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Back in July (yes I've fallen a little behind on this blog), I was invited to go to a track and field event that a bunch of the kids in our Hope of Bastion school were a part of. I was asked to go just in case there were any accidents or injuries, being as how I'm the school nurse! So I packed a bag of first aid things that I really hoped would be unnecessary, and climbed on the bus with about 25 kids and some of their parents, and we spent 2 long mornings at the stadium here in Guayaquil, perched on cement bleachers, watching to see how our kids would do. And we saw! And were proud!
They were competing in various track and field events, long jump, a version of shot put, but mostly running. And can our kids run! They were up against other schools in the city, including some expensive private schools and our Hope of Bastion children held their own, and came home with their fair share of medals. It was interesting for me to sit and observe the differences in the kids of these schools, those from the obvious "poor" schools, and those 
from the wealthy ones. There is a definite and obvious class system here still, it was easy to distinguish between the rich and poor. The parents from the weathier schools were sitting around using Blackberries, and were dressed rather differently to our parents. The kids had spiffy uniforms and, this to me was the biggest deal - good running shoes. Our kids 
had their little school t-shirts the first day, and the second day wore Tim Horton's shirts that had come from someone in Canada. And shorts that had also been a donation from Canada. But didn't necessarily fit all that well! And their shoes - I felt badly when I saw what all but one were wearing for shoes. You can buy very cheap shoes here, we used to call them $3 shoes, they may have gone up to $4 by now. Canvas and a very thin slice of rubber for the soles, absolutely no support, or cushioning, or built in bounce. I saw huge holes in one little guy's, all kinds of toes poking out! But they took themselves, with their inadequate shoes, out onto the track and showed us all that they knew how to run! And they did so well, we came home with 7 medals in all, a pretty good showing for kids from a little school in a squatter area. I wonder what they could do with proper sports shoes!
And the other good news - my bag of supplies wasn't needed - there were no injuries.
from the wealthy ones. There is a definite and obvious class system here still, it was easy to distinguish between the rich and poor. The parents from the weathier schools were sitting around using Blackberries, and were dressed rather differently to our parents. The kids had spiffy uniforms and, this to me was the biggest deal - good running shoes. Our kids 
had their little school t-shirts the first day, and the second day wore Tim Horton's shirts that had come from someone in Canada. And shorts that had also been a donation from Canada. But didn't necessarily fit all that well! And their shoes - I felt badly when I saw what all but one were wearing for shoes. You can buy very cheap shoes here, we used to call them $3 shoes, they may have gone up to $4 by now. Canvas and a very thin slice of rubber for the soles, absolutely no support, or cushioning, or built in bounce. I saw huge holes in one little guy's, all kinds of toes poking out! But they took themselves, with their inadequate shoes, out onto the track and showed us all that they knew how to run! And they did so well, we came home with 7 medals in all, a pretty good showing for kids from a little school in a squatter area. I wonder what they could do with proper sports shoes! 
1 comment:
Heather: I appreciate your descriptions of your life in Guayaquil. God bless you for using your skills and talents in His service!
We sponsor one of the children at Hope for Bastion school and I find that your details help me to better understand the challenges she faces daily.
Thank you.
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