Day 12 - Minga & Misa

Today was our minga day. Minga means "work gang" in Quecha, a native language in Ecuador. The families who participate at the Working Boys Center all agree to help each other with building projects at their homes. Because everyone works 6 days a week, Sunday is always "minga day".

We met Hugo this morning at 7:30 am. He took us to a neighborhood called, Pusilí on a city bus. When we arrived at their front gate, Hugo announced that only 4 of us would be working there, the others would go to another location. So, I asked for volunteers - Justin, Reece, Nora and I stayed at that house, and the others went with Maria to the other location. (Maria will blog about her project).

Some context - Hugo (works at the gate of CMT#2) and is married to Luz, they are the parents of Maria, Carmen, Juan and Jose. Maria is Rodolfo Chin's wife (Rodolfo works at CMT#2 so always gives us the tour of CMT#2 and the shops. Carmen is a sister of Maria, not married and without children. Juan was with Maria's group and he is married to Marisol (who works in the furniture shop, Muebles y Mas at CMT#2) and they have two little girls. The kids with Maria were with Juan and Marisol helping them clear their lot in order to build their own house in the future. Jose and his fiancé (who's name I don't remember) were with us, along with Carmen.

 Our project was to move the pile of broken bricks, rocks and debris, to next to the wall. The kids jumped right in and were amazing.

 Here's the pile moved. The other part of our job was to shovel dirt and gravel into a bag. The bag was lifted to the platform and Jose and his fiancé were sifting it with a homemade sifter in order to separate the gravel from the sand. The sand would be used later to make cement for a building project that the family would do later.

 Here they are sifting the dirt.

 Jose had attended the Center and is now an automechanic. He works in a shop Monday - Friday, but also does work for neighbors and friends in his garage. (His brother, Juan also works with him).

 Here they are at the end of the project. The dog, an American Akida, named Chestnut was really friendly.

 Here's the group with Carmen (in pink) and Jose's fiancé.

 And here's the group with Jose.

They were the sweetest family and I had a great time practicing my Spanish with them. Jose and Carmen wanted to know all about life in the United States. They asked me about politics (Donald Trump & Hilary Clinton) and told me about how it's an obligation to vote in Ecuador. They asked about education and couldn't believe that our kids were not already studying for their careers. They asked about wages and the costs of cars and other items, like iPhones. They also asked about American music, artists and bands and what we liked. We talked about food, they showed us their guinea pigs (that they raise for food) and they had a cute dog that we played with (photo above).

When it was almost the end of the project, Carmen sent Jose and his fiancé to the store where they bought ham, bread, cheese and Coca-Cola for us. They made sandwiches for us and brought us Coke. Later, Carmen brought out a bowl of choclo (corn) with queso (cheese) which was delicious.

At the end of our project, Jose called his brother, Juan, to tell him to bring the others back to the house. They rejoined us and we rode the bus back to CMT#2 with Juan.

We all needed a shower when we returned. Some took a nap and others play games with others. At 4:30 pm, we walked with the group of girls from Xavier High School in Phoenix and boys from St. Peter's Prep to mass at Divino Niño Church in Cotocollao. It's about a 20 minute uphill walk. Mass was lovely, all in Spanish, of course, but lively and participatory. The Church is Franciscan and there is a real spirit of community and participation there, and it was packed. They also offer free medical care for all those in the community who need it.

Today from our reflections the group observed the following:

• the people we are serving are so happy with what they have, even though it is so little.
• if you want to get something done here, you have it do it yourself
• in the U.S. there are fewer emotional connections with people because we are more focused on material goods
• there are strong communal and family bonds here and people are willing to help others do things and accomplish their goals. 

Maria and I challenged the group to think of ways that they can promote the mission of both Damien House and the Working Boys Center when they return home. 

We have also given them the assignment to write a reflection paper (1-2 pages) about their experiences here. These papers will be due July 12th and will be used to share about our trip through the St. Matthias and St. Pius bulletins and other venues.