open the ginormously-stuffed backpack and give some stuff away.  Nick and Jess Bays were more than happy to oblige, and the toys were distributed in a matter of seconds.  It could be argued that it wasn't fair to give away the items since there wasn't enough for everybody. 

She's wearing the earrings.

But the truth of the matter is that each kid there had received a gift.  Everybody had gotten a new toothbrush and toothpaste.  The girls had received the beautiful new earrings that the ladies at church had so willingly and graciously created for them.  Likewise, each child was getting a framed picture of him/herself to bring home in addition to all the love that Team Ecuador was lavishing on them.  It was a good day all around in the barrio.

The only items left in my back were some t-shirts and two pairs of tennis shoes.  I wasn't sure what to do with them.  Should I just surreptitiously throw them on a shelf in the cement bunker, or should I take them home, or should I find someone to give them to?

Then, I spotted a woman on the edge of the basketball court.  I believe that the woman was put in my line of vision for a reason; I do not believe in coincidence or random occurences.  These are divine appointments.  Anyway, the kids with her had come to the "party" somewhat late.  The kids had heard through the grapevine that we were taking pictures in the barrio, and they wanted to have theirs taken too.  This had pretty much been the story all week.  Just about the time we thought we were done taking pictures, we would have one or two more waves of kids who would show up.  Anyway, this woman was trying to stay under the radar while waiting for the kids to get their pictures taken and developed by Sheila.

I wandered over to her and struck up a conversation as best as I could.  It turned out that her name was Elizabeth, and she had brought her kids, nieces, and nephews.  I exhausted by usual conversation topics (name, age, etc), but it was tough going because we both were limited in each other's languages.  I debated about opening my backpack because I was somewhat embarrassed about offering her my cast-offs, so I asked her what size shoe she wore.  She responded in centimenters (since they are on the metric system in Ecuador), which meant nothing to me, so I decided to suck it up and open my backpack.  I showed her my old tennies and asked her if she needed shoes. 

The look she gave me expressed ambivalence, which is what I was afraid of.  However, I learned very quickly that her ambivalence was due to the fact that she wanted to know if I was serious in really offering her my shoes. . .because she wanted them.  She nodded apologetically, and I happily handed them over, relieved that she could really used them and wanted them.  I grabbed the other pair of shoes and the t-shirts too, and she gratefully took them all.

I wasn't the only one who was giving things away in the barrio.  Deb, too, had grabbed the "Too Legit to Quit" t-shirts from the JVB 5K from last year.  This whole trip for Deb had been about connecting with Jenna, and seeing Jenna's shirts running around the barrio in one of her favorite places, Ecuador, was a part of a healing process for Deb.  

Shortly thereafter, we left the barrio and headed back to camp to quickly pack, shower, etc, because we were leaving Santo Domingo to go back to Quito. Our family tried to grab a couple of quick pictures at camp, but Nick was in a hurry, so he wasn't very cooperative.  Apparently, he thought it was more important that he climb the water tower with Rocky.  Nevertheless, we did manage to snag a couple of shots, just to prove that we had completed this trip as a family.

 After dropping off Karla, David, and Monica, we stopped for supper at KFC.  I can honestly say that this meal was the only meal in Ecuador that made me slightly queasy, and that's more likely because of the bus trip that followed than the food.

From 7:30 pm - 11:30 pm, we slowly (and I mean, slowly, because traffic was absolutely horrendous) wound our way through the mountains to Quito.  The trip lasted far longer than it should because we were sandwiched between semi after semi after semi.  Even though I had taken a Dramamine, I was undeniably motion sick. At one point, we stopped for a potty break, and we were all amused that we could see our breath when we got off the bus.  The air was considerably cooler since we were in the mountains.

JULIO!

Julio, our fabulous bus driver, navigated traffic and intense fog with ease, and he got us safely to the Swedish house in Quito.  Once there, we all crashed, exhausted by our day.