After a busy first month and a half here in Ecuador, I've finally found a chance to sit down and give you all an update about whats been happening here in Quito. It's hard to know where to begin; my work here has begun quickly and I've been able to get involved in many projects. My days are never the same as they consist of visiting Colombian refugee families, helping in the bimonthly workshops held for the refugees, planning and helping in the monthly peace education workshops for kids, working on a farm north of Quito, practicing music (and hopefully giving some basic guitar lessons in the future), and planning and holding events for the youth in the community.
I've certainly learned a great deal through the experiences in my work up to this point and have been faced with challenging situations. Especially regarding the Colombian refugees, their context is complex here in Ecuador as many deal with blatant discrimination, the fear and the reality of continued persecution by Colombian armed military groups (just last week one of the ladies we regularly visit was badly beaten in the street and left with a broken vertebra), unemployment or jobs in the informal economy, being separated from family members, trauma from past experiences....and the list continues. I've enjoyed getting to know them and attempting to understand their situations through the different outreach programs that the church here has created. Our house visits allow us to get to know them on a more personal level while the workshops provide a space to create community among the Colombians and provide them with an interesting and useful presentation with topics ranging from cooking to mechanics to jewelry making to managing money to environmental responsibility. Nevertheless, creating community among Colombians is a constant challenge as many of them are fearful and suspicious of each other because of the delicate situations that they come from.
My experience working on the farm once a week with a refugee family has been a highlight up to this point as well. We are raising chickens, growing corn and other vegetables and through a recent connection with my host family, selling the figs that grow on the various trees on the farm. I'm so thankful for the opportunity to be able to work on a rural farm while living in such a large urban setting. In the near future, we plan to build a small green house to grow more vegetables and my dream is to start a compost project in order to save the organic waste that virtually everyone throws in the trash here.
I also had the opportunity to travel to the beach for New Years with my host family and take a trip to the jungle last weekend to begin coordinating a trip for a group from the US who is planning to come down for a service project in February. I've also really enjoyed exploring the city, visiting the parks, hiking in the mountains, and checking out some open air markets. Ecuador is truly a country full of natural beauty.
I'll leave it at that for the moment, if you're curious about more details, feel free to send me an email. I'm very excited about the way things have begun here and I'm looking forward to seeing what the future holds. I hope you all have been well and I wish everyone the best in 2011. Much love and peace.
PS. If you'd like to see more pictures, I have a photo album on facebook called "Vida Ecuatoriana" where I am uploading pictures.
