Ecuador 2010 Updates
April 5, 2010 by LCA
Playas
The kids left their crowded squatters’ communities in Bastion. They came to a coastal summer camp, where they could swim in the ocean and play soccer in the sand. Thirteen young people left their clean, comfortable homes in Canada to provide a week of fun for children who needed to escape danger and poverty. They witnessed people with boundless energy and faith, despite their harsh circumstances.
The Canadians made friends with laughing kids who were eager to teach them Spanish. The team organized crafts, refereed floor hockey, and washed dishes, learning to serve beside the Ecuadorian staff. The camp was an intense week of loud singing, jokes, and soccer.
The Life Change team also experienced life in Bastion by sleeping and eating with local host families — people who had very little but were willing to share it all. The Canadians painted the neighbourhood’s school and visited local churches. The team went to provide support for people stuck on Ecuador’s poorest fringe, and found themselves welcomed into a joyful community of new friends.
Santo Domingo de Onzole
The Canadians landed in Ecuador, caught their breath, then began another journey. They travelled ten hours by bus and canoe into the northern jungle and arrived in Onzole, a remote village founded by escaped slaves.
Two Life Change Adventure teams brought tools, materials, and construction expertise to help the isolated community, where electricity is only a recent development. Through heavy heat and rain, they worked on new buildings and new friendships. The teams built a new workshop and new classrooms at the village school, continuing four years of efforts to improve life here. The team spent the nights under mosquito nets on the community hall’s floor and days lifting heavy lumber and laying brick.
The community helped shoulder the load and both construction projects moved ahead faster than planned. The Ecuadorians also joined their visitors for games like arm-wrestling and ball-hockey, and invited the Canadians into their homes for dinner. People from very different backgrounds lived together and built another step forward in Onzole.