Saludos desde Duran!!

Things down in Antonio Jose de Sucre neighborhood are rolling right along....a few things changing but many remaining the same. As part of Marianita´s (mayor of Duran) long obra of improvements around the city, our streets are looking like they are getting closer to getting pavement! This means that there have been bulldozers building up and leveling the dirt on the road to make it suitable for paving. This is exciting news in part (less mud and mosquitos once the rainy season comes!) but also brings along some problems because it means that many houses in our neighborhood are now lower than street level, and so when the water comes it will run off the road and flood some of our neighbors´ houses. Thus those that have dirt floors in their houses have had to bring in dirt to raise the inside of their homes a couple of feet so that they will not be in standing water once the rainy season hits. Our driveway is also in the same situation, so we have had to build it up in order to not face the floods in a few months. Besides these changes, many things remain the same in the AJS community. For instance, our neighbor Freddy is still always out in his hammock, ready to chat when we walk by, Gabriel is still totally welcoming and ready to greet any visitors with Pepsi and Coco cookies, and Carmen (who owns a store we always buy from) is still saying ´ya niña´ after every transaction.

A couple of weeks ago, AJS also had its fourth retreat group since us new volunteers have been here, but its first that we newbies have actually had to lead....a group of 14 from Villanova University. I had the opportunity to lead this great group of students from Philadelphia and had a wonderful time spending the week with them. The most amazing thing was being able to see Duran again as if it were the first time. After being here for just a short time, all of the poverty and suffering that we see on a daily basis had begun to feel normal, and the inital shock that we all had when we arrived had been taken away from me, and I imagine from other volunteers as well. However, by leading around the retreat group and visiting all of the sites in Duran where we work, it was shocking to (re)confront all of the injustices, all of the suffering, and all of the need that is here with us every day. I was able to see it all again through the eyes of a retreatant and experience with them the joys and also the struggles of being here with the people. It was a very moving week and am grateful to have been reminded that we have to constantly fight against the feeling of complacency throughout this entire year.

This past weekend, we were all refreshened by a retreat that we took to Playas, the beach town nearest to Guayaquil. It was a great weekend to re-focus on our mission, both collective and personal, for coming to Ecuador, and also a chance to build community as an entire volunteer group. And between the sessions, we had time to hang out at the beach...which was amazing! The waves were huge, the water was warm, and the sun was hot...a perfect combination for sunburns and a near-drowning for Juanito! But we had all made it back safe and sound by Sunday night with renewed spirits for continuing with and improving our work here.

It is incredible to think that as I write this, we have already been in Duran for nearly three months. Time is passing so quickly, yet at the same time, it seems like ages ago when we first got off the plane in Guayaquil to begin our year long adventure. So many different people and different moments have touched our lives thus far, and I look forward to many more in the months to come. Take care and you will be in our prayers.

Con cariño,
Chelsea Nicholls

Antonio Jose de Sucre Update !

Greetings from the Antonio Jose de Sucre Community. Again thank you for reading our updated postings and many blessings to all. My emotions in Duran have been nothing but unsteady. The challenges that I face are ones that are uniquely composed of unforeseen events. This means that there is not one day that is predictable and because they are unpredictable the struggles trigger other hidden areas of thoughts that I never knew existed. For this I am most grateful. This totals to a complete novice year.

In my primary service location I am abundantly enriched by the students and parents in the surrounding 28 de Agosto sector. As an English teacher I am constantly reminded that it is not about how or what I teach but rather the simple joy of being in the presence of utter smiles, chants and innocent laughter. This is what sets my day and allows me to see the Face of Christ through each of my children. My personal struggles lies in the communal aspect of my experience because it is very much like living in front of a mirror. I share a living space with five intelligent women whom I care for dearly. These women make me aware of how I am as an individual but most importantly gently allow me to reinforce the areas of my life that need remodeling.
I have also picked up playing the guitar and enjoy staying up late at night chatting, listening to music or reading a book.

Until you read this website again …..TALK TO YOU SOON….

In Christ, Jon

Arbolito Update!

Greetings from Arbolito! Things are moving along, especially the time, and it seems that all of us are keeping quite busy in all of our various work sites.
Semillas is going well, and it has been very inspiring to see how much ¨Semillas pride¨has been worked up over the past month or so. It has been commented by Conor, one of its main coordinators that we are beginning ¨to feel like a family.¨ This includes many dedicated Ecuadorian helpers. We are also trying to slowly but surely empower some of the older kids to take leadership roles within the program. We had the first Semillas parent´s meeting a couple of weeks ago, and it created a great opportunity for us to directly communicate with families about what our goals are in the program, and how they can reinforce the same values in the home as well. Watch out for many more future happenings in Semillas this year!!
Teaching reading at Victor Murillo (the local public elementary school) has been quite an experience. I find myself getting frustrated at times, especially as it is not always easy to deal with all the discipline issues that present themselves in the classroom. The way that the students are use to learning in a class of 60-70 kids truly shows through in the form that they approach education. By God´s grace, I somehow find something that keeps me going back, trusting in a process that I cannot even fully see or imagine at this point.
All the women in the Arbolito house had the beginnings of an Arbolito women´s group begin this weekend. Some women from the community and us volunteers met with a woman from Antonio Jose de Sucre who has a women´s center over there. She was able to provide us with some great foundational information into getting such a group started. The women that we had present seem very committed to it, as there is a great need for it in this community. I am really excited to see how this group will take form this year.
We will be retreating this weekend so that we can re-center ourselves as to what our mission and purpose is here in this place...especially as the Face of Christ. For me personally, I think it comes at a perfect timing.

Please keep us in your prayers...that we might continue to discern and seek God´s greater glory in all of our experiences here in this year.

Much Duran Love,
Elena

Arbolito checking in...

Greetings! Here's the latest from Arbolito.

First of all, on Saturday, Ecuador qualified for the World Cup! Now this may not be big news back home, but here it is huge! The whole country was celebrating and everyone is super excited. One reporter on tv said that these 11 players have given happiness to an entire nation that the government, due to its corruptness, never could. The statement is kind of depressing, but everyone here holds a lot of pride in their country and all are very excited about the World Cup. The phrase 'si se pudo' basically means 'We did it!' and it has been all over the place since Saturday.

Saturday was a really big day for me personally too, as I was the caballero in the quinceañera of a friend of mine here. So now to explain what that means, a quinceañera is kind of like a Sweet 16 party for a girl, except here the custom is when a girl turns 15. The parties can be very formal and depending on the part of Latin America. Similar to a wedding, the birthday girl has a caballero (gentleman or date) and can also have damas (similar to bridesmaids) who would have their own caballeros (gentlemen). In this particular party, there were no damas, only the birthday girl and myself (the caballero). This particular quinceañera was fairly informal and my main responsability was to dance the waltz with the birthday girl in front of her family and friends (around 60 people). The dance went off perfectly as did the rest of the party. The whole experience was a blast and the rest of my community was there to share it with me. And in true Latin spirit, the party lasted until about 6:30 the next morning, although I only stayed until about 4:30 (party-pooper).

In other news, construction is underway on our retreat house now and is progressing nicely. Hopefully that should finish up around November in plenty of time for our first retreat group in Arbolito in January. Also, I have started doing some physics tutoring/teaching at the high school I work at. I hold class four hours a week and also try to sit in on some of the students' physics classes, but everything is in Spanish! Teaching in Spanish has been a challenge, but it is definitely helping my language skills. I have also started tutoring some neighborhood friends in math and physics a couple of times a week. In addition, I am still spending time at the Hansen's disease hospital and getting to know lots of people in the neighborhood.

So, if you want to know what the weather here is like, all I can say is it is hot, and only gets hotter. Most days it gets to about 33 °C in the afternoon, roughly 90 °F. The strange part is that it doesn't even seem that hot any more. Currently, we're in the dry season and it hasn't rained once since I've been here. Starting in December, we will enter the rainy season (Winter) where it rains pretty hard every night and the temperature gets even hotter. I've been told that the mud is just out of control, but for now everything is just dusty.

In Semillas de Mostaza news, we've been having record setting days. Last week we had around 90 kids show up for an hour of homework, an hour of recess, and free bread, bananas, and water. Also, October 12th was Dia de la Raza and we marched 18 of our 'semillas' down main street in Duran during the parade. We marched behind the students from the tech school. It all went off super-chevere and the kids had a blast singing and marching down the street.

That's all the news I can think of for now. I hope all is well with you and yours. Peace.

Jason

Two Months Already?

You know that you are starting to feel more at home in Duran when...
...your once (semi)puntual self shows up a lil late to almost everything...
...a meal isn´t a real meal without a healthy heaping of rice...
...you find the word, "chevere" seeping into both you Spanish and English conversations...
...it takes you an hour and a half to walk a down your street to the corner store because of all the
neighbors that you stop and talk to...

And so it goes here in Ecuador, our first two months proving to be a fascinating yet challenging transition with only a few minor stomach problems to report (speaking of which, our stomachs are still full, thanks to the generosity of the board of directors who visited us last week...thank you!!!). We have jumped into our job sites at local public schools, Nuevo Mundo, the Padre Damien hosptial, after-school programs and more...all this to the tune of the Reggeaton that is blasted from almost every bus and house. Gotta love that Daddy Yankee!!! But the most significant developments have not occurred at the work sites, but in our very own nieghborhoods. Duran is really beginning to feel like home. Not only can we now put names to the faces we see when walking down the street, but conversations are much deeper, smiles more heartfelt. Now if only my spanish could cooperate with me more! Thank the Lord for the patience of those who listen to my attempts at the spanish language.
The Antonio Jose de Sucre (AJS) community is about to welcome our first retreat group of the "005-2006 year. Villanova will be spending a week with us starting on Saturday, with our own Chelsea Nichols at the helm. Bring em on! And a happy birthday to Keri, who celebrated her 22nd birthday this Tuesday.
And now for some random news...many of us are still trying to learn the guitar...still attempting to learn how to cook from scratch...and what started as a few people meeting together to run has flowered into quite a team: almost nine people showed up last weekend to run the back road in Arbolito (the one by the Pedregal, for those who know the area), half of those being Ecuadorian. If we keep this up, a team T-shirt and official team name is sure to follow. Updates to come!
Well that is about all the news from south of the equator...take care and God bless!!!

--Jackie Heap