Christmas article reposted

In case you missed this article at Christmas time, I´ve reposted it below.  It was posted on Mennonite Mission Network´s "Beyond" website here and was also published on Mennonite World Review's website here.

In Ecuador and Colombia, as in the United States, the Christmas season is a time of celebration, joy, family gatherings, and gift-giving. People’s enthusiasm for the arrival of Christmas is sparked by the sight of Christmas decorations, the sound of villancicos (traditional Christmas songs), and the smell of typical Christmas cuisine like pristiños (fried sweet dough with honey), and higos con queso (figs with cheese). Congregations light advent candles to await with hope the birth of Jesus, and children wait excitedly for the gifts that Papa Noel will place under their Christmas tree. But while it would seem that Christmas signifies a season of joy for everyone, December’s arrival means the loneliest, hardest month of the year for others.

Over the past four years, I’ve listened to Colombian refugees in Quito, Ecuador, continually express how the Christmas season is the most difficult time of the year for them. For many refugees, Christmas means feeling the weight of being alone, far from loved ones during family gatherings and traditions. For others, it means only imagining the tastes of fried cheese balls called buñuelos, a sweet custard called natilla, and roasted pig called lechona, typical Colombian Christmas foods, while swallowing the tough reality of not even having food to eat or a table to sit around. For parents, it means not being able to give even the smallest gift to their children. And for children, it means wondering why they won´t be receiving gifts like they always have.

In my work with refugees, I´ve realized that sometimes simply creating spaces for people is a powerful way to change the human experience; spaces where people feel a sense of belonging, where they can re-create traditions and create new memories to begin to heal their wounds and trauma. Does it erase the past or bring things back to normal? Frankly, no. Much of the damages caused by war and displacement will never fully be restored, but improving the present is a worthwhile task and can give hope for the future.

This year, the team at Quito Mennonite Church’s Colombian Refugee Project, where I’ve served for the past four years through Mennonite Mission Network, decided to create a Christmas celebration space for refugees in an attempt to provide some enjoyment in the midst of tough circumstances. Add to that space a healthy-sized guest list, some Christmas decorations, a touch of Colombian Christmas music, a splash of typical Christmas foods, a pinch of games for kids, and you have yourself a recipe for what we experienced as a few hours of Christmas joy, in what otherwise would have been a bland and tasteless Christmas season for many.

We shared a delicious meal together, talked about how the natilla tasted just like Colombia, sang traditional songs together (complete with an improv band), laughed together, and learned to know each other better. The children even went home with a small gift. Together, we made the Christmas season a little bit more joyous for everyone, even if it was just for a few hours.

For the first time in four years, I saw some Christmas cheer among the faces in the crowd and heard positive comments from people who were thankful for a space to belong and celebrate. And that for me was a great Christmas gift.

We, all of us, have the opportunity to make someone’s Christmas a little brighter. So, this Christmas season, what spaces will you create? Will you decide to open your eyes to see those around you that experience Christmas as loneliness, despair and hunger? May we all be aware of those in our communities who are in need of our presence, our friendship, and our generosity, those who are waiting for us to create a space for them. But, just as loneliness, despair and hunger know no boundaries or holidays, may we, too, live each day with our eyes open to see, and our hands ready to create spaces for the children of God who have been pushed to the margins.

Life marches forward

Every now and then I send out prayer letters as part of my work with MMN.  I´ve copied my most recent prayer letter below so that those who read my blog can see it too...

Hey family, friends and supporters!

I hope this letter finds you well.  It’s been a quick few first months of 2014 and it´s hard to believe we are already in May.  As I assume most of you already know, I am engaged to my girlfriend Eliana!  We were engaged on Christmas Eve 2013 and have been looking ahead to wedding plans ever since.  We are planning to have a civil ceremony to be legally married in late May or early June and we will have a wedding celebration with our local community in Quito on July 26^th.  Once we are legally married, we will begin the long process of filing for U.S. visas for Eliana and her six year-old son Kaleth.  Eliana will also be starting English classes in June to get a head start on language learning before going to the states.  If everything works out the way we are planning, we hope to be in the states by summer 2015.

Until we leave Quito in summer 2015, I will continue working through Mennonite Mission Network with the refugee project and other church activities.  Virginia Mennonite Missions and Mennonite Central Committee have also generously committed to continue supporting me both in my work and financially, which is a huge blessing.  MCC is currently in the process of looking for a person to replace me as coordinator of the refugee project, a transition that will likely happen in November.  It will be nice to have adequate time to train my replacement and continue to help the refugee project in a supporting role.  With less formal and administrative responsibilities after stepping down as coordinator of the refugee project, I hope to be able to spend more time supporting individual refugee families, helping out with church activities, hosting visiting groups, and generally planning for our return to the states.

Recently, there have been lots of activities happening at church and in the refugee project.  On April 6^th, we formally said good-bye to our long time pastors and mentors César Moya and Patricia Urueña.  They returned to their home country Colombia after 14 years of service in Ecuador; however they will continue to work from a distance as national coordinators for the Ecuadorian Mennonite churches during all of 2014.  They will be visiting Ecuador every two months and their first visit will be for our wedding!  As we were sad to see them leave, we were also very thankful to welcome a new pastor to Quito Mennonite, Luis Tapia and his wife Jennifer Rey from Chile.  It’s been fun to get to know them and they´ve done a great job in their first few months here.   

As usual, we’ve been very busy at the refugee project.  We continue to have lots of interview each week, home visits, follow-up with families, inter-organizational meetings, small business start-ups and difficult situations that continually throw us curve-balls and challenges.  Currently, there are two refugee families whose fathers are in jail, leaving the mothers alone with several children to fend for themselves.  One of the families has been attending our church regularly for quite some time and is greatly struggling.  Rocio, the mother, is unable to provide for her 4 children as an undocumented and unemployed refugee.  I was able to visit her husband, Jair, in jail with our new pastor Luis.  It was an impacting experience to be inside a noisy, dirty, over-crowded, chaotic Ecuadorian all-male jail.  To my surprise, once inside the jail I ran into 2 other Colombian refugee men that I have worked with, whom I had no idea were imprisoned.  They were happy to see a familiar face and receive a visit since no one visits them.  It appears that 2 of the 3 men are currently struggling to wade through a racist, discriminatory and corrupt justice system that has kept them from having a fair and timely trial.  

On a more positive note, I was invited to represent the refugee project in a diverse space with representatives from different NGO´s, gov´t officials and members of civil society in order to redact a city ordinance about social inclusion of refugees and other migrant groups.  It was exciting to be a part of the first stage of brainstorming.  In the coming months we will be meeting again in order to hopefully have a draft written by October.  It’s wonderful to see the provincial gov’t interested in these kinds of legislative processes.

Those are just a few of the many things that have been happening recently in my life and in our community in Quito.  Hope it gives you a glimpse of what´s been happening!  Check out the pictures below for a better visual effect.

Please pray for the following:

-Jair and Rocio´s family.  May Rocio be able to provide for her children and may Jair be granted a fair process in order to be reunited with his family as soon as possible.

-Eliana, Kaleth and myself in our wedding/life preparations, Eliana´s English classes and preparing legal paperwork for U.S. visas.

-The process of finding my replacement as coordinator of the refugee project

-The ICAME (Mennonite Anabaptist Christian Churches of Ecuador) that is in the process of being legally recognized by the Ecuadorian state as a formal entity. 

Much love,

David Shenk

With Jair, Rocio and the youngest of their 4 children, Matías at our church x-mas
celebration before Jair was incarcerated.

The "scars" of visiting Jair in jail (at each security checkpoint there was
a different stamp or number.

A mattress/blanket kit received by many families thanks to
VMM´s alternative x-mas initiative.  Thank to VMM and all who donated!

Working in a space with other organizations, lawyers, gov't officials and members of
civil society in order to create a new provincial ordinance on social inclusion
to include refugees and other migrant groups.

Eliana, Kaleth and me with Quito Menno's new pastor, Luis and his wife Jennifer.

Spending some quality time with other Goshen grads and students who were/are
passing by/studying in Quito.

One of our engagement pictures

Some (very) fresh goat milk.  

Engagement!

Good morning from a beautiful day in Quito,

Time notoriously flies here in Quito and as are most of my blog posts, this one too is long overdue...three months to be exact...but I guess it´s never too late to post happy news.  Although this is not new news for many of you, I realize that perhaps the news hasn't arrived to some of those who read my blog.

Three months ago today, my girlfriend Eliana and I were engaged!!  It was a lovely Christmas eve and the final gift that she opened was a giant box with me inside.  For those of you who haven´t heard much about Eliana and her 6 year old son Kaleth, here is a brief paragraph that I wrote a while back about them...

"Eliana and I met at a workshop at our church in Quito and have been dating for 2.5 years here in Quito.  Eliana is from Meta, Colombia and came to Ecuador with her family as a refugee almost 7 years ago.  Kaleth is 6 years old and was born in Ecuador 7 months after Eliana arrived to Ecuador.  They've been living in Quito for the past 5 years and have been a part of the Mennonite church for the past 2 years.  Eliana was baptized in 2012 as a member of the Mennonite church.  She is caring, generous, hard-working, fun-loving, energetic and compassionate.  She is passionate about women's issues, politics, nature, nutrition and cooking, caring for others especially children, music and dance.  Eliana currently works in Quito at a copy/graphic design shop where she helps with the finances, sales and customer service.  Kaleth is energetic, friendly, intelligent, outgoing, funny and caring.  He is passionate about riding his bike, playing soccer, being outdoors, puzzles, making crafts and learning to read and write.  They are both working on learning English so that they can communicate better with all of you :)"

We are very excited to become a family and share our life together!  We are planning our wedding for July 26th in Quito with our local friends and second family at Quito Mennonite.  Following the wedding, we'll be turning in US visa paperwork so that Eliana, Kaleth and I can hopefully go to the states together by summer 2015.  We realize that many family and friends won't make it to the wedding in Quito, so we plan to have a celebrate states-side at some point.  Until going to the states, the plan is for me to continue working with MMN and the local church/refugee project.  

Here are a few pictures of the future Shenk Tejedor family!

Update and Xmas festivities

The Latest from Quito

December 2013

Hey Everyone!

Merry Christmas!  I hope this Christmas season is bringing you lots of joy.  Let me try to catch you up on what has been happening recently in my life.  The last few months have been a mix of many different enriching and fulfilling experiences as well as challenges and difficult moments.  I am very grateful to have been surrounded by so many wonderful people throughout all of these experiences.

Let´s start in October with some of the highlights.  In late October, 12 of us from Quito Mennonite Church attended a two and a half day training on trauma and self-care given by Paul Stucky from Bogotá, Colombia.  It was wonderful time of learning, sharing, reflection and rejuvenation.  Also, at the end of September and in mid-October we welcomed two refugee families that were sent by the Colombian Mennonite Church.  They are currently living in two of our rented refugee apartments and are participating actively in one of the new start-up churches in Quito.  They´ve faced many challenges in trying to adapt to a new life in Quito and are currently struggling with unemployment and sickness.  Please pray for them and the many other refugee families that are struggling to get by this Christmas season.

During the month of November, I was in the U.S. giving presentations as part of my North American Ministry.  I was able to speak at Weavers Mennonite Church, Virginia Mennonite Missions and Community Mennonite Church in Harrisonburg.  I also had the privilege of speaking to a 7^th grade class at my brother Timothy´s school in Camden, NJ and my brother Nate´s 3^rd grade class in Goshen, IN.  I felt incredibly supported in all of the presentations and was grateful for the moments to share about my experiences.  I was also able to visit lots of family and friends.  It was wonderful to see so many great people.  Thanksgiving at my Grandma´s house with lots of family was a notable highlight—needless to say, I came back to Ecuador with a few extra pounds on me.  J

December has been a busy month with lots of Christmas related activities.  We had a great Christmas Peace Education workshop with over 80 kids and lots of fun activities!  For our Christmas church service on the 22nd, I assumed the challenge of being this year’s choir director for the magnificent “Mennonite choir”.  After lots of practicing, we prepared three Christmas songs and were able to sing with different harmonies!  We also had a fun youth retreat on the 20^th and 21^st at a small retreat center outside of Quito.  We had 14 youth participate from the churches, 6 Ecuadorians and 8 Colombians, plus Wendy, Caleb Yoder and myself as sponsors.  We had a great time playing capture the flag, making a bonfire, playing games, playing soccer, competing in “A Minute to Win It” challenges and listening to an interesting presentation about women’s rights from an invited guest.  December also gave us the opportunity to do a little something special for a few refugee families from the church.  With lots of help from Wendy (the MCC volunteer working a year in Quito), the Refugee Project wrapped up special food baskets with a Christmas card to bring a little joy to families who are far from home. 

Another major activity that we’ve been working on recently is what we are calling the “Programa de Apoyo a la Economía Familiar-PAEF” or “Support Program for the Family Economy”.  It’s an initiative we are starting as part of the refugee project with hopes of being able to provide a way for families to earn an income.  As a project, we are buying school supply items and small beauty products (hair bands, mirrors, chap stick, earrings, etc) in bulk.  Those items are then put together in packets that cost $0.50 cents to make.  We will then distribute/sell the packets to families that can resell the packets on the street for a dollar and earn $0.50 per packet.  We are currently in the process of writing up the project and thinking through the policies and processes so that it will hopefully be sustainable.  The plan is to have families start to participate in early 2014.  Please pray for this program as we continue to get things ready.  We are excited to start and would be thrilled to be able to provide an income for families through this program.  

    

Other prayer requests:

-Please pray for the pastoral transition at Quito Mennonite Church.  The front running candidate to be the new pastor will be visiting Quito in January 2014.

-Please pray for the 2 new church plants in Quito.  May they continue to serve others in their respective neighborhoods and have the leadership they need to thrive.

-Please pray for the refugee families who will face hardship during this Christmas season.

Fun times with my niece, Lydia.

Speaking with the 7th grade class in Camden, NJ

Speaking at my home church CMC in Harrisonburg, VA

Speaking with my brother´s 3rd grade class in Goshen, IN

Family gathering for Thanksgiving

Peace Education workshop

Kids going home after the Peace Ed workshop

The packets that will be sold in the PAEF to generate income for families

Playing Jenga with youth at our retreat

The youth group at the retreat

Attempting to direct our church choir

Playing music at the Christmas service with Juan Camilo and Andrea Moya

Our special xmas lunch after the Christmas service

Speaking event at Community Mennonite Church

Hey everyone!

Just wanted to use this space to make a quick announcement / publicity plug if you haven't already heard.

I'm back in the states for a visit and will be having a speaking event on Friday, November 22nd at 7pm at Community Mennonite Church in Harrisonburg, VA.  Mark your calendars if you'll be in the area--I'd love to have you there.

There will be some typical Ecuadorian snacks, I'll be playing some live music on the charango and I'll be talking about our work in Quito with refugees.

It'll be an enjoyable time!

Police and Street Vendors: Reflections on an unjust scene

ENGLISH VERSION BELOW:

Me quedé indignado y triste, por no decir furioso, por los sucesos que experimenté el jueves pasado en una calle bastante transitada en mi barrio El Inca, al norte de Quito.  Aquel día salí de la iglesia en mi bicicleta rumbo a mi casa a las 6 de la tarde.  Mientras iba acercándome a una esquina donde hay varios puestos de vendedores ambulantes con sus películas, zapatos, pinchos, yogurt y queso, un camión con veinte policías uniformados frenó abruptamente.  Los policías se bajaron con rapidez y empezaron a decomisar la mercancía de los vendedores usando fuerza, violencia y hasta con un sentido extraño de satisfacción y adrenalina.  En cuestión de 20 segundos, habían quitado, botado y saqueado los zapatos, películas y pinchos de varios vendedores dignos y trabajadores de mi barrio.  En el caos de la emboscada, lo único que alcancé a hacer fue gritarles varias veces a los policías "¡dejen de quitarles su dignidad!", mientras se subían al camión y se iban.  Algunos vendedores corrieron detrás de la policía tratando de pegarles con palos.  Otros se quedaron sentados en la vereda (acera) con lágrimas en sus ojos, habiendo perdido lo único que tenían para generar un ingreso.  Los que estábamos pasando por la calle en el instante del incidente expresamos nuestra indignación y solidaridad ayudándoles a los vendedores a recoger lo que quedaba de su mercancía, ahora botada y esparcida en la calle como si fuera basura.  Me quedé parado en la esquina un rato más junto a otros que también estaban llenos de rabia por lo que habían visto.  Queríamos una respuesta; teníamos ganas de hacer algo por los vendedores; deseábamos la justicia.  Se me vinieron sentimientos de impotencia, y arrepentimiento por no haber usado mi cuerpo y mi bicicleta como una barrera entre la policía y la mercancía durante esos breves veinte segundos de saqueo.  Después de varios minutos decidí seguir el camino hacía mi casa sintiéndome tan indignado que se me vinieron las lágrimas a los ojos.  

Creo que en cualquiera otro día me hubiera afectado esa escena, pero por alguna razón en ese día en particular estos sucesos me afectaron profundamente.  Quizá porque en esa escena vi el reflejo de muchas cosas que han estado girando en mi cabeza últimamente.

En esa escena, vi el reflejo de lo que he leído en los libros sobre las víctimas de los saqueos brutales de la conquista española de Latinoamérica.

En esa escena, vi el reflejo del caso de Trayvon Martin (y muchos otros jóvenes afroamericanos), atropellado y asesinado no solamente por su asesino sino por el sistema judicial y el racismo sistematizado en Estados Unidos.

En esa escena, vi el reflejo de las historias que me cuentan mis compañeros refugiados colombianos quienes también se ganan la vida en la calle y han pasado por situaciones parecidas.  

En esa escena, vi el reflejo de la respuesta violenta y represiva de parte de la policía mexicana en las actuales manifestaciones de los maestros/as mexicanos/as. 

En esa escena, vi el reflejo de las imágenes de la brutalidad de la policía en el famoso movimiento de "Occupy Wallstreet" en las ciudades de Estados Unidos el año pasado.

En esa escena, vi el reflejo de la respuesta del gobierno estadounidense frente a las acciones de Chelsea (Bradley) Manning y otros "whistleblowers".

En esa escena, vi el reflejo de los paros campesinos en Colombia frente a las políticas neoliberales que han sido impuestas sobre ellos.

Y la lista podría continuar....

La escena a la cual fui testigo el jueves pasado fue una chispa que trajo a la superficie muchos sentimientos que había guardado tras ver tantas situaciones de injusticia tanto en las noticias como en la vida real.  El suceso del jueves pasado me hizo palpar un pedacito de los abusos de poder que causan opresión y sufrimiento diariamente en tantas partes de nuestro mundo.

Que Dios nos ayude a saber actuar a favor de los atropellados y marginados en estas situaciones y aliarnos con los ejemplos de resistencia que traen esperanza y transformación.   


ENGLISH VERSION:        

Last Thursday I experienced an incident on a busy street in my neighborhood “El Inca” in the north of Quito that left me feeling indignant, sad and furious.  That day I left the church on my bike at 6pm to head home.  As I came closer to a street corner where there are various street vendors with their movies, shoes, shish kebabs, yogurt and cheese, a truck with 20 police stopped abruptly.  The police jumped off the truck quickly and began to confiscate the vendor’s merchandise using force, violence and with a strange sense of satisfaction and adrenaline.  In a matter of twenty seconds, they had taken, thrown around and ransacked the shoes, movies and shish kebabs of the decent, hard-working street vendors of my neighborhood.  In the chaos of the ambush, the only thing I managed to do was yell at the police several times saying, “Dejen de quitarles su dignidad!” or “Stop taking away their dignity!”, as the police climbed back in the truck and drove away.  Some street vendors ran after the police trying to hit them with sticks.  Others sat on the sidewalk with tears in their eyes, having lost their only way to make an income.  Those of us who were passing by on the street during the time of the ambush expressed our indignation and solidarity by helping the vendors pick up what was left of their merchandise, which was now scattered on the street like trash.  I stayed standing on the street corner for a while longer next to the others who were also full of anger because of what they had seen.  We wanted an answer; we wanted to do something for those street vendors; we wanted justice.  Feelings of helplessness came to me, and I regretted not using my body and my bike as a barrier between the police and the merchandise during those brief twenty seconds of pillaging.  After several minutes I decided to continue on my way feeling so outraged that tears came to my eyes.   

I think on any given day that scene would have saddened me, but for some reason the incident deeply affected me on that day in particular.  Maybe it was because in that scene I saw the reflection of many things that have been spinning in my head recently. 

In that scene, I saw the reflection of what I have read in books about the victims of the brutal plundering during the Spanish conquest of Latin America.

In that scene, I saw the reflection of Trayvon Martin’s case (and many other young African Americans), run over and assassinated not only by his assassin, but by the judicial system and systematized racism in the U.S.  

In that scene, I saw the reflection of the stories that Colombian refugees tell me since they too earn a living on the street and have had similar traumatic experiences.  

In that scene, I saw the violent and repressive response of the Mexican police in the current teacher’s protests in Mexico. 

In that scene, I saw the reflection of the images of police brutality in the famous “Occupy Wallstreet” movement in different US cities last year.

In that scene, I saw the reflection of the US government’s response to the actions of Chelsea (Bradley) Manning and other "whistleblowers".

In that scene, I saw the reflection of the campesino strikes in Colombia against neoliberal policies that have been imposed on them. 

And the list could continue…

The scene that I witnessed last Thursday was a spark that brought to the surface many feelings that I have hung onto after seeing situations of injustice on the news and in everyday life.  The incident last Thursday made me tangibly feel a piece of the abuses of power that cause oppression and suffering in so many parts of our world.  

May God help us to know how to act in favor of those who have been trampled on and marginalized, and align ourselves with examples of resistance that bring hope and transformation.          

The infamous alley

Up to this point, I have dedicated this blog almost entirely to stories of working with refugees and catching you guys up on big events that happen over longer periods of time.  In this blog entry, I want to write about something completely different: my neighborhood and the alley beside my house.  CJ Hague interviewed me on his blog about life in Quito and one of the questions got me thinking about this blog entry.  So here goes the extension of my answer to CJ's question about my neighborhood.

I live in a neighborhood of middle to lower class residents with cobblestone streets and exposed cinder blocks.  Lots of friends who have come over to my apartment express concern for me because of the neighborhood in which I live.  If they come visit me in a car and park outside on the street, many constantly look down from my third floor window fearing that someone will break into their vehicle.  When I tell them that sometimes I arrive home on my bike after dark, they fear for me.  Their worries are understandable, things can happen without a doubt.  But I continue to live here and enjoy it.  I try to be careful and very aware of my surroundings.  However, nothing has ever happened to me in or around my house.  Rather, I've been robbed on a bus, in a internet cafe, and twice on busy streets during broad daylight (once in a more wealthy neighborhood and once in a more marginal neighborhood).  What that means, you be the judge.  I find it an interesting thing to reflect upon.

So onto the alley beside my house.  I live on the third and top floor of an apartment building which overlooks an alley opposite the street entrance to my apartment.  For a long time now, I've been observing the activities that happen in the alley beside my house from the small porch outside my apartment door where I come and  go everyday and lie in my hammock.  I have found it to be a surprisingly community-oriented, yet violent and precarious environment, and this is both fascinating and puzzling to observe.  During the day, adults and children play soccer, volleyball and joke around.  Every now and then, a dump truck filled with junk material shows up and people come out of their houses and work together to recycle and sort the material.  I've been woken up by the sound of break glass early in the morning only to find that the "vecinos" (a common, informal term in Ecuador to refer not just to neighbors but to almost everyone) are breaking bottles together and sorting them into sacks.  Sometimes I wake up to the sound of live music and look down into the alley at 7am or 8am and find a brass band of adults playing music together.  Other times I can't sleep because the alley holds parties that last all night (and sometimes all day).  One such time, they began a party at around 11am in the morning.  By 1:30pm, they had stopped the music briefly in order to let an ambulance take away an injured man on a stretcher.  After the ambulance left, the music started up again and didn't stop until the next day.  Every evening and late into the night (and sometimes during the day), a group of men gather by a light pole in the alley to use and sell drugs.  A few times the police have come through the alley and made arrests which sparks the residents of the alley to come out of their houses and deliberate about what to do.  A few months back, I arrived at my house in the evening and looked down into the alley to find a man physically abusing a woman while others looked on with a relaxed attitude.  I decided to bike down to the police station and tell them about it.  The police strolled up in their pickup truck, talked to the man briefly and after he reassured them that she was a family member and that everything was under control, they headed off and the abuse continued for a few more minutes.  Most recently on a Sunday afternoon while eating lunch with Eliana and Kaleth, we heard yelling and an argument in the alley.  We went to the door to find that there were about 10 men, woman, and children in a heated discussion.  Two of the men pulled out pistols and starting threatening to shoot each other.  At that point, we went inside and shut my apartment door hoping not to hear gun shots.  After a few more minutes, the scene calmed down and shortly thereafter, kids starting playing soccer again in the alley.

It's a puzzling and peculiar environment.  Sometimes I'm not sure what to make of it or what my role is or should be in some of the situations.  The alley is right beside my house, but at the same time I don't feel very connected to it, because I have another street entrance to my apartment that opens onto a street with a different environment.  Sometimes I feel like a spy looking onto a secret sub-cultural that I have a special window into, since it's a fairly secluded alley where only it's residents and some close friends enter (although from my apt you would have to put earplugs and a blindfold on not to notice everything that happens).  And I find it interesting to weigh the positives and the negatives of what I observe.  Sometimes I feel that I observe positive community building practices in the alley that we could learn from at our churches, while at the same time and among the same people, I observe destructive behaviors that upset me and should have no part in our lives.

Maybe the stark differences that I observe in the alley reflect in an obvious way the contrasts and contradictions that each one us as individuals, communities and societies carry with us.  How different are we?

7:30am: Can you see the brass band dressed in black?  

This is a huge paper miche doll that they made to light on fire for New Year's (an Ecuadorian tradition)

The looong party in it's early stages

Finding Balance in Life--catching you up on my last few months

Since I've last posted to my blog, too much has happened to put into words...this is probably because I've let 9 months slip by and 9 months of anyone's life is too much to put on paper in one blog entry.

To catch you up to speed, here's the most brief of summaries of some of what's happened during the last 9 months:

July 2012 to November 28, 2012 was spent working in Ecuador.  There was much to be done.  Many experiences with refugee families, meetings, emails, phone calls, writing reports, doing finances, home visits, workshops, discernment, stress, heavy situations.  We also planned and did a weekend retreat with the church youth group.  I also started taking Anabaptist theology classes at the Mennonite church with our pastors and I participated in a workshop with the United Nations about refugees.  

November 28, 2012 to January 4th, 2013 was spent in the U.S. giving presentations about my work in Ecuador in VA, IN, KS and spending precious, priceless time with many friends and family in VA, OH, IN, PA, NJ, D.C., KS.

January 4th, 2013 to January 19th, 2013 was spent traveling through Colombia with my good friend and excellent travel companion Benito Miller, where we were able to meet up with our good friend Jes Buller and many other great people.

January 19th-February 21st 2013 was spent getting caught up on refugee work that had piled up after being gone from Quito.  We also hosted a learning tour group from the US.

February 21st-March 4th 2013 I hosted for the third year in a row a work team from the US and Colombia.  We worked on the construction of an indigenous church in the south of Quito and visited the now completed church in Arajuno.

March 18th to 26th 2013 I traveled to Colombia with other folks from the Mennonite church in Quito and Riobamba to have Ecuador Partnership meetings and to be present at the Colombian Mennonite Churches National Assembly.  I spent a good portion of the time doing simultaneous translation which was a fun and challenging activity.


Recently, a couple topics have been churning in my head because of recent experiences.  One is self-care and learning how to stay healthy and sane in the face of so many heavy and difficult experiences.  Why is this an issue that's been difficult for me?  In counting up the numbers in the registries that I keep track of with the refugee project, I realized that during the past year I've held more than 400 interviews with refugee families and done 100 home visits.  I've heard too many terrible stories to count and seen way too many precarious living situations.  Last year as a project, we gave out between 40-50 food rations a month to 140 different families, arranged 55 appointments with a hired professional psychologist, helped 25 families start a small business, held 7 workshops with an average attendance of 50-60 refugees, maintained a refugee house where two families live along with an agricultural project, and helped more than 150 families with either rent costs, mattresses, blankets, medicine, stoves, gas tanks, shoes, clothes, school supplies and personal hygiene items.  We've also helped various refugees pay for major surgeries and health issues.  And there are many other things that can't be quantified.  It truly has been a busy and exhausting year.

At first I think I tried to suppress feelings of exhaustion and being overwhelmed, living by the common sports motto of "playing through the pain".  But similar to my experience on the soccer field where a muscle injury would continue to get worse and worse as I continued to play, I also continued to wear down and become more exhausted and overwhelmed in my work.  I've realized how important it is for me to understand my own needs and take time for myself.  This continues to be difficult but I'm working at it.  To give you a better idea of the kinds of situations that make it very easy to get absorbed in work with refugees, here's an anecdote:

A few months ago I was relaxing at home on my day off on Monday when my cell phone rang.  I answered the call and it was Carlos on the other line.  Carlos had been to our church various times and I had visited him and his family group of 11 people who lived packed into one small room.  Carlos had fled Buenaventura, Colombia a few months earlier after his work partner was killed and he was threatened by paramilitaries.  Leaving in such a hurry from Colombia and with only enough money for his bus fare, Carlos had left his wife behind with some family members.  In talking with him at church, he had expressed to me his worries about his wife still being in Colombia and possibly becoming a target of paramilitaries that continued to try to track him down.  When I answered the phone on that Monday, his fear had become a reality.  He told me that paramilitaries had found his wife, entered her house and threatened to kill her face to face if she didn't tell them where Carlos was.  Luckily, they eventually left her alone without harming her but told her that they would be coming back to get information about Carlos' whereabouts and that if she didn't give them the information, they would kill her.  Over the phone, Carlos desperately explained this situation to me and asked if I could help by sending $60 dollars to the family in Buenaventura, Colombia in order to pay for his wife's bus fare since the family had no money to send her to Ecuador.  Despite the fact that as a project, we are many times weary about these kinds of transactions because in the past money has been used for something other than it's intended purpose, the urgency of this situation merited attention.  And despite the fact that "I'm supposed to respect my day off", that thought was put on the back burner as I thought about what could happen if I didn't take action.  Believe me, it was a difficult position to be in.  I asked Carlos for his wife's cell phone number in Colombia in order to call her and verify the situation and what exactly was happening.  I called her right away using skype and spoke with her about the situation.  As Carlos had already told me, it was in fact a very urgent situation.  I decided that if I was going to help, it shouldn't wait another day and I left my house to go to the nearest Money Gram office after telling Carlos that I would send the money to Colombia as long as his wife held onto the bus ticket receipt and took it personally to the church when she arrived to Ecuador as a method for accountability.  I sent the $60 to Carlos' wife in Colombia and a few days later she arrived to our church with the bus ticket receipt.....

This situation left me reflecting about whether it's more important for me to respect my day off and not answer my phone or give priority to the need of the person on the other line.  It's a difficult balance--especially since these urgent needs don't present themselves everyday and I want to avoid the "savior" type mentality and image that can be detrimental for myself and those that I work with.  Many times I ask myself, how could the economic situation of Carlos' family have been transformed so that Carlos wouldn't have needed to depend on an outside organization to solve this urgent problem?  Many refugees, including Carlos and his wife, have been victims to circumstances beyond their control.  But given refugees current situations, how can they be empowered to rebuild their lives in order to live without the debilitating dependency on outside aid?

The other topic that's been stirring in my brain is the challenge that I've had to face in working with some refugees who are very needy, but also dishonest, manipulative, and demanding.  It's difficult to express this and by no means do I want to generalize or criticize the refugee population as a whole as often happens in Ecuadorian society, but with a select few cases, I've really been challenged with situations that have not been enjoyable.  I won't go into a lot of detail right now, but I continue to struggle to know how to respond to need despite a lack of transparency, honesty and respect.  How can we continue to walk alongside these people and work together for transformation despite these difficult circumstances?

I continue to be thankful for the opportunity that I have to explore the complexities of these issues not just in theory but in practice as well.  Without a doubt, I'm being stretched and expanded by many new experiences.  I continue to enjoy life in Quito and the adventures that unfold both in my work and play.

I'll leave it there....if you've made it this far, thanks for reading!

Visiting a refugee family that lived in Quito but was resettled to the US

Youth retreat in November

Speaking at Community Mennonite Church's youth snow camp

Meeting my new nephew Brennan!

Much needed and enjoyed time with family

Sledding in Ohio...not the most exciting hills, but after being away from 

winter for so long, anything goes.

Visiting my Grandma Salome Holsinger in Kansas

Traveling through Colombia with Benito Miller

The work group from Colombia/US

Inauguration ceremony at the Arajuno church which

the previous 3 work groups helped to build

My first 24 hours back in Quito

During the next year and a half, I might tire you out with stories.  An abundance of stories is what I have been given, they are what have made my experience unique.  These stories continue to change my life and therefore I feel that they must be told.....

After a wonderful 12 day visit to the states spent with family, friends and celebrating the marriage of Derek Swartz and Chelsea Reiff, I am now back in Quito.  I arrived on Monday evening and Tuesday it was back to work as usual.  As is normal and as I explained in my previous blog post, there were people waiting for me at the church front door when I arrived on my bike before 9am.  As is customary, I spent 5 hours that morning talking to people and doing my best to help them in their difficult situations.  However there were two encounters that I wasn't expecting to have that morning....

The fifth man that I interviewed came into my office like everyone else.  He began to explain his situation and we talked for about 10 minutes before I asked him the question, "what kind of work did you do in Colombia?".  He opened his jacket and showed me the t-shirt that he was wearing that had a picture of a clown on it and the title Ecopayaseando por la tierra (Eco-clowning around the world).  "I was a clown," he said.  My heart skipped a beat.  I recognized that clown in the picture and I recognized that title.  "I met you in Colombia," I said.  "You were at a meeting that I attended while I was on a Witness for Peace delegation.  Our group was wearing blue t-shirts and I talked with you and you gave me a free DVD of your clown show.  Do you remember me?" I asked excitedly.  "Of course!" he responded as he fell to his knees giving thanks that he had run into someone familiar.  The tone of our conversation changed after that.  We were both taken back by feelings of joy caused by the unexpected coincidence.  I had met him just one year earlier in August during the Witness for Peace trip at a community organizing meeting to help displaced people.  Since then his work with the displaced population and the local police force had gotten him into trouble.  After a car bomb went off at the police station in his hometown earlier this year and he was threatened, he was forced to leave Colombia and came to Ecuador.  Now living in a homeless shelter, he is trying to make a new life in Ecuador and we will be accompanying him.  It was an amazing coincidence.  The world seems to shrink with these experiences and the community of solidarity seems to grow, and I'm thankful for these stories.


As the clock approached 1 o'clock another man arrived to the church.  Since we still had more people waiting and all 8 interview slots had been filled, the secretary told him that he would have to return the next day because we wouldn't have time to speak with him.  Nevertheless, the man refused to leave the church.  After I finished interviewing all 8 families, I went down to the waiting area to see this man who had refused to leave.  It was a familiar face.  The man, Pablo, had come to our church 2 times before.  The first time that I met him over a year ago, he explained to me that he was suffering from testicular cancer.  His bald head from his chemo-therapies and his medical papers were proof of his sickness.  On that day (June 14 to be exact according to my journal from last year) I invited Pablo out to lunch and helped him with a bus ticket to the town where he was living about 6 hours from Quito.  Every 21 days he had to make the 6 hour bus trip from the town where he was living to Quito in order to receive free chemo treatments at a local hospital.  After that day in June when we ate lunch together, a whole year passed and we saw nothing of Pablo.  Then, about a month ago, he showed up at our church again.  His cancer had advanced.  He no longer could speak fluidly, nor could he walk without the help of a cane and even then he moved very slowly.  He had lost lots of weight and he now relied on a tube to go to the bathroom.  On that day about a month ago, I helped him again with his bus fare.  Two days ago Pablo showed up for the third (and likely the last) time at our church and refused to leave.  With tears running down his cheeks and in his stuttered speech, he delivered to me the news that the doctors had given him earlier that day: "he had only 2 weeks left to live".  His cancer had advanced to his stomach and he could no longer eat.  The 43 year-old Pablo, who appeared to be in his 60's, wept as he told me that he wasn't ready to die.  Pablo had been tortured by the FARC years earlier and had later developed testicular cancer.  He arrived to Ecuador 10 years ago and since then hasn't seen his relatives.  Although he had only been to our church 3 times, he sobbed as he expressed words of gratitude to me for having helped him and for having treated him with respect and dignity.  I cried with him.  He had come to say good-bye.  He had come to grant one last request for us to help him travel to Colombia to be with his relatives during his last days.  He had come so that we would pray for him.  With Cesar and Patricia, the pastors of Quito Mennonite and Alba, the church secretary, we anointed him with oil, laid our hands on him and prayed for Pablo.  It was a powerful moment.  After the prayer Pablo felt more at ease and we were even able to share a few smiles and laughs when Cesar and Patricia realized that they had some common friends with Pablo in Colombia.  I helped Pablo down the stairs and out to the front door.  We said good-bye one last time, hugged each other, and I helped him with one last bus fare: this time to Colombia.  I watched through the door as Pablo, with the help of his cane, slowly walked down the street and out of sight.


These are the stories that are changing my life.

A typical Tuesday morning....

As I arrive to the church on my bike at 9 a.m., there are already 2 Colombian refugee families waiting at the door to talk with me.  After welcoming them inside I head up to my office with one of the families while the other waits their turn downstairs in our makeshift waiting room in the sanctuary.  As I talk with the first family, I jot down notes about their situation: “family of 12, arrived to Ecuador 2 months ago, have been staying in a shelter since they arrived, came only with a few pairs of clothes, their son was assassinated in Colombia, all are unemployed, have been denied the refugee visa”.  The second interview follows and the scribble down these notes: “elderly couple, unemployed, live alone, behind on rent payments, sleep on bare wooden floor, were farmers in Colombia, had farm taken away by guerrillas, suffering from hunger”.  A third man arrives and shares his story: “man whose wife and 3 year old kid are still in Colombia, former cocaine trafficker since age 13, actively being persecuted in Quito for deciding to leave his job as a drug trafficker, lives in constant fear, has aspirations to move to Brazil to escape persecution”. 

It’s now 10:45am and 5 more refugee families have arrived and are waiting downstairs to talk with me.  During the course of the next 3 hours, I interview the 5 families and scribble down the following notes: “single mother of 4 small children, unemployed and suffering from serious medical problems; family of 4, children suffering severe discrimination and abuse in school from both students and teachers for being Colombian; family of 3, father needs medical attention-has various bullets lodged in his body, in need of psychological help; family of 5, father worked for a month and employer refused to pay what he owed, 2 adolescent daughters have run away from home; single father of 2 daughters, unable to pay rent, suffering from malnutrition.”

At 1:45pm I finally leave my office at the church to eat lunch at a corner restaurant.  As I sit and eat my meal in silence, I reflect over the 8 intense interviews that I had during the course of the morning.  Did I give them the correct advice?  How can I help these families resolve these situations of vulnerability?  What is the root of their problems?  How can our project be more effective for these people?

There are no easy answers nor easy solutions.  All of the families I spoke with have in some way been victims of the vicious and complex war in Colombia.  Now in Ecuador, they are part of a vulnerable population that suffers from a wide variety of severe problems.

So why do these families arrive to my office almost daily seeking help without the Mennonite church ever publically announcing that we help Colombian refugee families?  The answer that I hear personally from most refugees is that the Mennonite church offers them something that they don’t find anywhere else.  We attempt to offer an integral approach in order to aid these families during the rough periods of transition and instability that they are experiencing and through word of mouth people show up.  Of the 8 families that I interviewed in the morning, some will receive food aid, others will receive a small business grant, others will have weekly appointments with our professional psychologist, others will receive a mattress to sleep on, others will be registered to receive high quality medical treatment at a local private hospital with drastically reduced rates through an agreement with our refugee project, and others will be referred to organizations that specialize in legal advice.  All will be invited to our monthly workshops, all will be invited to participate in our church community and have a support system, all will be treated with dignity as human beings in need and all will be accompanied in solidarity.

Coordinating this project, as you might imagine, is a difficult experience.  Nevertheless, it has allowed me to open my eyes to the real suffering that war, inequality, discrimination and violence cause on a daily basis.  It is allowing me to grow in wisdom, compassion and solidarity.  But more importantly the humble effort of our project is allowing others to voice their suffering, recuperate from trauma, confront the ugly face of injustice, have food on their table, recover from medical problems, learn values of peace and respect, and begin a new life.  It’s a joy to be involved in this process and feel that I’ve earned the trust and respect of many refugees who have given me the undeserved name of “Doctor David” (something that makes me chuckle yet feel honored).

 

I’m excited to continue in this role during the next year and a half here in Quito….which reminds me, if you haven’t heard the news yet and you’ve read this far, I’ve decided to stay one more year here in Ecuador!  This means that I’ll be here until November of 2013.  I’ll be sending out a letter soon with more details so stay tuned.  Hope everyone is well, chao!

Here are a few pictures from a few recent activities:

Mini Goshen reunion with Joe Hartman and CJ Hague

A recent hike with some of the youth group

Enjoying the Colombia vs. Ecuador World Cup
qualifier game with the Moya family

Awesome visit to the mountain "Antisana" with
an elevation of around 18,800 feet

The most recent refugee workshop this past Saturday
with an attendance of 35 adults and 15 children.

In the refugee workshop working with the topic "Overcoming Resentment Caused by the Current Situation in Ecuador"

Playing some music with Cesar and Daniel Moya for
 the Father's Day celebration at church