maggie's updates from ecuador

More photos...

2010-08-02T19:44:00.000-07:00

Check out new photos at http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Mags9490/

Feeding Lulu

2010-07-31T10:27:00.000-07:00

I apologize that my posts have been less frequent and on the longer side, but I'm afriad I'm going to have to continue in the same fashion. It seems my thoughts just accumulate this way, and it takes a bit for me to get them all out. I've just come back from Atacames, where I spent three days with my host family. It was a wonderful experience... the sand was outrageously soft (I brought a bottle of it back with me), the water was even warmer than the Caribbean, and the food, out of this world! Lots of fried fish and shrimp, and bolónes de verde (basically big fried heaps of plátano...what could be better?) I was especially glad that Rocio and Raul got to the chance to relax, and will forever be grateful to them that they rearranged the vacation so I could go. It was scheduled for last weekend, but I was bed-ridden at the time due to stomach issue. It seems I was destined for the full experience of travelling/working in a foreign country. I am recovering now after medications that cost me a little under $2.50 (for real). Despite the discomfort, I'm still not afraid to eat- I've just been more careful about washing fruits and veggies at home and staying away from anything that could have been poorly treated in restaurants. Despite it all, I was so touched that Rocio and Raul didn't want to go to Atacames without 'the whole family', and I'm so glad they didn't.

On Tuesday, Rocio and I went to see another family, a mother whose son will be entering Portal's pre-básica program next year. They moved from the coast a few years ago in search of a better life in Quito. Things didn't exactly turn out as they had hoped- the two now live in one-room apartment in the Comite del Pueblo, with a concrete floor, one bed, a dresser, and no kitchen or bathroom. The mother suffers from depression, and even when we told her about the prospect of her son having a sponsor who could support him through Portal and potentially even send him through elementary school, she seemed totally unaffected. I couldn't tell if she didn't believe us, as if she had gotten her hopes up before and been dissapointed, or if she was just lacking faith and the will to keep fighting against the tides of misfortune. Either way, it was a bit disheartening, and hopefully soon we will be able to give her something to hold on to.

It was interesting to be able to travel a bit along the coastline after learning that so many have migrated from rural lives there to Quito in search of work. On the way to Atacames, being that it was at 3 in the morning and I was sleeping basically the entire way, I didn't get a chance to take in the scenery, but on the trip back I was able to really observe how utterly different everything is. The lush vegetation is dotted with tiny little towns, all along one long road where we saw children walking to school, lots of cows, and vendors appealing to drivers passing by with bags of oranges and packaged sweets. After a while I realized that the children must have been walking miles and miles to get to the nearest school, as the land is so vast and the fincas (large farms) are so far apart from each other. Then I actually saw one of the schools, a small plot of land with a playground area and one long room with a single blackboard. Resources here are obviously very scarce, and if people arent living and working on the farms, they are in small houses along the road where they can sell small produce to travellers. As Raul explained to me, people on the coast put the little money they have into feeding themselves and maintaining their farms. Education is less than a priority, and I can say I didn't see any medical clinics or offices anywhere near the main route. I asked him if he considered the area impoverished- because yes the people have food, but they also have little access to health and education. He responded that he thinks the people of the Comite del Pueblo are even more impoverished, as they don't have land to live off of and must work furiously for the money to eat and live under a roof. I started to understand the depression of the mother Rocio and I visited...she came to Quito with high expectations of the benefits of urban living and the close proximity of all the necessary resouces. It then came to be that with the $80 she was making per month cleaning a house, she could only feed her son with the food she was given for lunch during her workday and that despite the existence of a myriad of markets and grocery stores close to her apartment, which she never had access to living on the coast, she couldn't afford their goods.

Raul and I then had a conversation about my major, international development, and how he saw religion as being an important thing for me to consider when working within communities in South America. Raul is a priest who is very involved in his own community and in other episcopal congregations around the country. He so often encounters people who live only in anticipation of the glories of the afterlife. They so strongly believe that their living situations are a direct result of God's will, and that even if they suffer extreme poverty, it is their duty to live in despair so that they may be granted a place in the sky upon death. I do not intend to judge this view, and I must say that I truly admire and respect the immense amount of faith that I have witnessed in religious communities here in Ecuador. I do, however, see Raul's point in that for people who have put every ounce of their trust in the idea that only God has the power to change their circumstances, it could be hard to adopt economic development strategies to lift themselves out of poverty. How do you help people who feel they were put on Earth to suffer?

Another problem that arises with such resolute faith, seeing also that Catholicism in particular is so wide-spread in South America, is the condemnation of birth control for women. Women who adhere to this and who also lack basic education are vulnerable to the incredible difficulties of being poor and supporting multiple children. The difference in the number of children and babies I see in Ecuador compared to the States is so drastic- my friends and I always coo at the few babies we see in our neighborhood in Worcester, and here I feel like they make up a huge majority of the population. I'm growing so attached to the children of Portal and consequently to children in general, but when I see their pregnant mothers dropping them off, I can only imagine the continued hardships that their families will endure with new babies to support, and especially without the presence of their fathers. When the mothers believe that it is God's will for them to have more children, even if it causes the family increased suffering, how would one convince them otherwise? In light of these complicatios I feel that I am doing good work taking care of the children that are already here on Earth.

Because I feel that it directly and immediately affects the wellness of the babies, one of my favorite things to do during the day at Portal is to help feed them. Most can eat on their own, or at least get half of each spoonfull in their mouths (the other half everywhere else), but there's a little girl in particular who still hasn't gotten the hang of it. Her name is Lulu (I've mentioned her before) and she's always very hungry. When I feed her soup, she not only gestures emphatically for every next mouthfull, she smiles and giggles in between, as if she's so happy to be getting a meal and just loves the way the food tastes. Feeding Lulu makes me remember why I'm helping out at Portal, and why I will try my absolute best to help get the children the scholarships that they need to eat better meals there and subsequently be more prepared to learn. I want Lulu and the other kids to always have full bellies and smiles on their faces because they know that they are being cared for and that they have bright futures ahead of them.

How to Help Now

2010-07-18T18:41:00.000-07:00

With this entry I want to let everyone know what can be done right now to help the children of Portal de Belén. I have been receiving wonderful feedback from those who are following my story here in Quito and who have heard about the beginnings of the sponsorship program for the kids. I'd like to thank all of you for your support and encouragement. It really makes me feel that the goals we have for Portal are viable realities. That said, I continue to welcome feedback/ ideas for how to help the families, so please feel free to e-mail me at maggiefederici@gmail.com.

Although the sponsorship program is underway, and everyone who has hoped to see it actualized is excited and ready to move forward with its structural aspects, it is very much in a preliminary stage. There is a website in the works, and will feature not only Portal but also the Cristo Liberador church and its other programs as well. There is a small chance that the church won't be able to afford the site’s construction right now, and in that case I might soon be sending out a request for an ad hoc (and modestly priced) web design project! Anyways, the purpose of the site in terms of the program will be to procure sponsors, if plausible through an on-line PayPal sort of system. All of this, however, has yet to be established, and one of the major points of discussion this week will be how payment will work, and where exactly donations will go. Rocío's vision is that many, if not all children will one day have sponsors to pay their monthly fee at Portal. If this goal is reached, Rocío will have enough money to provide the kids with a hearty breakfast when they arrive at about 7 a.m., a substantial snack around 9 (as of now, at 9 children eat what their parents send *or fail to send* for them, usually a package of cookies or a piece of bread), lunch, and a very thick beverage called colada in the afternoon, made with fruits and grains. We would need to procure the monthly fees (looking like $30 a month for next year) from all the kids to do this, as right now we only have enough money to provide lunch and colada, and split between around 35 kids any snacks we can afford. There are so few families paying right now, and almost none the full amount, but we take what we can get and continue to support those with waning options. That said, money from the sponsorship program would also supplement the pre-school education provided at Portal. I feel like I've failed to mention this, but during the year there is a full curriculum for the 4 year-olds to prepare them for kindergarten. There is, however, only one teacher of 'pre-básica', and I'm guessing around 30-40 just pre-school age kids alone during the year. The ideal would obviously be to hire more employees, but the reality of the now is that the women at Portal are paid sporadically with no benefits. In light of the fact that many of the children already face huge hurdles in the way of an education after Portal, we want to be sure that we can fully equip those who will be so lucky.

If you would like to support Portal de Belén right now:

Checks can be sent directly to the Diocese of Central Ecuador. Right now there are about 35 children at Portal during the summer (there are 70 during the school year) who have absolutely nowhere else to go for care. They have stolen my heart, and I hope that while I am here I will be able to make their lives a little easier.

Donations made in the next few weeks will go directly to one or more of the following:

1. To the food the children eat everyday at Portal, as we have been stretching our dollars dramatically to give them their one full meal per day. If there is money left over, it is possible that it will be spent on food to hand out to the kids with the gravest situations at home, ones that we have personally witnessed.
2. Donations could also go towards the long list of teaching supplies and resources for Portal for the coming year (again, when Portal will be caring for close to 70 kids) that I have made recently with Rocío, anything from pens, pencils, and books, to new door handles for the rooms.

Donations have to be 'formatted' very specifically to be sure they reach Portal.

Checks need to be made out to Iglesia Episcopal del Ecuador. The full address is:

Iglesia Episcopal del Ecuador
Francisco Sarmiento N39-54 y Portete, Quito, Ecuador.

A note needs to be attached (in English is OK, there are people to translate) indicating that the donation is for Portal de Belén daycare, under the direction of Rocío Recalde.

The note also needs to clearly specify where the donor wants the money to go, or, if the donor so chooses, 'This $40 is to be spent according to the discretion of director Rocío Recalde on the children of Portal de Belén'.

Additionally, for added security once a donation is made, an e-mail can be sent to the following address: morck1@gmail.com. This is the e-mail of Padre Chris Morck, the person who helped me coordinate my time here in Ecuador, and a respected member of the Diocese. He will make sure that once the check is received, it will end up in the right hands.

Note: By sending a donation now, you will be supporting the existing program at Portal, and not the sponsorship program, as its structure has yet to be discussed (but will be this Tuesday!) Because of this, it may not be tax-deductible, but I will look into it.

I realize that the idea of sending money to help a specific child is a bit more personal, but I assure everyone that every day there are new developments to help make the program a reality. Just today, the archbishop of the Diocese officially approved it and collectively we already have ten potential sponsors, one of them a visiting archbishop from Brazil who attended today’s meeting and showed great support for the cause. This Tuesday, specifics will be hammered out, and after that we will begin our search for outside support.

For those who are able to send donations now, the staff of Portal would so graciously accept them for the children spending their summer in the center. These are the same children in my pictures, and the subjects of the stories I've been struggling to tell. Right now, Rocío and I are also working on the children's biographies, so that when the sponsorship program is underway (and even before that) prospective donors can get a feel for their situations, and grow to love them the way we do.

I again thank you for following this blog, and for expressing such genuine interest in helping. Please feel free to contact me with ideas/questions/concerns at maggiefederici@gmail.com. I will keep you updated on this week’s developments!

Sincerely,
Maggie

'Please excuse the poverty'

2010-07-08T14:38:00.000-07:00

This week, I learned a lot about the struggles of the mothers of Portal (even more than I had before). I feel there are a lot of misconceptions about single women so desperate for jobs and childcare, especially here. I've discovered that one of the first things an employer will ask a woman inquiring about a job is if she has kids, and often the interview will stop there. Even in the Comite del Pueblo, (the neighborhood where most of the families of Portal live) which on the surface appears an impoverished, over-populated area filled with small places to work, restaurant and shop owners look to hire young, attractive, single, and childless women. They want employees with no outside obligations, who have lots of energy and can attract male customers. Maybe at the malls, you may ask... or here, called 'centro commerciales'? When I first visited one, I wondered, why couldn't some of the moms of Portal work here? In the States it's not so hard to get a job in a mall, and the pay is a least minimum wage. When I asked Rocio about it, she looked surprised. No, she told me, positions in the centro comerciales are only for people who are educated, who have possibilities. This was a bit of a culture shock for me, but then I thought about how many tourists go to the centros (particularly because normal citizens, and myself I may add, cannot afford them) and how the employers of the stores probably require their employees to dress in fine clothing for work, and at the very least, have basic business skills different from those used by street vendors. In this way, the mothers of portal could never qualify, as some of them are still in their teens and have never received even an elementary education.

I've come to realize that Portal is trying to change the cycle of poverty with the children, starting with a pre-basic education up to age 5 and from there, pleading with moms to find a way to put their kids in school. Yes, the center gives single moms a place to drop off their children so that they may participate in the economy, but this is certainly not the only aim (as once I thought). Some of the moms drop off their kids not to go to work, but to go LOOKING for a job. All day, every day. It's that hard. So as much as it may be a relief for them to know that their children are safe for the day, there's not much more that Portal can do for them personally besides give them peace of mind. What we can do for their kids is another story. With the up and coming sponsorship program, donations from 'padrinos' in tandem with oversight from Portal affiliates can ensure that children have enough to eat outside of the center, that they have clothes to wear in chilly Quito weather, and that they obtain the materials, the transportation, and the preliminary knowledge necessary to go to school. Rocio believes that the way to keep the children from ending up as poor as their families is to educate them, end of story. Without education, she worries that the young girls especially will run out of possibilities quickly, as they could become pregnant early and from then on be looked upon unfavorably by employers.

As I mentioned before, this week truly opened my eyes to the poverty that these women face and must fight against to keep their children safe and fed. Tuesday morning, Rocio and I ventured up an extremely steep hill in the Comite to visit the home of a woman with 2 children in Portal, a 1 and a half year old, adorable little girl named Dominica and a 2 and a half year old, rambunctious (and luckily also very cute) boy who we affectionately call 'Alejo Conejo' (conejo means rabbit). It had already been arranged that the kids would attend Portal for free, and it seemed we were just 'checking in' at the home to see if things were improving. After the huge hill, we climbed an equally treacherous 3 flights of stairs, and finally entered the one room apartment. It had two beds, a small stove, and little else. The mother told us excitedly that she had found a job in a restaraunt, which both Rocio and I delighted in until she told us where it was...apparently it would be a long commute, which meant that when she inevitably had to work in the evenings, the kids would be locked in the apartment, alone. So despite the fact that there will now be some sort of income, and Alejo and Dominica will still be spending the day in Portal, the night will pose great dangers.

When we returned to Portal, exhausted from our first visit, we encountered a woman crying outside the building, waiting to talk to Rocio. I was included in the exchange as Rocio ushered us into her office and handed the woman tissues. Her name was Elysa, and she was a clothing vendor. She had an almost 2-year old boy in a state-sponsored daycare, and was terrified that he and her two older daughters were going to be taken away from her. From what I could gather from the conversation and from Rocio's later explanation, Elysa was afraid because it is against the law to leave your children at home alone, which of course she and so many must do, and it seemed that some of the state workers at her son's daycare had caught wind of the situation. Before I knew it, I was swept into a taxi and taken to an area further down the mountain called La Bota, where makeshift houses barely stand on tiny plots of land. It was quite a sight... I couldn't imagine what would happen in the rain. Elysa led us into the 2-room living space, and introduced us to her two daughters, beautiful little girls, one age 10, the other 12, both in tattered pajamas and shoes that didn't fit. We kissed them on the cheek and asked if they went to school. Yes, there was one close by, but it was summer now, so the most they could do now was look through their second-hand workbooks. Then they told us they didn't have much food that week, and that their water had been turned off. They didn't hesitate to admit it to us, it was as if they were clinging to the hope that we, two strangers in their home, could provide for them. They told us about their uncle, who was educated and had money but didn't want to help them. They expressed their worry for their little brother and where he would end up. We assured them that we were going to try to help, first with their brother Jonh and then with food and clothing. Then we met their grandmother, Maria Luisa, whose first words to us were 'Please excuse our poverty, we are very poor people.' She was crying about her grandson, worried about what might become of him and also that he had been mistreated at the last daycare. She continued crying throughout our visit, especially when she learned that we were going to put Jonh in Portal without any fees. She hugged us continously, thanking us, and always apologizing. Before we left, Rocio told her about a program for the elderly at the church, where they can eat and socialize together for free. Hopefully we will see Maria Luisa there next week.

I have since met baby Jonh, and I have to say he was not happy his first day at Portal. He was obviously very disoriented and scared, but we tried to make him feel at home. Hopefully, he and the others will grow here, go on to school, and be able to take care of their mothers and siblings and eventually, their own families. The odds, however, are simply not in their favor. I've even learned recently that a few of the moms of Portal had once asked Rocio to take their children...as her own. They simply felt they could not care for them any longer, and felt she could raise them properly. Rocio had to refuse them, she has 2 little girls of her own and the means to support only them, no more. It was heartbreaking to hear, and only further reinforced my determination to find sponsors. Yes, Portal supports single mothers, but more than that, it is trying desperately to change the lives of its babies before its too late. The question of it being 'too late' for the moms to break the cycle of poverty brings me to my next thought, that there should be some type of social business that employs all of these women so that they can bring in enough income to support and educate their children, while still being able to watch them in the home. What kind? I don't know, I'm working on it. What do all these women have in common I wonder, what is something they could all do without having been educated? Educating them now seems out of the question, unless it was a program tailored specifically to their work schedules. Vamos a ver- we'll see. For now, keep these families in your thoughts and prayers. The children are bursting with potential, they just require the physical means to carve out successful futures.

Here you will find pictures of both of the homes I have described, Maria Luisa, and more...
http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Mags9490/

2 Weeks in.

2010-07-03T20:25:00.000-07:00

Follow the link to view more photos of the kids of Portal, as well as of the center itself:

http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Mags9490/

I've been sick this past week, which has been a drag. Keeping up with 30 small children with a cold has proven near impossible. This I discovered on Thursday amidst some unusual circumstances... one boy named Ariel hurt his arm significantly and was taken to the hospital by Rocio and one of the two teachers at Portal. Since the other is currently on vacation, the only people left to care for the kids were Kati, the young woman who watches over the babies, the cook, Rosa, who at one point had to leave to make lunch, and me. I think the kids were a bit affected by all the commotion, either that or they chose at this point to go completely nuts, however trying to keep them all from screaming, running, jumping, and painting everything was a huge challenge, even stern words and glances were of no use. I went home a bit disheartened and exhausted, yet on Friday, despite the previous day’s struggles, all of them greeted me emphatically. I'm starting to understand that children always appreciate when you strive to keep them healthy, safe, and occupied, even if they fight like hell while you're trying to do it.

Wednesday was less of a physical challenge and more an emotional one. I went to see the home of a family with 4 children currently at Portal for the summer- Carolina, Kerly, Jennifer, and Lulu. Carol and Kerly are sisters, and cousins to Jenni and Lulu, also sisters. Carol and Jenni are currently being sponsored by a woman in Sweden through a site called solecuador.com (pioneered by Spanish professor Lourdes Castro who I met last Friday). Kerly and Lulu still need sponsors, and this was very apparent after I visited. The family lives close to Portal, yet when at last I got there it seemed like I had travelled to a different planet. At the end of a normal-looking street in the neighborhood appeared one of the most beautiful landscapes I'd ever seen, a ravine with steep, rising slopes on both sides, green with vegetation, and in between, a gorgeous view of Quito. There are a few pictures of it to view through the link to my photo album, however they really fail to capture the surreality of the place. Paradoxically, in this small oasis are hundreds of shacks, haphazardly constructed out of concrete blocks, some metal slabs and a couple spare tires to top them off. To reach Jenni's house, we had to very cautiously descend a flight of treacherous man-made dirt steps... if I had slipped at any point I could have suffered serious injury… Jenni's mom, on the other hand, led us effortlessly with a tiny baby on her hip. Inside the home, I saw a room with a dirt floor filled predominately with three beds, and on the walls all of the family's belongings piled high. In the very back there was a tiny stove and a single hanging light bulb. I didn't see a bathroom. As I sat on the bed and listened to Rocio talk to the two women who had greeted us, I wondered how the newest baby was ever going to get the resources he needed. Jenni's mom is 24 with 4 children, and Carol's mom is a mere 17 with 2, and most likely more to come. Afterwards, I realized I had been so engrossed by the situation I had failed to do what I came to do: take pictures of the home for the Bishop of the Diocese so he could see how things were progressing with the family. Rocio told me that before the church had stepped in, they had shared only one bed, and had very little clothing and food. Things have since improved, and now that Carol is being sponsored, she will be able to go to school in the fall, a huge step towards her autonomy from the cycle of poverty.

After visiting their home, I saw Jenni, Carol, Kerly, and Lulu at Portal for another day of work. It was scary to realize that I was helping care for these girls after seeing how little they were guaranteed at home. I now understand the origin of their frustrations and tantrums, and have since noticed the way they try and raise each other: they make sure Lulu is fed when she's hungry (which is often), and they comfort her when she cries. They band together against agitators, one little female family unit. It’s heart wrenching and uplifting at the same time. And they aren’t alone- there are so many pairs of brothers and sisters at Portal that morph into tiny parents when their siblings are in need. These are their roles in the home without the continued presence of their mothers.

What has also been hard to witness in this past week is the dwindling numbers of children. Niños who I’ve come to care about are leaving the program for the summer because their mothers cannot pay the monthly fee and are choosing instead to save up to send them again in the fall. A part of me just wants to dole out the cash to keep them here, but I know that there are delicacies to the circumstances that are beyond my immediate view. Rocio has also assured me that those who are staying for the summer are the most in need, for they have absolutely no one at home to look after them. These are the children I will be focusing on in my time here while I help construct the framework for a sponsorship program, and the others I will continue to try and find support for after I return home.

Pictures, Finally!

2010-06-29T06:23:00.001-07:00

Here are all of my pictures thus far, including those from Portal's graduation. I'm sorry that they can't be added to my blog itself, for some reason none would load.

Copy the link below and paste it in your browser to view:

http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Mags9490/

¡Gracias!

Luck and Opportunities to Help...

2010-06-26T07:56:00.000-07:00

Today was a very relaxed, fun day. I spent most of the morning watching cartoons with Amy and Jade, then had a long Skype conversation with my mom, and at around 4 went to see the girls' end-of-year event at their school, which turned out to be a true extravaganza. For those Clarkies who are following this blog, it was sort of like Gala, Ecuador-style, complete with Bolivian dancers in ridiculously cool costumes. From what I could gather, the fiesta was also in honor of Summer Solstice, a holiday with indigenous roots that is still celebrated by many Ecuadorians today. At the end of the show, to my horror, was an ordinary man running around frantically with a wooden cow spewing fireworks and sparklers that nearly ignited the suit jacket of the archbishop of the entire Central Ecuadorian Diocese. I later discovered that the display was in fact the much-anticipated 'vaca loca' finale.

Then, as Rocio and I walked back from the panadería with sweet bread for dinner in tow, we encountered a stray dog that seemed to be viciously attacking us until we noticed its tail wagging and its desire to play in my long skirt, upon which we ran from it giggling and screaming while Raul ran after it with his belt. Quite the night.

On a more serious note, I have been slowly learning just how much the kids at Portal are suffering. At the same time that they face hunger, illness and poor educational prospects (especially for the girls, since many will not finish or even start school if there is an elder male child in the family), more immediate dangers threaten their livelihoods. The community that they live in proves to be more and more dangerous each day, with one of the highest crime rates in the country, yet still many must walk to Portal with not-much-older siblings because their mothers cannot afford to be late to work. Many 4 and 5 year-olds who just graduated Portal's pre-K program on Friday, and will next year begin Kindergarten, will soon find themselves home without adult supervision from the time school ends until 5, 6 or later, when their mothers finally return. This is an impending trauma for many of the moms who know they will have no choice but to leave their kids to fend for themselves.

There are other mothers who for one reason or another cannot work enough or at all, and so after Rocio confirms to the church the gravity of their situations, their children may attend Portal for free. One in particular will soon have 4 children total at the daycare center, as she cannot adequately care, feed or clothe them in a one room, dirt-floored apartment with no kitchen or bathroom, where often severe domestic violence occurs. The severity of the family's suffering led Rocio to seek help from outside contacts to procure a sponsor for one of the kids, who now receives 40 dollars a month from a donor in Switzerland to help her obtain food, clothing, and an education. So far she and one other boy at Portal are being sponsored, yet Rocio and other concerned parties hope to increase that number. I think I can help.

At the graduation, I was given a place of honor, even after only a week of volunteering, as well as two beautiful gifts, a scarf made of alpaca wool by indigenous Ecuadorians, and a CD of Ecuadorian music that Rocio knew I was looking for. I felt very blessed and appreciated, but at the same time even more determined to start making a true difference. After the ceremony, I met a man named Pindaro who was born in Quito and has since become a globetrotting do-gooder. When he learned of my purpose in Ecuador and the work I have been doing, he told me that he and a Spanish teacher named Lourdes, whom I also got to meet, were working on a website that they hope will get the word out about the struggles of Portal and its kids so as to attract more volunteers, especially throughout the school year when assistance is needed the most. I offered them every insight I had, as well as some photos and the information in this blog so that they may start on a profile of me that will help legitamize the program. I am so happy for this opportunity to share my stories, so that hopefully people will either come and see Portal de Belén for themselves, or decide to become sponsors from the comfort of their own homes. To see images of Portal de Belen, go to solecuador.com and find the tab titled 'Volunteering'. I believe it is here where I will soon be featured.

With the donations of concerned friends and relatives, I have already given Rocio a large bag full of children's clothing and toys. She marveled at how lucky 'her babies' were to be recieving the gifts, and I assured her that more were coming.

I realize that this post is a bit sporadic, but I'm going to end it in the same fashion. I'm truly loving my host family and their way of life, in the home and in the church community. They are constantly laughing, inviting guests to dinner, and listening to the concerns of others. They have truly made me a part of the family. They take me to all events and on all errands, and introduce me to everyone in their world. Rocio is a wonderful host-mom, and makes me as comfortable as humanly possible... tonight she even made me a special tea for my sore throat. She always tells me I have good luck, particularly because whenever we travel on buses together, we are magically able to find seats. How right she truly is.

The Kids!

2010-06-23T19:08:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, so sorry it has taken me so long to post a second entry, the internet has been really finicky lately and often decides not to work at night. Anyways, I have a routine going here now, at least for weekdays. I wake up at around 5:50 (yikes!), eat a simple, delicious breakfast, and walk about 25 minutes (uphill) with Rocio to work. There, I try desperately to entertain around twenty 4 and 5 year olds, sometimes without any supervision from a senior employee. It's surely been a challenge! The kids are adorable, however they are also quite rowdy and I am usually trying desperately to tell them in Spanish to please sit down, no hitting, stop screaming, and oh yeah, please hand over the toothpaste that you have been consuming. There are a few activities and games that have worked well so far, play doh being by far the most successful. The kids also delight in the appearances of my very spontaneously-created male alter-ego, Marcos, who speaks in a very deep voice and tells all the niños to bring him imaginary Ecuadorian food that he in turn gobbles down dramatically. I suppose acting like a complete goofball is a hit with most kids. Anyways, after a morning of work, I head back to the house with Rocio to eat lunch with her daughters and take a little 'ciesta' (which I am going to try and convince future employers to allow me in the U.S...haha yeah right). I then return by bus to the daycare from 2 until about 5:00, then dinner, a little television and conversation with my beautiful host family, a bit of reading and studying and finally, at around 10 or 10:30, I sleep. A bit more on the daycare itself...

After only my third day of work at Portál de Belén, I am beginning to understand many of the challenges that the kids are facing. As has been confirmed by Rocio, most come from dysfunctional households, many violent, and others where older brothers and sisters (from about ages 7 and up) are the primary caretakers. I see these difficulties in kids who hit and yell at the others, those who are begging for a hug and some attention, and still those that are clearly very hungry. Most of the mothers who arrive in total exhaustion to pick up their children at 5:00 are single and have placed their sons and daughters at Portal to manage full work-loads that will hopefully keep their families under a roof. I haven't met many of the parents yet, but once my Spanish improves a bit more I plan on investigating their exact situations.

The energy at Portal de Belén daycare is good, and all 5 of its regular employees are extremely caring, wonderful people. However the mere fact that there are 5 permanent caretakers and around 60 children is a bit extreme. More shocking is the state of the building itself- there are several hazards that the younger children especially could and do fall victim to easily, for example, there are many large stairs, rooms with broken doors that can't close, and a patio with metal protrusions and nowhere near enough enclosures to keep all the running, screaming kids safely inside. There also seems to be significant lack of resources... nowhere near enough painting/drawing necessities, games, or books to keep every child occupied. That being said, I have arrived at Portal during a transitional period, as the five-year olds are about to "graduate" before they move on to kindergarten. Many will not stay the duration of the summer because their older siblings have finished school and can 'look after' them. It is for this reason that perhaps the center is currently in upheaval, and that during the school year there are more learning tools. After my first day with no instructions or schedule explaining what the kids normally do at what time, I timidly asked Rocio why... turns out that there is an educational curriculum for the duration of the school year, and my task is now simply to entertain the kids in their last week before a turnover and the beginning of a new cycle. It is very difficult to fill up so much free time, but I am determined to do it in a safe, educational, and fun way.

What does Portal de Belén daycare center need the most? This is what I asked Rocio a few nights ago. She explained that parents whose children attend Portal pay a very meager fee, some even pay nothing, and all are accepted because of the center's ties with the Iglesia de Christo Liberador (the church where Raul is priest) and its role as a provider in the community. For this reason, Portal has very little expendable income, and Rocio has made sure that the primary use of funds goes towards food. She worries that for many of the kids, the food they are given at Portal is their sustenance for the whole day, and so she splurges on meats, vegetables, proteins, and juices to keep them healthy and growing. She then told me that one of her plans was to set up (from what I could figure from her Spanish explanation) a Food Bank, where I suppose people could donate non-perishables or money for groceries. She was also thinking that community members interested in this endeavor could come and meet the kids and perhaps 'sponsor' one or two that they connected with. I wondered, do people in this area have food/money to give? On the bus that we usually take home from Portal, there are often vendors who hop on with their goods and hop off again, just to see if there might be any interested buyers whom they may have missed on the street. The community surrounding the center is simply not affluent. It made me think about how easy it might be to establish a sister organization for Portal in the states, where Rocio's ideas (more to come on her wonderful insights) could be put in motion and the kids could perhaps have American sponsors, not just for food, but for other resources and one day, a more usable space for the daycare itself.

Estoy aqui.

2010-06-18T18:16:00.000-07:00

So I just got to Quito today... one of the longest/ most relieving days of my life. Last night was a bit of a rocky start- my nerves decided to hit me at the airport as opposed to gradually conditioning me a week before- and I still feel a bit shaken, but as soon as I got here I started to feel more and more comfortable. My first Spanish-speaking encounter was with a lovely older woman who was on both of my flights, from JFK to Guayaquil and Guayaquil to Quito, who after attempting a full conversation with me 'en español' pegged me as a scared young American, and ended up giving me her phone number, a hug and a kiss at the final baggage pick-up. Chris Morck, who helped me plan the entire trip, then picked me up from the airport in Quito after I had sleepily missed the infamous landing among the mountains. No matter, because my first views of the city were stellar. It was apparently a 'cloudy day' and I could still see the huge peaks hovering over a blanket of colorful houses that seemed to cascade all the way to my feet. It was an amazing feeling. My first big Ecuadorian event was Chris and Trish's daughter Claire's big Father's Day show at her school, where ten groups of absolutely adorable kids sang and danced to songs about their assigned 'times table' (e.g. 2X2=4). It was a really light-hearted introduction to my first day. After lunch and a bit of relaxation with the Morck's, Trish took me to my host family's house. There was a huge gate in front of it that was a bit foreboding at first, but once I stepped inside I knew it was going to be a warm and happy place. Rociò greeted us at the door and gave me a huge Ecuadorian welcome, with the biggest smile and hug I could have ever hoped for. I then met Padre Raùl, Rociòs husband, who was equally wonderful and even set to getting my internet working right away. Rociò took me through their house where she repeated endlessly that it was now mine, as was her family, and that I could use anything I wanted, as if I'd been living there for years. I will be eternally grateful for her immediate acceptance of me. She cooked me a delicious meal, which I tried desperately to finish even though my stomach was still quite nervous and tense from the trip, and then took me on a walk to meet her daughters. After only about a block, we were at their school and caught in a mass of joyous children, parents, and teachers, smiling and laughing as Rociò so politely introduced me to every one of them. I then received hugs from Amy and Jade, Rociò's two beautiful daughters, and they took my hands as we crossed the street. I haven't felt so special in a long time, and throughout the day the girls became more comfortable with 'Margarita', asking me all sorts of questions about 'los estados unidos' and helping me with my dreadfully weak yet somehow workable spanish. Everyone in this family is so full of light and happiness. After showing me the Portal de Belén daycare (more to come on this), Rociò took me and the girls to see their dad at his office, just because. And when we were all together at the dinner table, everyone was animated and laughing, me when I actually caught the jokes, but also when Jade started doing what I took to be an impression of Amy dancing with her eyes somewhat crossed that dissolved us all into giggles. It's just so nice to be placed within such an amazing family dynamic. The night ended when I gave the family my gifts for them, a Trouble game for the girls, which they immediately started assembling, and a print of a beachscape for Raùl and Rociò, which they pegged right to the wall. My thoughts on the Ecuadorian people I have met thus far? Utterly genuine. And Quito? A beginning, I suppose.