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A week ago Thursday night, Rolando Escola and our staff held an amazing Appreciation and Fundraising Banquet for many of the people that have been so supportive of the Home For At Risk Children in Cayambe over the last several years. The mayor of Cayambe was there along with many other important Government officials as well as leaders of organizations and businesses in Cayambe. We also had our visitors from Canada with us as well. It was a beautful night of talking about the project, giving thanks and asking our guests to make a commit to support the Home in 2020.
Last week we personally witnessed the Prevention Program in action and the word used to desribe it with is WOW! We watched and listened as two of the workers from the program taught in a room with 92 parents. The goal was to talk with them about how to prevent alcoholism in their children. It started out with jokes and laughter about why people drink alcohol, when and with who? Then asked about behavior that happens while drinking and then how do you think this effects your children? There was a line written on the white board for all to see with “grandparents”, “parents”, “children” and “grandchildren” asking who is it that breaks the cycle? With the answer being PARENTS! The mood went from joking and laughter to quiet and pensive. Then it was asked of the parents to do an activity where each puts a hand print, representing a signature or promise to break the cycle. The very ones joking were then the ones leading these groups to come up with promises they can sign to break these cycles in their families, to show their children they are serious. I can’t tell you the feeling of watching friends and fellow workers in the trenches helping people break chains of addiction! You may ask why is this important? The programs happening and the countless hours put in to the programs, workshops and individual conversations are making a difference. They are breaking chains, there is healing happening! It is important and it is life-changing! As we have mentioned previously, this prevention program is made possible by the Ecuadorian government as well as funds from Covenant World Relief. THANK YOU for helping make a difference!
What an amazing week! Our friends from Canada are preparing to leave and we are sad to see them go. As always it was a life-giving adventure serving together. They have an on-going partnership with The Santiago Partnership where they partner with the project in Cayambe and serve in San Antonio, a Kichwa community, through counseling, VBS, womens ministries, building a retaining wall, communion and more. They also saw first-hand the prevention program working in a community an hour from Cayambe. They spoke with families about how to prevent alcoholism in their children. It was amazing, sombering, eye-opening and something that made us proud to see how those working in the the project are literally breaking cycles of addiction in families! We are so thankful for these ladies working in the prevention program to change their communities!
Highlights from the trip for the team members:
“The hospitality”
“The food”
“The relationships”
“Continuing partnerships”
“My heart is full”
“I was vulnerable and helped solidify relationships”
The child, how hard they work and how strong they are”
“We understand the word “Minga” now”
There aren’t a lot of words to fully describe how amazing this time together was. We are thankful. Grateful. Amazing. Life-Giving.
Thank-you always seems too little to say to our Canada friends, but THANK YOU! You all hold a special place in our heart. We miss you already!
We said in one of our last posts that we would keep you informed and updated about the new program called the Intervention Program.
The program we have talked about in the past, the Prevention Program is in part, financed by the government, but not fully. This program serves 80 families in 8 different communities to check-in with the families, provide workshops, identify systemic holes and help with needs caused by a lot of those holes in the system. This is a broad program with a broad spectrum of care.
In turn, the new Intervention Program, as well partly financed by the Ecuadorian government, will be a more targeted program, engaging with 30 families in at-risk situations. The program staff comprised of a social worker, community facilitator, and clinical psychologist. They will go deeper with these families on an individual level and work in conjunction with them to hopefully better the issues identified together. The goal of both of these programs is to prevent the need for the home for at risk children.
Please continue to pray for our staff and new staff members working specifically with this program. They are in part, “first responders” to some of the most impoverished areas in Ecuador and that takes a toll.
The Santiago Partnership is excited about this new initiative and new way to help and go deeper with Ecuadorians.
We are very excited to announce another new development in our partnership journey. Covenant World Relief will be partnering with the ministries here in Ecuador to vulnerable children and the medically underserved. Covenant World Relief, the humanitarian aid ministry of the Evangelical Covenant Church who participates in God’s transforming mission in the world through disaster relief and community development among the most vulnerable will be partnering with The Santiago Partnership, IPEE (Iglesia del Pacto Evangelico del Ecuador) and FACE (Fundacion Adelanto Communitario Ecuatoriano).
We have told you that although both the Intervention Program and Prevention programs are supported by the government, they are not fully funded. Covenant World Relief will be providing the finances not provided by the Ecuadorian government for both of these programs, the intervention and prevention. By these funds being provided, it will free up the Santiago Partnership budget to be able to serve in other ways, like an additional careworker for the Home for At Risk Children, finishing construction for the second floor of the Home or even saving money for opening a second Home for At Risk Children! Isn’t that amazing to dream about?
This past week we had the pleasure of serving alongside Dr. Kristi Lundblad (Santiago Partnership volunteer) and a large team that came from the area of Chicago, Indiana and California to serve vulnerable children as well as others through a wholistic medical caravan out of the Medical Clinic in Cayambe. Through the medical caravan we saw just under 400 patients. We had a diverse team that included a pediatrician, nurse practitioners, audiologists, pastors, a social worker as well as people who provided general assistance. Some team members were also able to connect with the Home for At Risk Children and its ministries. This included helping our chaplain Cecilia in doing outreach to some of the most vulnerable in the area. What an awesome week of wholistic service together!
On Christmas Eve, one of those memories came up on Facebook, which, let’s be honest, kill me almost every time I see them. Whether it is friends or family or our kids when they were much younger, they always bring a little bit of a sting to my heart as I realize time goes by so quickly, life happens, death happens and so much in between. So, I was reading one of these memories, which was a reflection I had written, with a 4-month old Ephraim picture. You can read it here.
As I read through it and as I reflected on a song and a conversation I had about “God with Us”, I started to think what that really meant. In all honesty, I don’t know that I had really thought about what “God with Us” really means and the significance of it in my life, not just during the Christmas season when we talk about it, but what does it mean in the daily life? And why hadn’t I ever thought about it before? I had a short conversation with my best friend about this yesterday who really is the one that started this whole conversation in my mind. The bottom line is I really don’t think all that much about God with ME in the sense of what I think this verse captures in Matthew. Mathew 1:23 says:
“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they call him Immanuel”
(which means “God with us”)
GOD WITH US.
As I thought about this more and wondered why I hadn’t really ever thought about this before, I kept waking up with the same song in my head each morning for about a week. I continued listening to it on repeat and God was speaking. If you would like to listen to that song it is here:
In the middle of it. I feel like I am there, in the middle of the battle, the storm, the (fill in the blank) a LOT! How often to you think that He is there with you? We say that and believe it sometimes, but have you thought that His VERY name means “GOD WITH US”? He was made flesh and dwelt among us as John 1 says. He is God and became flesh to not only be with us but to experience it as we do. When I thought more about it and why I haven’t thought much more beyond the words “God with us”. My best friend said, “maybe we don’t notice God’s presence in the middle of our situation because we are too busy looking at the surface.” HOW PROFOUND!
But how liberating and what PEACE it brings knowing that God is WITH US! No matter what we face, cancer, criticism, illness, depression, crisis and all that is in between. He is there. He sees you, He sits with you and weeps with you. You are not alone. The Prince of Peace is with you. He is good. In the middle of it all, He is good.
So, as you go in to 2020, maybe you are carrying so much and are in the middle of it and don’t feel like you can face another day, another crisis, another…ANYTHING. Remember, God is with YOU! His very name and His life proves it and says it. When you can’t face more, He is with you and has so much more for you.
So I go back to the initial sweet stinging heart picture of Ephraim from 4 years ago. Him sleeping so peacefully, knowing his needs are cared for even among the craziness and danger of the world. God is with US in this world, no matter how bad it gets. He is in the middle of it with us and we can “sleep in heavenly peace” as the sweet song goes, knowing that God is in the middle of it with us. This peace, perfect peace, passing all understanding is with us, always. Rest in His peace, live in His peace.
We were so happy to have my (Kim) parents come for a visit right after the protests had ended. They almost had to cancel their trip because of the protest but we were so thankfuly that they were still able to come. It was a joy to have them with us for a full week. This was the first time that they together had been to Ecuador to visit us since 2011. This was also the first time that my dad was able to visit our project in Cayambe. We were able to spend time together as a family which is so important for us as our kids usually live so far a way from their grandparents. Grandma and Grandpa got to experience the daily ins and outs of our lives here including reading stories and listening to stories being read for homework, going to Chicberry, Taco Tuesday, going to soccer and swimming practices, seeing Simeon’s baseball game and more. It was fun to see my mom reading the Bible to Esther as that is something I remember her doing from my childhood. It was a life giving and blessed time for all of us!
As many of you may be aware, Ecuador recently endured a 12-day strike. What had occurred was the president and our legislative body had passed an economic reform package that included removing fuel subsidies that had been in place since the 80’s. The removal of these subsidies caused a sudden and drastic increase in the price of gasoline and diesel fuel; in some cases, it actually more than doubled. You can imagine the shock to the system that would cause if something like this occurred in the U.S. or Canada but for many people who barely make enough to pay the bills every month here in Ecuador, this was an incredibly difficult change to endure. And what was even more difficult than this change in the price of gasoline was the fact that in making this sudden change, it meant that cost of many every day goods like fresh produce and other basic consumables would rise as well. Bus fares would also need to go up to accomodate the additional fuel expenses. These kinds of changes drastically affect the every day Joe and Jill (or maybe it is better to say Jose and Maria!) in Ecuador as they are people who go month-by-month providing for their family from the income they recieve that month and there isn’t much wiggle room in that budget. This is why people immediately reacted and started to protest this econimic reform.
You can read a good, thorough summary of the protests here: Ecuador Protests
One neat thing that occurred during these protests was that some of our staff from our project in Cayambe came to help during this time of crisis. Read about it here: Protest Caravan
For our family, this was a pretty nerve-racking time. We have counted and we knew that this was the 4th protest that we have been through here in Ecuador. However, this was the longest and the scariest for us. A lot of our time was spent indoors as we were asked to stay in our homes by our bosses in Chicago and for the most part our neighborhood was relatively quiet. But as the 12-day strike continued on, the shelves in the supermarkets slowly became bare as the roads were blocked and more products couldn’t make it. We kept learning of more and more road blockages; for example, the road to the airport was blocked at various times. Finally, our stress level hit an all-time high when the potable water service in our neighborhood was cut off and there were threats that the electricity would be next. Thankfully, soon after that, the protests ended peacefully with the president deciding to rescind the economic package, thus reinstating the fuel subsidies.
We were thankful to have the protests be over and life quickly return to normal but even more than a sense of relief that we felt from the fact that it was over was the strong sense of pride that we felt. Why pride you ask? Well, if you aren’t aware, this protest was led by the nation’s indigenous. You also may not be aware that our project’s leader, Rolando Escola, is Kichwa, the nation’s largest indigenous group. Also, we have three other staff members who are also Kichwa. Additionally, we serve a lot Kichwa through our project, especially through our Medical Caravans who go up into the mountainous communities to serve the indigenous where they live with very little access to medicine. We have come to know and love our Kichwa brothers and sisters. We have also come to have a lot of respect for them and their incredible work ethic, their strong sense of community, their humble demeanor, their devotion to maintaining their culture and their love of the land and the country of Ecuador. We respected our indigenous friends before the protest but now it is safe to that our respect has even multiplied. These strong yet humble, impoverished people unified as one group (there are over 20 different indigenous groups throughout the country) to lead the protest that they said was for the entire nation against a repressive government. The removal of these fuel subsidies would not affect the rich very much but would greatly alter the lives of the poor and the working class. Our indigenous friends stood up against the government and won a battle for the people of Ecuador. I (Joel) will never forget watching on TV the meeting that occurred between indigenous leadership and the president and other government officials where the truce was agreed upon. The indigenous were strong and straight forward; they would only accept a removal of the economic package and reinstating of the fuel subsidies. The president agreed. I have never seen anything like it and may never see anything like it again. Kim and my pride for the indigenous overflowed when the negotiations were concluded with the first woman who was given the opportunity to speak: a beautiful and articulate indigenous woman leader from the Amazon.
The Santiago Partnership