We've spent the past few weeks getting settled in a bit more and learning more about the surrounding area. During this time, we have gotten to know some of the street vendors a bit more and have noticed a street kid (about 8 years old) selling bananas to make a living over the past week. We look forward to meeting him and getting to know his story. We have also been able to establish contact with groups serving at two local orphanages and hope to make our first trip this coming Wednesday. We wanted to go last week, but were unable to get something set up with our contact here at the school. It ended up being a good thing though because while waiting, we met with someone else who does some work at the other orphanage. She was hoping that we could join her this week. Pretty neat, eh?
We have also been able to make contact with a couple that is working with an outreach organization called Extreme Response. In this area, they are working on several fronts. The first is called Pan de Vida. Every Wednesday and Sunday, they feed hundreds who are in need--many of whom are poor local street vendors. Another ministry in which Extreme Response is involved is at the Quito trash dump. There is a family center there where they teach individuals basic job skills so that they can try to make a better life for themselves. Another effort that they are involved with is helping to rescue girls/children who have been victimized by the sex trade. Some of the stories that we have heard are the most heart-breaking, gut-wrenching things you could possibly hear. What Jonathan and I saw back in Guatemala with that baby slowly dying from his enlarged head is nothing compared to what some of these precious children have gone through. Truly, there are things in life that are worse than death. At any rate, we are looking forward to becoming involved with this organization in some way. I (Bryan) think that I need a few weeks to process some of the things that I have learned first.
On a much brighter note, we were able to partner with a team working with Samaritan's Purse yesterday and to distribute Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes to children in a barrio on the outskirts of the city. The shoe boxes that our church and others across the U.S. put together and send out has a big impact that on kids that have basically nothing. It's awesome! I heard that more than 1,000,000 boxes went out to kids across the globe this year. It seems that boys here love matchbox cars every bit as much as they do in the states!
Jonathan had a great idea a week or so ago. He would like to create a YouTube channel to post videos of some of the things that we are involved with in Ecuador. After talking about it a good bit, we thought that we would like for it to have a format similar to Travel The Road (which is now on Netflix, I believe). So, it would have a documentary/reality TV feel to it. We think that this would be a good way for us to be accountable to you, our supporters and donors. It would also teach him some valuable computer skills.
We have recorded a rough draft of an initial video and have posted it online if you want to check it out. It needs to be edited down to about 15-20 minutes and the transitions need a bit more work. The audio is so-so. We would also like to add in some background music at the beginning. The video shows us going to the barrio to hand out Operation Christmas Child boxes. At the end, it shows our first taste of a local treat: roasted guinea pig. Here's a link to it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ui5T_vkIJ7o&feature=youtube_gdata. We had a wonderful time!
