Today, we had the unique opportunity to visit a neighborhood which is about 1 hour outside of Guayaquil called, El Rincon. There are about 300 people living in this village which has no running water, no wifi signal, no paved roads and little electricity. El Rincon, despite the primitiveness, was beautiful.
Here is what the countryside looked like.
This community is connected with the Fundacion because there is a high rate of Hansen's disease patients living there. The community is made up of rice farmers. Rice is grown in stagnant water. In order to plant the rice, men stay in the water in more than knee high water. Because of their weakened immune systems due to poor nutrition and lack of rest, Hansen's disease spreads in the community rapidly. The connected between Damien House and this community is through a woman named, Teresita. She is the mother of four. She and three of her children have Hansen's disease. Once diagnosed, she became an advocate for the community and has worked with Germania and Sr. Annie to get doctors to come to the community and regular medical care for her neighbors. Women are mostly confined to their homes, but Teresita's husband has allowed her to become a leader in the community. We were welcomed by her, her children and grandchildren and neighbors.
We've never visited this community before. Above is an example of a typical home in this neighborhood. The blue drums are used for water. A water truck comes by once a week to deliver potable water which is used for bathing, cooking and cleaning. There were tons of animals - dogs, pigs, chickens, turkey's and ducks roaming freely.
This community has a small school with three classrooms. There are about 60 children who attend the school from age three to 7th level (which is about age 9). After that, if the family can afford it, the children can go to the collegio (high school), but few, if any, will go to universidad (college). The school is kept nice and clean by the families whose children attend.
After seeing the school, one of Teresita's sister-in-laws welcomed us into her home and made us empanadas. They were super yummy and different than any empanada I had every eaten.
Following our treat, the community invited our boys to the soccer field to play a game against the local jovenes (young men). Below is Maria walking with Teresita.
Upon our arrival back at the Fundacion, we had lunch - fried fish, rice, lentils and salad with patacones. Following lunch, the boys cleaned the fans in the women's and men's buildings while Maria and I helped the ladies with their sewing project.
Nathan will be returning to Philadelphia (his home town) on July 4th. Following that, he will be doing 3 mission co-op appeals for Sr. Annie. The first in Fort Wayne, Indiana, next San Diego, then in Saratoga on August 18-19. Sr. Annie will still not be able to travel so Nathan has agreed to take these dates as she had already agreed to speak in these parishes. (Carmella Huser, Brendan P.'s grandmother will also be speaking in Saratoga). I woud love for our group to visit Nathan during the weekend of August 18-19 and support Carmella! I will organize this when we get home!
Mercedes and Ester sewing.
Because of these speaking engagements, Nathan is planning to take these butterflies with him. The ladies asked for help making these today, so Maria and I jumped into the "sewing clatch" to help. We kept joking that the Americans were making Ecuadorian butterflies. Here's the one I made. I started another one that I hope to finish tomorrow.
Here's a selfie with Sr. Luz. She has a face and voice like an angel.
At 4:00 pm today, the Rotary Club from La Puntilla (a wealthy area right outside of Guayaquil) donated a freezer to the Damien House and came to present it formally to the Fundacion. Here they are accepting it. Germania is on the left.
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