Christmas in Ecuador

The tradition here is to give bags of biscuits and sweets to the children.  Villages organise events and ask members of the local community to donate the bags of sweets.  These are then given out to the children, much to their delight. 

We raised funds to give brightly coloured draw-string bags to the local school children this year.  In each one we put an activity book for them to colour.  We travelled to all 7 of the local schools to give the bags to the 300 children.  All of the schools are at the end of unmade roads.  One was beyond a bridge that was broken, so we had to finish the trip on foot in the mud.  The children were absolutely delighted with the beautiful gifts and are making good use of them. 

The sponsored children gathered for their gifts on the 23rd December.  They were over the moon with the pretty Barbies, lovely lego and swish T-shirts their bags contained.  These are the only gifts these children receive this Christmas, so they are very special to them.

Families that can afford it gather together on the night of the 24th December to have a meal together and exchange gifts.  Vladimir´s family came to our house on the 24th for an evening meal and to give their granddaughters their dolls. 

The 25th is a bank holiday here, and many people will head in to town to buy gifts on Christmas day itself.

The 26th people are back at work... now waiting for the New Year celebrations to begin. 

Life and Death

A short while ago I was asked to visit a man in his 60s dying of cancer.  He had been successfully treated for his disease some 8 years ago, but in the past few weeks the disease had reared its ugly head with force and his final decline had been rapid. 

Just a few weeks before Don Juan had been to the health centre his usual gentle self, still full of life and love for his 8 daughters.  Now he was prostrate in bed, struggling to breathe.  His wife hovered by his side, and his daughters were attentive to his every need.

As we fixed up the oxygen concentrator to ease his suffering, I knew he did  not have much time left in this world.  I knew his daughters well.  The twenty year old who had recently graduated from Secondary school through the sewing project and now with a baby boy of her own.  The mother of two cute little boys who always came to the health centre when under the weather.  The granddaughter who had also graduated from Secondary school recently through the sewing project who was training to be a police woman.  They all spoke of him as an excellent father.

"I can only say he has been a gentle, good father."  One of them confided.  "He always did all he could to help us.  We are going to miss him terribly."

Witnessing death always make me stop and wonder and worship.  It makes me pause and reflect on time gone and yet to come.

And then the whirl of  life continues; my little girls who want to paint and jump on a trampoline, and Don Juan´s youngest daughter who wanted to be able to continue to go to school. 

When I told 14 year old Lorena I had a sponsor who would help her continue to go to school her grief etched face broke into a beautiful smile.  "You are an angel."  She exclaimed.  Hope began to fill the future with happiness once more.