Wow, what a whirlwind! This past week and a half has been somewhat of a blur of activity and preparation. The Lord has sustained me, sometimes beyond the natural, in order to accomplish the tasks before me!
As I said in my last post, I have been trying to arrange all the daily details of the teams coming down from the States. This means I have been making phone calls, sending emails, writing itineraries, and, in short, spending a lot of time on the computer. Not the adventurous life we often associate with the title of: “missionary”, but for now, this is a necessary part of my job. Gene (my “boss”) said that he is pleased with my progress in assuming my role of leadership here.
Last Monday we had a unique meeting, which highlighted how difficult life can be in South America for people and families who have special needs. Jordana connected with a woman named Lourdes and her sister-in-law, Ana Francisca who is about 40 years old. Ana Francisca is the youngest of 10, all of whom have prestigious careers, such as doctors, lawyers, teachers, and businessmen. Ana Francisca herself studied English in the states when she was in her twenties. They are a relatively successful and wealthy family. Mom and Dad are 80 and 90 years old, respectively. The reason for this meeting was to discuss ideas about what to do about Ana Fransica. She has an inoperable tumor growing in her brain, in a place where treatment is tricky. It affects both her emotions and mental function. When I first met her, she carried on normal conversations in English, though she is a bit frail and unsteady. However, the more time spent with her and her family, we found that her condition affects them all profoundly. Not to go into too much detail for her sake, she deals with depression, fatigue, bi-polar tendencies, irrational acts of violence toward her family, decisions which endanger herself and others, and is often manipulative of her family. She spends most of her days at home in her room, trying on her clothes and putting them away.
The family knows that they have reached a point where they can no longer care for her, keep her safe, and give her a purpose in life. Here is the problem. In the states, there are thousands of options, including group homes, hospitals, in-home nursing, and other institutions; not to mention work programs designed to give people with special needs a sense of accomplishment. Here in Ecuador, and I imagine for most of South America and the rest of the third-world nations, there is next to nothing! There are no accessiblity laws or Equal Rights acts, no federal funded programs, littl to no special education. This family has an enormous task ahead of them.
As we encouraged them to start their own group home, or look at sending Ana Francisca to the states, we were all a bit overwhelmed at the number of steps this will involve. We encouraged them to stay united as a family, shared the love of God with them, and offered to be of as much assistance as possible. I left that meeting feeling the heaviness of their burden, but also the hope, that these are the types of stories which end up impacting change in entire nations. I hope to see great amounts of change in the way people with disabilities are viewed in this country.
I have been sweating in Guayaquil since Sunday. Day of Discipleship was a lot of fun, because we were able to reconnect with some of our ‘campers’ outside of the camp setting. These faces will hopefully become familiar to you, as they sure are beautiful to me, and I look forward to seeing them every chance I get. We had quite a large group assembled, and an American born missionary encouraged the parents with the Word, while we carted all of the volunteers and kids to a park area for their activities. We also celebrated Lissete’s 14th birthday…she looked like a princess in her white party dress!
It is always fun for me to visit all of my friends in Guayaquil. This week, I have a few meetings and arrangements to make for the team coming from WI. Tomorrow, Wednesday, I will return to the orphanage where Flor, Jose, and Julian live. We are making arrangements for them to attend the camp in April. I am very excited about this!
Please keep us in your prayers, especially Jordana, who has a cold this week. She needs rest, but has so many appointments throughout the week, that she seldom has a day to rest. On Saturday I will travel to Cuenca to hold a meeting with those interested in becoming part of the core team there. As of yet, I have no leaders, which means I will be spending the majority of my time there after the camps in March and April. Thank you all, once again, for your support and prayers.
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