Decision Time?

Dear Friends,

This time last year I was discerning about coming down here, my how time flies and how things can change in a year. I have received quite a few emails from future RDCers and I know how hard the decision is. In true ignation fashion, the best advice I can offer is to imagine yourself here, pray on that, go through a whole day here, what do you see? what do you do? HOW DO YOU FEEL? Peace? Anxiety? Pain? Misery? Happiness? Joy? All of the above?

Having trouble imagining a place you´ve never been? Let me see if I can help...

Picture youself here among the people, the mud, the unpaved road, the malnourished, dirty, abused children...see yourself living in community, working out problems, laughing harder than you´ve ever laughed, crying together, giving up your independance...loving it, hating it...never wanting to go home, being homesick....reflecting on the face of Christ in yourself and others...being moved at mass, leading a retreat group, dealing with misunderstanding from home, being sicker than you´ve ever been, being joyful....think about everything, picture youself here, really do it, and then tell yourself how you feel...Pretend you´ve said yes, go through the hole day as if you´ve accepted, how do you feel? Pretend you´ve said no, go through the next day like you´re not coming down here, how do you feel?? Listen to your heart, that´s all we can do.

Life is precious, and life is short. Make decisions, stick with them, and no matter what, never give up the good fight. Whether you are applying to RDC or graduate school or the working world, we´re all fighting for the same thing: survival, whether it be our own or someone elses, this is the good fight. It´s an uphill battle some days, but it´s worth sticking with, if we don´t, then what the heck are we doing here and why?

Good luck,
Peace.

Emily

Buenas!

Hope everyone who is reading this finds themselves doing well and keeping warm in the cold January weather. We have no trouble doing that here in the scorching heat that January has brought Ecuador, so no need to worry about us! Despite the sun and the invasion of the grillos, everything is rolling along just fine here in Duran. Yesterday I finished my Mundo class and was sad to say good-bye to my students, especially since some of them will not be returning to Nuevo Mundo next year. But the summer vacation will be a nice time to work on new projects and have a little bit of a change of pace. I will be going out every day to Manos Abiertas, our afterschool program in 28 de agosto, with Juanito, Bridget, and Marissa, and I am really excited to be able to be there with the kids every day. Since the kids are out of school, that means no homework, so we decided to change the format of the program for the summer. In place of the hour of homework time that we originally had, we have planned several subjects that we will be teaching the kids....geography, Spanish grammar, and English. Although we have only had three days of the ´new manos´ the kids seem really excited and are definitely into the new projects. I am excited to see their progress, especially in geography, and eager to see them learning that the world is a huge place with lots of different cultures, people, and opportunities. Because most of them do not have the resources to travel, it is easy for them to lose sight of the fact that the world is so huge. But hopefully, with Bridget´s hard work on the geography lessons, their eyes will be opened to new places and new possibilities.

During the summer, I will also be spending time at the Hansen´s hospital in the afternoons. Last weekend, a friend of Sr. Annie´s sponsored a huge party for the patients....complete with a huge lunch, drinks, ice cream, soccer and volleyball games, and of course, dancing! It was an awesome party and a great oppotunity for the patients to have fun outside of the hospital. They are still talking about how much fun they had, so I think it was a huge success.

Take care everyone. You, as always, will be in our prayers.

Chelsea

arbolito...alive and kicking

Well hello and welcome back to the blog. Things on the island (aka arbolito) have been going pretty well lately and a lot has happened since our last blog. I'll try to hit the high points for you.

In Semillas news, the kids have finished their school year and are now all coming to Semillas without homework. So now we are able to prepare our own lessons and teach the kids lots of fun things. However exciting that might sound, keep in mind that this is around 100 kids daily who just got off school for summer break. And if you can remember back to when you were little, learning the geography of Ecuador probably wasn't on your list of things to do once school was out. It's going pretty well so far though, and we and the Ecuadorian helpers have been working together to come up with more ideas on how and what to teach the kids.

Classes at Mundo have officially ended and we are now in the midst of juntas (meetings) and turning in grades and materials. It'll be nice to have a change of pace from Mundo, but I'll miss my English class too.

Back in Arbolito, plans are in the works to teach literacy classes to neighborhood kids that have trouble reading. Three of us will be doing so in the Semillas room in the morning with kids from Victor Murillo and Angel Padilla. Another three will be doing a similar activity in 'sector cuatro', an area of Arbolito that is even less developed than where our house and the tech school are. It will be a new adventure for us and we're very excited to see where it will go.

And lastly, Arbolito successfully hosted its first ever retreat group! Yours truly was the group leader and the group came to us from St. Bonaventure in New York. Eight bright eyed youngsters and two adult leaders spent nine days learning and experiencing what it is like to live in Durán. The experience was a complete success and the community here is waiting with anticipation the arrival of the next group in February.

So now you know. And remember kids, knowing is half the battle. Jasón out.