Tour of CMT #2 & Serving Lunch

We bagan the day today with our Orientation by Madre Miguel, Judy Conway (Madre's sister) and Kelly Jessup (Madre's great-niece) at 8:30 am. They shared all the house rules with us, plus the schedule. Padre Juan would normally join us for the Orientation, but he had a dental apppointment at 6am this morning. Madre Miguel also shared some of the history of the Working Boys Center. Padre arrived in Ecuador in 1961 to Chimborazo. He was working with the young men there, but his Superior of the Jesuits was unsatisfied with the mission because he didn't belief that it had legs. Since Padre was spending time in Quito, his Superior encouraged him to study the situation with the street boys in Quito. At first, he was not in favor of working with street boys because of his experience growing up in the Bronx with rebels and holligans. But once he began to get to know them, he began to see them as working boys and felt connected to them because he himself had been a working boy. 

The first thing he started to do was offer basic education, like reading and writing. The superior of the Jesuits gave Padre Juan the attic of La Compañia (the Jesuit Church we will visit in a few days). He did what he could in the space for about 10 years. During that time, he asked for help, and Madre Miguel's community (the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary - BVM's) sent her to help in 1967. By that time, they were offering three meals a day, basic education, and daily baths for the boys. However, they soon recognized that in order to truly help, they would need to minister to the entire family.

Padre Juan, having a builders mind, got a donation of a few thousand dollars and bought a lot in downtown Quito and built the Center #1. They began offering vocational training programs and education for the entire family. We'll find out more as the days go on.

At 8:30 am this morning, we met Rodolfo for our tour of Center #2, where we are living. Center #2 is the largest of the three facilities and where the volunteer house is located. We visited the Beauty Salon, the Restuarant, Bakery and Furniture store. 

All the businesses are open to the public and are where the students are trained. They receive 3 years of training then they get jobs in other shops in the community. Then we visited the Rincon de Arte - the girls study business skills there - they learn Microsoft programs, how to sell things, English skills, etc. There is also an auto mechanics program, carpentary shop, metal shop, and sewing shop. 

We also visited the school - there are 6 grades, then the young people choose a vocational training program to do. Betty in the library has degrees in library and information. She offers classes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday for the children to learn how to use the library and find information. And during the evenings there are literacy classes for the adults.

After our tour, we went into the large dining room to dish out the soup and juice the would feed the entire population of the center - about 300 children, teenagers and adults. 

After the soup and juice was set out, we went to Mass. Amazingly, Padre Juan was still able to say Mass for the community. During Mass, Padre Juan asks for a show of hands so that he consecrates the correct amount of hosts (since there's no tabernacle). I forgot about this so forgot to cue the kids about it! 

After Mass was over, Mark and I worked with some students - Cristoba & Nicole to hand out the bowls of soup and plates of rice and potato salad. The others in the group worked with Ecuadorian volunteers dishing out the rice and potato salad. After all the center members were served, the kids got their lunch and ate. 

We have free time now, until 4:30 pm when we'll go to the Day Care Center and help with the children.