On Monday morning, half of our group went to pay a second visit to one of the orphanages. Having visited them the day before they saw some needs and decided to fulfill them.
As they walked in with new flip-flops for each child and one thousand pounds of rice, the nuns began to exclaim. “See! I told you God would provide,” the first nun said to the second.
Just that morning the orphanage ran out of rice. With no funds to get more all they could do was pray and ask God to provide. The nuns never mentioned the rice to the group, and the group didn’t know the orphanage needed it. God’s hand was truly at work.
The other half of our group, including Bryan and myself, went to take a shift at another orphanage. These children were just the first of the beautiful faces we’d grow to love in such a short amount of time. This was a Catholic orphanage, which meant it was well funded so every child was well cared for, played with and loved.
Something we noticed right away, however, was that the children were not to be held by the volunteers. This was to deter favoritism. This also meant that the babies were not held. Although well cared for, they were not getting the physical contact that they desperately needed.
Later that evening we visited a location that helps to provide for some of the nearby orphanages. They would take in the well-behaved girls to make homemade, recycled cards out of recycled paper and flower petals. This location also had fields of vegetables to be sold, guinea pigs (or “Qui” as they call them) to be sold to markets as a specialty, and hogs. They even had their own room to dry the tealeaves they grew and sell it for profit.
That night we experienced some of the culture at nighttime. We ate at a popular restaurant for supper that was located on the top of one of the highest hills. On our way back down we kept hitting detours and dead-ends. For a moment a few of us Americans panicked but we had one of the city’s best drivers.
Tuesday morning, we had a flight out of our first city to the second where we would visit most of the orphanages on our trip. The first place we visited was an orphanage called Ramar.
This group was renting a building that used to be a strip club. Since prostitution is very legal there, they had a building for the girls to dance and a building for the men to take the girl of the choice to. The boys of Ramar slept in the old building the men would take the dancing girls to have their way with. Each child had a fairly new bed from another time the Dando Amor group visited, so the boys were in good shape comparatively.
The girls of Ramar slept in the once dance club where the stage is still set, the roof leaks, the walls are cracked, and the mold hits you like a brick wall the moment you step into the room.
We asked the main volunteer who runs the place, Beatrice, about the moldy roof and the cracked walls when it rains. The roof is just a simple tin roof with no insulation, since it’s not needed with their weather, and a simple fabric covering on the inside. The fabric is molded, coming down, saggy from the water and reeks to high heaven.
The building was set into the side of a hill, so the crack at the top of the hill would get all the water that would run down the hill when it rained. And since there’s no word for “leaks,” Beatrice said that when it rains it doesn’t drip, it floods.
However, all the children had new mattresses and sheets from the last time the Dando Amor group visited. With the mattresses still in very good condition, the thing they needed now was a new pillow for each child. All the children had to use were cut up sheets sewn into pillowcases and stuffed with shredded old clothes.
After we saw where the children slept, we heard about their stove. The stove only had two of the four burners working. Beatrice had said that to feed the 70 children and the volunteers she would wake at five in the morning to start breakfast. After breakfast they would clean up and start lunch, then after lunch they would start supper, clean up, and start again the next day. Without question our group of fourteen knew exactly what we needed to do to provide for these children.
After Beatrice’s Ramar, we went to visit an orphanage that is run by one of our guides/interpreters, Rex. Rex’s orphanage cares for the mentally and physically handicapped as well as a few children who are healthy and capable. He doesn’t turn away a child he can care for but his main focus is those handicapped children.
He began by saying that sometimes he’s almost embarrassed for others to see his orphanage simply because it is so nice. But he quickly went on to say that his embarrassment quickly subsides knowing that it’s an example of how the orphanages in Ecuador can and should be run.
His facility is in existence because of a family here in the states. They saw what Rex was trying to do and knew it needed to be done so they donated 1.5 million dollars to construct a building that can fully facilitate the needs of the children. The rooms are large and roomy to accommodate the children in wheelchairs. The bedrooms are fully equipped with a large “crib” for each child to sleep three or four children per room.
The handicapped children we met we all very happy in spite of their condition. Some of the children were with a genetic deterioration, others who are crippled both mentally and physically, others with cerebral palsy, and some simply with autism. There were a few who had a minor handicap but were otherwise very healthy. A little girl with downs syndrome and a boy who was practically blind.
There were other children who were healthy in every way. There was a baby boy who was abandoned by the river under a bush only to be discovered by a fisherman. Another little girl was simply stuck in the orphanage because her mom has decided she wants the girl back while her two older brothers enjoy a new life in America.
We left this orphanage feeling hopeful with all that we saw. Of how an orphanage should be ran, the children should be cared for, and that it can be done.
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