I took a break from the travels to take part in a Christian mission to some of the poor areas around Quito. I very much enjoyed this mission and believe I got at least as much as I gave by participating. I would also consider doing this again.
So how did I as a committed agnostic find myself on a Christian mission? Both my mother and sister are devout Christians. They often send me Christian books; I think in the hopes that one of these books will suddenly cause me to give up on my heathen agnosticism. Most of the time, I read a few paragraphs and put these books aside.
One, however, was written by a friend of my mother, Sarah Corson. She wrote about how her family decided to uproot from a comfortable life and move to a remote area in the Andes Mountains in Bolivia with the goal of spreading the word of Jesus. As a traveler, I could identify with this book as I found the concept of traveling to remote parts of the world fascinating. This helped me get beyond the first few paragraphs. I found the book quite interesting all around; even as an agnostic reading about a Christian mission.
What I found most interesting about their mission was their approach. They did not treat the indigenous peoples as simply ignorant or try to tell them what they should believe. Their approach: identify themselves as Christians, live amongst the indigenous, and offer to help when they were asked. When they were asked for help, their goal was to provide help that allowed the people to help themselves (feed a man a fish / teach a man to fish).
For example, one of the challenges facing the people was malnutrition. When the village asked for help, they came back with the idea of fish farms (fits well with the “teach a man fish” idea). They did not simply build the farms for the village. They gathered information about how to do it (primarily from a Brazilian University, if I recall). They showed this information to the village and the village worked together to build it. Ultimately, they were successful in helping the villagers improve their livelihoods. They also were successful in their goal of spreading the word of Jesus. Many of those villagers who saw how this Christian family helped their village wanted to know more about what made them Christian.
The book is entitled Risking Everything; http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/risking-everything-sarah-corson/1108786075?ean=2940014036559. I can recommend this book to anyone who is interested in understanding the lives of people in different parts of the world. I would especially recommend this if you are or have considered participating in some kind of mission yourself. This successful initial mission sprung a series of missions around the world, which ultimately became an organization called SIFAT (http://sifat.org/). If you are considering a mission, I would suggest you look into SIFAT. I can assure you that they really help people.
I was already traveling through Latin America where SIFAT has a number of missions. Since I knew that my mother had always wanted to participate in a mission and since I found the concept of SIFAT interesting, I let my mother know that if she found a mission that would somewhat match up with my itinerary, I would join her. We had tried to join one mission to Cayambe, but the timing was rushed.
Shortly after, a planned mission for the Quito area encountered some problems. It was a medical mission and a number of participants including doctors dropped out at the last minute. The timing worked well for both my mother and I. Additionally, my sister who is a doctor would be able to join firming up the medical side.
The Mission
Apparently, this mission was not a typical mission for SIFAT. Normally, they assist with two types of missions: medical and development missions. Development missions involve assisting in building some kind of infrastructure, such as, a day care center. This mission had two phases: first, visits to previous/ongoing projects; and, second, a medical mission. It included the remaining members of the original mission team, my mother, my sister and myself. Tom (Sarah’s son) and Sarah Corson joined to support the mission given the last minute changes. A couple SIFAT staff members joined. They played a number of coordinating rolls and managed the pharmacy portion of the medical mission. Louise “Mama Louise” Cox also joined. Mama Louise deserves her own blog entry.Mission Day 1: Visit to Atacucho – Day Care Little Seeds of God, Day Care Mama Yoli’s and visits to disabled caregivers.
Atacucho is an “invasion community”. It was started by poor, homeless people who gathered in the hills above Quito. They cut down trees for fire, cleared plots of land and built makeshift homes on the hill. They did so all the while in fear that a landowner or the government might come in and bulldoze their homes. These were/are very poor people with little money. The government did come in and prevent additional building, but did not raze their homes.Atacucho:
Area set aside by government. The government allows the neighborhood to grow crops and livestock on this land, but does not allow building:
The first project we visited was the day care Little Seeds of God. This was a project started with SIFAT’s help about 9 years ago. SIFAT “never completes a project”. Their goal is to find community leaders that need some help to get a project going, but will keep the project going after SIFAT’s assistance comes to an end. In the case of Little Seeds of God, the day care was continuing to build under local leadership. The value created by this project is immeasurable. Currently, there are approximately 200 children attending this day care. If this day care did not exist, most of these children would likely get locked up in their homes all day while their parents were at work. It is common for children to be leashed as well, much like a pet, so that they will not hurt themselves while their parents are away. Instead, these children have a place where they can play, learn and get fed at least one meal a day.
We then visited Mama Yoli’s another day care not too far from Little Seeds of God. Mama Yoli’s was started due to a woman who had visited Atacucho and said she wanted to build a day care there. Before she could do this, she was killed in a car accident. Her church, The Woodbine Methodist Church of Pace, Florida decided to help build this day care in her memory. SIFAT assisted. Similar to Little Seeds of God, this day care shelters several hundred pre-school children. The Woodbine Methodist Church can be confident that their giving has been well spent.
More children sleeping at Mama Yoli's:
Finally, we visited a couple of homes of caregivers. Many of the people they help are in grave situations. For example, we visited a woman who is a caregiver for her mother, yet she is almost blind. She suffers from a treatable condition caused by over exposure to dust and UV light; a condition that is common to those living in very high altitudes. We also visited a mother who is caregiver for her 35 year old son who has cerebral palsy. They live in very tough conditions with very little help.
When talking about these people, we learned about the “Man Who Prays for Death”. Some people face such tough conditions that they sometimes call on a man that they believe has the power to bring death and end their suffering.
Mission Day 2: Visit two more projects and meet with the United Methodist Bishop of Ecuador
On this day, we visited two more projects that were similar in nature to the day care projects of the previous day. The first project was an Assembly of God day care project in Villaflores. This project showed me what SIFAT meant when they say they do not finish the projects. SIFAT’s roll was mainly completed on this project. There was a building. The structure was in place, but it was not finished. There were unfinished walls, open doors and windows, and bathrooms with no fixtures. At this point, it is up to the community to finish the project. According to SIFAT, this would be a slow process; but the community ultimately would finish this structure.
This project also showed me the roll that Compassion International plays in helping children. Compassion International is an organization that provides the infrastructure for “sponsoring” a child. By sponsoring a child, a person can help a child get at least one meal a day, get day care and be able to see a doctor and a dentist at least once a year. One of the children at this day care was showing everyone the letter that he had received from his sponsor. He was very proud of it. Because of this, I learned that many of the children that attend these day cares are able to do so through the contributions that come from Compassion International.
We then went to meet with the Methodist Bishop. He talked about how he has tried to change the Methodist church in Ecuador. In his words, church was not just to attend and sing hymns. He believed that members needed to act as Christians. This included not drinking or partying so much. It also included providing social services to the needy. He stated that at first many were not happy with this and left the church; but that the church has since grown by taking on new members. Then he changed the topic to talk about future projects. One of those he mentioned fit in line with the day care projects that SIFAT has done. He was concerned about an area near to the rose plantations. He said that many of the field workers left for work at dawn and did not return home until past sunset. Many of these workers were parents that had to leave their children locked up in their homes for the entire day. Often these children would have nothing to eat until their parents returned home. He wanted to build a daycare to help these children.
Mission Day 3: Visit to Calleata
Calleata was a day trip south of Quito. It is a Kichwa (indigenous) village near the volcano Chimborazo. This was more like a family reunion than a project visit. Sarah, Tom and Mama Louise had all spent time in Calleata. It had been close to 16 years since their last visit. Mama Louise brought a Christmas tree, lights and a few gifts such as soccer balls and school supplies. The town fed us a traditional meal that included cuy (guinea pig), a drink made from quinoa, potatoes, a bean side (not sure the of the type of bean) and a tea with a mix of herbs.
Mama Louise giving the children decorations to place on the tree:
The story of Julia Woodward is that she spent her life in Calleata trying to bring Christianity to the people. She never did convince them and left feeling that she had failed. While she was there, however, she taught the children to read and left them the Bible. The children then read the Bible to their parents. So she succeeded in her mission without ever knowing.
Mission Day 4: Free day, spent in Old Quito
Mission Day 5: Mission Group visited the “official” middle of the world and ate Crater Restaurant.
Mission Days 6, 7 and 8: The Medical Mission
The medical mission was set in Aida Leon, an area on the south side of Quito. Doctor Roberto, a SIFAT leader in Ecuador, had worked with a church there to setup make shift doctors’ offices. There were three offices setup. These were staffed by Doctors Roberto, Betsy and Elizabeth (my sister). The goal of the mission was to see 50 patients each morning and 50 patients each afternoon. The church lined up the patients and gave them appointments to come.We setup a “triage” table. Mama Louise would get temperatures. My mother would get blood pressures. I would weigh, measure height and talk to them about what issues they had. I would then assign them to a doctor if their concerns likely matched a specialty of the doctor.
The doctors would see the patients and talk to them about their concerns with the help of translators. They would prescribe medicine if necessary from a limited selection of medicines. Most of the time, patients were given vitamins and a parasite medicine. Some were given anti-biotics.
We saw lots of patients with colds. We saw a number of patients with serious issues. One was sent to the emergency room, as he suffered from a serious condition that required surgery.
While the medical mission was going on inside the church, the remainder of the mission team held a bible school with the children; playing games, singing songs. I think the children really enjoyed this.
I believe we were really able to help some of these people; either directly through medicine or through emotional spiritual support.
Unfortunately, I was so busy during this period, I failed to take any pictures.
Conclusion
I remain agnostic in my beliefs, but I was certainly moved by what I saw. I can say that I enjoyed participating on this mission. We often hear about charities that simply enrich the charity CEO; that is not the case here. SIFAT / Compassion International / Church charities have a real impact; they really help people. I enjoyed meeting the people. While they may not have a lot of money, they have big hearts. The children were great. I would say that it is very likely that I will do this again in the future.If you have thought about participating in a mission, I would suggest you do it. If you have thought about sponsoring a child, I would suggest you do it. Additionally, if possible, I would suggest you fly to meet the child, so you can know what kind of impact you really will have.
