Return to Onzole

Wow, another adventure filled week! I got to go back to Santo Domingo de Onzole, in the jungle, where I was in February. I loved the experience then and I did again this time too! A group of 10 of us (9 young ones and 1old one!)from Guayaquil went to spend the week helping out at a day camp that was being held in that little commmunity. We got on a bus in Guayaquil at 9:30 on Sunday night, and got off it 9 hours later. Well, actually we had to get off before that - this being Ecuador, we were stopped by the police twice, the first time just after everybody had gone to sleep, and we all had to stumble off and produce identification and be frisked. Then back on we all got, back to sleep, and 1 1/2 hours later at 1am, didn't we get stopped again! This time only the men had to get off, with bags to be searched and the rest of us got to stay on, and just show our ID again. I guess all in the interests of keeping us safe, buses do get hijacked and all the passengers robbed. But twice in one night?? As if bus travel isn't miserable enough!

We arrived in the unique little town of Borbon, at the river's edge, at 6:30 am, and watched the day get underway there while we waited for our canoe to arrive from Santo Domingo, to take us on the last leg of the trip. As much as I dislike the bus part of the journey, I LOVE the canoe part. And it was just as good this time as last time. The river was much lower so it took longer, 3 hours, but there's so much to see and experience. I am endlessly fascinated by seeing life along that river, a completely different world.

We finally arrived at our destination at noon-ish, and promply fell onto beds and fell asleep for 2 hours. And the rest of the day was spent preparing for camp.

The week we were there was for little kids, from Santo Domingo and another village further down the river. I will always remember the sight of a stream of kids appearing over the brink of the steep bank coming up from the river, the ones from downriver, having arrived by canoe, all excited and expectant and ready for some fun. They were registered, and then given breakfast, a bun and a mug of "colada", a thick warm-ish drink made from milk powder, water, some sort of starch, usually fine oatmeal or plantain flour, flavoured with sugar and cinnamon. It's sort of tasty, you just have to get past the somewhat viscous texture of it.

Then they were off to the chapel, for singing (lots of volume, little melody!), some time with the puppets that our gang brought and did a great job with, and a message. They had a devotional time in small groups with our kids as leaders, scattered around the village. And then were divided into teams for the inevitable competitions! They played all kinds of games, and competed and fought and had fun. These kids are scrappers, the cutest kids you ever saw, but boy can they fight, and fight hard, and to hurt! We were forever breaking up battles. This seems to be something that has come about since the arrival of electricity, with that, tv and movies, usually violent movies. The Ecuadorians seem to have a special fondness for "punch 'em, shoot 'em, knock 'em down" movies. This I have gathered from what gets played on every bus I get on!

But in spite of it, they had lots of fun, threw themselves into the activities, and heard all about God's love for them.

One of the highlights of the week for me was watching the young adults from Bastion working with those kids. I can remember many of them as youngsters themselves, being at camp, and now to see them stepping outside of their comfort zones and into another culture far from home, and throwing themselves into this camp - it was terrific to watch. They did a great job, and it wasn't easy! It was hot, it was wet, the kids were a handful, but they gave it their all, and loved it! It was a wonderful experience for them and they've gone home with some very special memories. And I loved being there to see it.

I wondered how I'd keep occupied while I was there, I wasn't really involved in the kids' activities, but I needn't have worried. Word got out that the "doctora" was in town, and due partly to Nixon, the young guy whose hand I had looked after in February and "cured", I was kept busy with medical needs. I several times badly wished I did in fact have the medical degree that they insist I must have. And I wished I had brought many more supplies than I had. But I was able to help with a few people, and I had taken some meds with me that I was glad I had. My worst moments came when they brought me a man who had cut himself with a machete. There's always that time between when I know I have an injury to deal with, and the time I actually see what it is, time to wonder what it is, how bad it is, can I deal with it, and time to pray for help. This one was bad, it was a long deep nasty cut through the heel of his hand - these machetes are very sharp, and there was no question that it needed stitching. I have never actually sutured, I've been shown how, and I have everything that I need to do the job. Problem was, it was all in Guayaquil - I hadn't even thought of bringing it.

They said there was a doctor in the next bigger village upriver, 20 minutes by canoe, so I cleaned the wound, dressed it, and they rounded up someone to take us, and off we went. Well, we got there, and I was soon wishing I had just kept him at home, and done my best with Steri Strips!! This was the most basic, ill equipped, decrepit "clinic" I have ever seen, worse that I could have imagined. And the doctor wasn't there, just a nurse who made a big speech about us not being from that village, and they would only look after someone in an emergency. Well, excuse me, this is one!! Finally she took him into a room that was equipped with stuff that must surely have come out of the ark. I went with him, and the job began. Oh my, it was not pretty, nobody had any fun, except the nurse, who had a good laugh when she pulled one suture so tight that she broke the needle off the suture material!! Hey that's not even a bit funny!! The poor man felt every last part of the procedure, she had given him some local, but it didn't seem to work. It was a disaster, and I was literally twitching around that room having a fit! I helped where I could, but I now know that if the need ever arises again, I will not hesitate to do the job myself.

Finally it was done, sort of, and we took him home to his little hut and I went and got him some antibiotics and pain meds that I had brought, and I pray that it is enough and he will heal without a huge infection. Who will take out those stitches? My friend Nixon, a 17 year old who wants to be a doctor, he watched me take the stitches out of his hand, he is intelligent, gentle, and wants to do it. So I left him what he will need, and told him how to go about it, and I really hope he is able to go and study medicine and one day go back and give his village some medical care. If he's serious about it, I'll do what i can to help.

We were up at 5 on Saturday morning, and away before 6, back to Borbon, and onto the bus for 11, yes 11 hours. The best that can be said for that part of the trip is that this time I took enough Gravol to avoid the problems I had last time!

And I've come back with some wonderful memories, and a deeper attachment to that village on the river Onzole.

link to photos: http://picasaweb.google.ca/heathermoore21/OctoberOnzoleTrip?authkey=yR3jhyxiR2A#

Thanksgiving

Well this is what my thanksgiving weekend looked like, just a little different to others' I know, whose photos I've seen. Not a red maple leaf in sight where I was!

We had a family retreat at camp this weekend, for families from the block 6 church in Bastion and the church in Sauces, another area of Guayaquil. The block 6 gang packed, and I mean PACKED themselves onto the red and white bus on Thursday evening (I don't think you could have squeezed another single tiny item onto that bus) and headed off. They didn't arrive until 11:30 that night. I had had a wearing week, so had decided (rather wisely I thought when I saw the number of bodies on that bus!) to go on Friday morning, so I slept in my own bed that night and caught the Posorja bus, always an adventure, and made my own way out to camp.

It was a great weekend, very relaxed, little in the way of schedules, people just enjoying being away from life in Bastion and taking it easy at the beach. They hung out in hammocks, sat around chatting, played soccer on the beach, and volleyball, kids ran around doing what kids do, and had fun on the beach, in spite of the cold. And it was cold the first couple of days, really cold compared to what we're used to in Guayaquil, to which I must be adapted because I was freezing a lot of the time. But still they went in the ocean to be knocked about by the waves and then come out with goosebumps and blue lips. Then on Sunday the sun came out, and the whole world improved! I'm so used to sun and incredible heat at that camp, because I've always been there in February and March, I just can't get used to the different world that it is out there at this time of year.

The food was great, as always, all the favourite things, with plenty of rice of course! Different groups of women took turns in the kitchen for each meal, and then the cabin groups had to take turns doing the dishes. That meant that a couple of men who had literally never done a single dish in their lives had to learn how. I'll never forget the sight of Marie Eugenia taking one man's hands and forcing them into the water and showing him how to use a sponge and soap to wash the dishes!! It was worth the price of admission!

Shrimp ceviche was on the menu for Sunday lunch, and so on Saturday night, there were 30 pounds of fresh shrimp that had to be peeled. So a big gang of us all gathered round and spent a long time dealing with those shrimp. (By the way, the cost per pound for the shrimp...$1.50!!!) For me that was one of the best times of the weekend, a bunch of us working away together, laughing and having a ball! Good memories. I even learned how, and got up the courage, to behead the big shrimp, as well as peel them - yuk!

Another memory to treasure is of standing on the beach on Sunday just before lunch and seeing one lady from Bastion, who has a very difficult life, coming out of the water, laughing and being almost a kid again, and telling me how much fun that was! Oh, that was good to see, that weekend away was so good for her.

And there was a baptism on Sunday morning, and young girl from the Sauces church wanting to declare her faith an new life in Jesus.

So it was a successful weekend, and lots of good memories were made to be taken home and remembered for a long time to come.

And now I'm into a busy time for the next few weeks, as I prepare for Narcisa to go into hospital and have her surgery in the first week of November. Lots of arrangements, and lots of prayer. On Sunday I am planning to head for the jungle again, back to where I was in February, up the Onzole river to the little community of Santo Domingo. There are going to be 2 weeks of camp there, and I'll be going with a group from Bastion to help out. This is neat to see, a group of young ones who have been to camp themselves and grown up, and are now going off to help out in another camp in a community far away. We'll be there for most of a week. I'm bracing myself for the 10 hour bus ride, I'll be sure to have LOTS of Gravol with me this time. Oh boy!

So stand by for a report on that time. I am looking forward to it, other than the journey.

back in Ecuador

Wow! Doesn't time move along when you're visiting home?! Those 3 weeks went awful fast, and now here I am back in Guayaquil, with a blur of memories of the time I spent in Canada (good thing I took lots of pictures!). It was a time of not much spare time, there was a lot of catching up to do with a lot of people. Of course, the first trip I made on my very first morning back, was to Dundas, to meet, at long last....Elizabeth Heather, my little grandaughter. And was she worth the trip from South America - you better believe it!! It was a good time to get to know her, she is at such a rewarding stage right now, 4 months old, smiling and "chatting" and responding, a little person with personality. And of course, the cutest baby there ever was!! I was able to spend lots of time with her in the 3 weeks I was home, and now finally I DO know how it feels to be a grandma.

We had an early birthday celebration for my mother, who will turn 80 in December. That was a good family time, had a riotous game of "jeopardy" where us 4 siblings were the contestants who had to answer questions about sometimes obscure facts from our family past. And the best part for Mum was that she isn't even 80!! (yet!)

I did lots of visiting with people, family and friends, LOTS of eating, was able to get in on the last of wonderful local produce - peaches, pears, raspberries, real tomatoes, corn....oh boy! I seem to have come back with a few extra pounds on me, although I'm blaming the lack of exercise more than the food. Here I walk everywhere I go, while I was in Canada I had the use of Mum's car, and so drove everywhere. Nice but bad for me! I did get in a couple of walks by the lakeshore, so clean and beautiful.

They tell me that I had the best 3 weeks of weather of the entire summer. Oh, the beautiful September days that I was treated to - sunshine, clear blue skies, some warm days, some lovely crisp cool ones. And the wonderful clean fresh air. And the quiet! Oh the quiet of Canada, I could lie in bed at night and hear......nothing, just the crickets. That probably tops the list of things I most miss, after family.

And now I'm back. It has taken me a few days of adjustment, I'm here but my head hasn't quite caught up with the rest of me. But it's coming. It's an altogether strange life that I'm now in, a life where when you go home, you're not sure that really is home, because there's a part of you that is somewhere else, and that's where the only space you can call your own is. It was definitely an odd feeling to be there just visiting, wonderful, but odd. But then when you leave, it's hard to say goodbye, and although it's good to be back here, and there were things I was missing, now I'm back to missing people and things in Canada! Oh dear, it's the "torn" life, having large parts of me in 2 completely different parts of the world. How to reconcile the two?

But now that I'm back, it's on with life here. There are all kinds of things to keep me occupied, the past couple of days I've been busy with delivering letters from Canada to people in Bastion, that's a fun task, everyone is so happy to get a letter. I'm visiting folks and catching up, and showing off photos of Elizabeth. And Narcisa's surgery is looming, she is to be admitted next week in preparation for the heart surgery. There are still details to be worked out before she goes in, and I quake in my boots to think about the running around that's ahead of us to get this surgery done. I'm praying hard for wisdom and strength in this one. And for good care for Narcisa.

The sick calls are coming in - bad cold, bad headache, blood pressure check, somebody stepped on a nail...oh yes, plenty to think about!