Ephraim was dedicated to God at Iglesia Emanuel in Juan Montalvo this past Sunday. His God parents are Rolando and Diana Escola.
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Serving Christ in Ecuador |
Ephraim was dedicated to God at Iglesia Emanuel in Juan Montalvo this past Sunday. His God parents are Rolando and Diana Escola.
This past Saturday we held a big promotional day for the medical clinic to let them know we are open and serving the greater Cayambe area. We had a big setup in the park with free basic medical check-ups, balloons and face painting. Unfortunately, it rained a lot so this is the only picture we have. However, since many flyers were distributed and much information was shared, we feel that the word is out that our clinic is open and ready to serve the public with high quality medical care that is accessible to all.
A week ago, we completed another medical caravan to the children of the Compassion program in the Iglesia del Pacto Nazareno “Nazarene Covenant Church” in Cayambe and their extension location in Oyacachi. Almost 370 children received their annual medical exam and were treated with anti-parasitic medicine and given vitamins. Praise be to God! Enjoy the pictures below which include some shots of the beautiful artisan work of Oyacachi.
The Santiago Partnership continues its relief efforts in collaboration with our partner denomination, the Evangelical Covenant Church of Ecuador. As survivors from the recent earthquake are being sheltered in the Covenant campgrounds in Santo Domingo, we have been providing them with their medical care. A week ago, our medical staff attended to all of those who had a medical need seeing the vast majority. Yesterday, Kim continued their care by seeing 36 patients who needed further help or those who had arrived within this past week. See the pictures to get more of an idea of what life is like for these folks from Pedernales who within seconds lost their homes, possessions and in some cases, their loved ones. Support our efforts here: https://www.santiagopartnership.org/give/ by placing a gift and writing “Earthquake Relief” where it says personal message.
This past week the Santiago Partnership sent our clinic medical staff out to the coast to help those who have been affected by the recent earthquake. In one day our staff, with a team of medical students we joined up with, saw over 300 people desperately needing medical assistance. We also just traveled out to Santo Domingo to attend to people who lost their homes in Pedernales and are being sheltered in the Covenant campgrounds. If you would like to support these efforts, you can donate here: https://www.santiagopartnership.org/give/ (Please put “Earthquake Relief” where it says Personal Message)
The smell of decaying corpses was horrible. This is taken from the town of Tarqui, just outside of Manta. One of the areas hardest hit. This section is being blocked off because all of the buildings are unstable and the whole neighborhood will have to be demolished.
In this home were 20 family members and extended family members. 7 lost their lives but 13 were able to be rescued.
It has now been almost 13 days since the devastating earthquake hit the Ecuadorian coast. Some days it seems like a lifetime ago and other times it seems like it just happened yesterday. It is probably to the point in the U.S. that the earthquake is no longer getting a lot of media attention. My parents have told me that there really hasn’t been a lot in the news since the week it happened. There was a news piece on FoxNews I am told of the ONE news anchor that came to Ecuador. ONE. I know there are many things going on in the lives of those in the U.S. The death of Prince, the birthday of Queen Elizabeth, etc, etc…
But life here doesn’t really have the capacity to have an “out” so to speak when it comes to the earthquake disaster here. Relief efforts continue whether they get new coverage or not. People mourn and grieve at the great losses they have experienced. And even if we personally have not experienced loss, we mourn with them, we lament with them at the destruction and the lives that will never be the same.
Since April 16th, the reports have said that 659 people are dead, 16,600 injured, 50 missing and about 7,000 buildings destroyed. These numbers are likely to increase.
The IPEE (National Covenant Church of Ecuador) Camp in Santo Domingo is being used as a temporary shelter for a group of people from a city that was over 80% destroyed, Pedernales. There are currently about 70 people being housed there and IPEE has coordinated a rotating schedule of people from churches in various districts from Ecuador to come and provide assistance in the form of counseling, pastoral care, recreation, job skills training, medical care and music. The goal is to have the temporary residents take ownership of the space and time there to coordinate their meals and cleaning. There is a general camp administrator and someone from the area of Service or FACE from IPEE is in charge of the overall decision making.
This week has been a time of planning and evaluating what is the best way to do long term relief efforts in an organized fashion. Below is an official letter from the President of the Covenant Church of Ecuador, Henry Burbano. Click on the link below:
HENRY BURBANO EARTHQUAKE LETTER ENGLISH (1)