Hi! It´s been a hectic first month or so, but my fellow volunteers and I are finally settling into the routine of life here, our worksites, and the larger community. I´m finally starting to feel really at home here, and I´m meeting new people every day. I was pretty sick this past week with a nasty case of strep that kept me home basically all week, but I went to the doctor last Monday and have been taking medication and I´m proud to say that I am at 96% and charging.
For this blog I´m going to try my best to describe the completely different world that I have become a part of. I´m going to start by describing the volunteer organization that I´m working for, the community that I´m living in, and the work that I´m doing. I hope it isn´t too much like an essay, I´ll be sure to include more stories and fun stuff (and hopefully pictures) in my next post :)
So... the volunteer program that I´m participating in is called Rostro de Cristo (Face of Christ). It has sites in the neighborhoods of El Arbolito in Durán, Ecuador, and in Monte Sinaí in Guayaquil, Ecuador (which is where I am). It was founded by Fr. Jim Ronan in 1988.
The goal of the program is to be with the people of Ecuador and work with them in order to both see the face of Christ in them and be the face of Christ in their lives. We do volunteer work in schools and nonprofits, but our main work is to build relationships with our neighbors and be present in accompanying the community in their lives. We live by 5 pillars: Spirituality, Service, Community, Simplicity, and Hospitality.
Rostro de Cristo has two main programs: a year-long volunteer program (what I´m doing), and a short term immersion retreat program which is led by the year-long volunteers. Throughout the year, we will host a number of groups from high schools and colleges in the U.S. I will be the volunteer leader for two of the groups that come to Monte Sinaí (the first one is in November).
The neighborhood that I´m living in, Monte Sinaí, is an invasion community on the north side of Guayaquil which has only been around for about seven years. It began when a private land owner named Marco Solis began selling plots of his land, which was supposed to be for agriculture, to families who wanted to live near the city. However, the government doesn´t consider the land legal for habitation, so even though the people living here bought their land from Solis and have documentation to prove it, they are considered to be living on it illegally in the government´s eyes. Some of my community mates work in a nonprofit called Hogar de Cristo in the community organizing office, which helps people from the community start up groups with the goal of trying to legalize their land.
There are an estimated 50,000 people living in Monte Sinaí.
This neighborhood is definitely in the early stages of development: very few of the roads are paved, and many families are living in temporary cane houses until they can afford to build brick houses. The main street near my house has a lot of small shops and businesses, including bakeries, barber shops, video stores, and cybers. They are run by people who live right here in Monte Sinaí, and we do all of our grocery shopping right here so we can support our neighbors.
My primary work placement is a school called San Felipe Neri, which is just a few blocks away from my house. It is run by a small community of Columbian nuns from the order of San Felipe Neri: Madre Luceli, Madre Mayra, and Sofía the novice (who´s actually from Perú). It was only started in 2009 and it has been growing steadily each year. I am teaching English to the 2nd-5th grade classes- each section has two classes with me a week. The kids are super sweet and I get about a hundred hugs a day. When I´m not teaching English or lesson planning, I am hanging out with kids before and after school and during recess, often reading books to them. Most days after school, Greg (my community mate who is teaching computer classes at San Felipe) and I stay for lunch with the Madres, which is wonderful. They are really sweet and funny women, and they put so much hard work into bringing good education to the kids of this developing community in Ecuador.
As a community of Rostro de Cristo in Monte Sinaí, our second placement is being involved in the parish community, which is called Parroquia Bautismo de Jesús. It has three chapels: Santa Teresa, San Felipe (which is also the school where I work), and Corpus Cristi. The priest in charge of the parish, Padre John, is from Ireland (although he is currently traveling). He´s really great and very dedicated to this community. It´s definitely very interesting to hear mass in Spanish with a very strong Irish brogue.
A lot of our involvement has been going to rosary and youth group events, which is a lot of fun. I´ve also gotten involved with the music ministry a bit. A lot of the kids from youth group play instruments or sing at mass, and I´ve really enjoyed learning the music they sing at mass. So far I´ve sung at two masses, and it´s gone surprisingly well.
That´s about all for today. Hopefully it gives you a pretty good idea of where I am and what I´m doing. If you want to talk to me, feel free to email me at heschleif@gmail.com. I check my email a few times a week and I´d love to hear from you.
I thought I´d end with a comparison list because I really like lists for some weird reason.
Things that are hard to get used to:
- Roosters crowing, dogs barking, music playing, etc.- all night long
- Cold showers
- Not having conveniences like a dishwasher, microwave, computer/internet in the house, having my own phone, etc.
- Dust and dirt everywhere
- Ecua-time (it´s totally acceptable to show up to something a half hour or more late to something)
- Wearing the same polo shirt every day
- Welcoming and friendly neighbors
- Veggies and fruit bought fresh for every meal
- Having a dog for the first time! We have a guard dog named Clubber- he´s a rottweiler- and he´s super sweet.
- The fun music at mass (Fun fact- a lot of their songs use the tunes of songs I already knew, such as the Battle Hymn of the Republic. My favorite is the tune for the Our Father which they sing every week: The Sound of Silence by Simon and Garfunkel)
- The view of the mountains in the distance as I walk to San Felipe every morning
- Kids everywhere always giving me hugs!
- Everyone is always listening to awesome, random retro music (pretty much everyone loves Michael Jackson)
- Empanadas, chifles, patacones, and many other fun Ecuadorian foods
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