A Mother's Love, by Maria

Today we had the privilege of visiting the homes of four families that are a part of CMT!  Four beautiful women – Mother’s entrusted with children to raise, a roof to keep over their heads, faith to instill, and the opportunity for an education to be given.  Four Mother’s filled with faith in God, hope in all the world has to offer and infinite love for her children.

Boarding the CMT bus, we sat and quietly starred at the roads and surrounding areas; paver clad streets poured into blacktop streets that led to dirt roads.  City buses sped by to keep on schedule, children walked briskly to catch a bus or walk through the gate of their school, parents on their way to work, mom’s carrying small children.  Store fronts were opening for the day, dogs were scavenging for food, other dogs protected their human’s property, women washed laundry, men turned the soil, music played, garbage was collected, all in a typical day.  Not so typical for us were the number of dogs roaming the streets, the burning garbage in front of a house on the sidewalk – just feet from our bus – glass shards cemented onto the tops of bricks to protect property.  Soccer fields offered a place for competition and recreation; neighborhood churches a place to gather in faith, community and support.  Our group stood out and was greeted with Buenos Dias, Hola, and smiles of welcome!

Home #1 was located on a paved street, the landlord of the multi level home owned a first floor store front.  We were greeted by a mom and entered the rented three room apartment on the first floor; a good size kitchen with a table, stove, refrigerator, running water, even a washing machine – the mom was using candle light to conserve the electricity that cost $100 per month.  Even in candle light, the clean and neat rooms sparkled, they shared the bathroom upstairs.  The two bedrooms slept the mom and her 5 children.  There was no evidence of a man in the home.  The mom was grateful and filled with joy, we thanked her for welcoming us to her home.  This family will be joining the CMT family of families in September.

Home #2 was located on a paved street, we were led through the garage to a small room where we were greeted by the mom of a five year old (possibly a baby too).
The room had two beds and a small kitchenette.  They shared a bathroom with the landlord upstairs.  The mom apologized that she is so poor.  She was aged by her circumstances.  We thanked her for welcoming our group.

Home #3 was located further up the mountain on a dirt road.  We were welcomed  with a warm embrace by a recently bathed mom (wet hair) - whose husband had died and necessitated her moving to her parent’s property with her six children.  The family constructed a shelter against the property fence where they slept in two double size beds.  The parent’s owned their property – a four room house with an indoor bathroom and an outdoor enclosed kitchen.  They had two dogs, chickens, and guinea pigs.  The mom had sad eyes.  She told us she cooked food to sell on the street and on the bus.  We hugged good bye and thanked one another.

Home #4 was on a paved street, the home was rented by a mom from the center who road the bus with us on the home tour.  She went in ahead to open up and greeted us with a shy smile.  The rented home was a shack with a shoddy roof.  We only saw the room with a bed and a small, ill equipped kitchen.  She pointed to another room behind the kitchen area.  The outdoor bathroom was shared with the landlord’s home.  The roof and the thought of the many rainy months made an impression on our group.  We learned today that the average temperature in Quito is 57 degrees and there are two seasons – wet from October to May and dry from June to September = summer.  The mom returned to the bus with us boarding last and sat in the back.

A mother’s love and intrinsic desire to give her children all they need will prevail with the assistance and support of the community that is CMT a Family of Families.