Project Ecuador

Project Ecuador
Giving Hope and a Future

Tuesday 23 August 2016

Back to School

It is the time of year when many children are going back to school. New shoes are shining, larger uniforms are freshly ironed and sparkling school bags are filled with colourful pens and pencils. Schools are waiting with libraries to be explored, laboratories ready to be experimented in and sports fields ready for action.
The rural schools here are filled with bright smiles and mischievous looks, but the children´s shoes are old and tight. Some children have nothing to write with and no books to write in. Others simply stay at home as their parents cannot afford the back to school expense. This year there are children newly arrived in the area as their rented homes were destroyed by the earthquake. Their parents are now caretakers on local farms, working in exchange for a roof over their heads. These people lost the little they had and have no skills with which to better themselves.
Each year we are pleased to be able to buy individual children school supplies and uniform through the support of their sponsors. The teachers in the local schools never cease to thank me for the help these children receive and are always asking if there are more sponsors available for more needy children.

We are also delighted to be able to support the schools with books and resources. These schools do not have a library. The only books the children have are the set textbooks. They also lack computers. Where can the children hear stories, have their imaginations fired and investigate the topics that interest them?

We have been able to give each of the 6 village schools in our area a selection of books this year for the children to enjoy. These have included non-fiction, story books and Christian books.
The nursery teacher in the nearest school was delighted to have new stories to read to her little ones. The older classes take it in turns to sit outside in a circle to read a book of their choice. Some of the older children read to the younger ones. It is wonderful to see the children enjoying the books.

We were also able to help the Carchense nursery class with some toys for imaginative play. The teacher had a room full of 3 to 5 year olds to teach for 4 hours a day, and hardly any resources to do it with. These children come from very poor homes. They may have one or 2 toys at home, but no more. They lack stimulation and need to develop their motor skills and imaginations.
Their smiles say more than my words could to show their appreciation.




The children in one school also hugely benefitted from a Scottish volunteer teaching English for a couple of months. She also gave music lessons to children in a neighbouring village. These opportunities are never usually in the reach of these children. They will never forget the experience and the self-confidence that was built.



A big thank you to all the sponsors, volunteers and donors who make this possible. 



Friday 12 August 2016

Life after an earthquake

Life after an earthquake is a little boy running out of the house like an arrow shot from a bow, every time the wind rattles the windows. It is a young girl crying when she remembers the dead children she witnessed, wrapped only in sheets, lying out on the hillside lit by flickering candles.

Life after an earthquake is a teenage girl sobbing and screaming in terror as an aftershock hits some weeks later.

Life after an earthquake is a grown woman seeing the lamp wobble above her on the dentist´s chair, trying to get up and out of there.

Life after an earthquake is a 94 year old lady literally shaking in her bare feet and collapsing cane hut for days on end after another aftershock asaults her shattered nerves. 


Life after an earthquake is grief, orphans, loss, survival.

Life after an earthquake is an inertia of the soul, a closing down, a huddling inside oneself in search of safety. It is a feeling of everything else somehow being on hold, despite the hive of activity on the surface. It is treading water until you can start to believe life is going to carry on. 

Life after an earthquake is families living under plastic, exposed to the mosquitoes, without a toilet, running water or electricity. It is delivering food parcels to these families left without jobs. It is giving them clothes to cover themselves and toys to brighten their day.

Life after an earthquake is building and repairing. It is knocking down and clearing rubble, leaving once crowded areas bare. Slowly the sounds of sweeping cease, the dust settles and blocks begin to be placed upon blocks once again.


Life after an earthquake is a sense that solid ground is no longer firm. The future is not predicable. The foundations of life have shifted sending out ripples into every area of life.

And yet life after an earthquake continues, as it did before, resting in the loving arms of the Saviour who is the same yesterday, today and forever. He is the solid rock on whom we can rely and rebuild our lives. He is our hope for eternity.