Puddle Jumping: Rainy Season Updates

We are now officially in the rainy season. Some weeks that means puddle jumping around the roads rock to rock attempting not to get your shoes wet (but inevitably mistaking a muddy hole for a rock and showing up to work with a trail of mud). Other weeks that means rain boots are necessary as you could be walking in knee deep water in some sections of Mount Sinai.

In particular we have had two intense storms this month where in just a couple of hours the streets were flooded. The canal behind our house floods and inundates homes – neighbors have swum out of their cane houses. Our road becomes a river with water above our waist and a strong current. Some cane homes have been completely destroyed. In the second storm I was driving our van, affectionately named Big Blue, back from the other Rostro de Cristo house in Duran. At times the water was above the tires and entering the car. Smaller cars around us stalled out and were either abandoned or pushed along. Neighbors’ appliances are breaking from water damage – many are bought on credit and they now are continuing to pay for an appliance (refrigerator, washing machines, etc) that does not even work. Beds are ruined and thrown out onto the street. Entire wardrobes are filled with mud and women work for days hand washing everything again. Random flip flops and pots are swept away by the river flowing through their homes.

Our road...a river

We have stayed safe and relatively dry – we are fortunate to be situated high enough that water does not enter our house. I have sat in this feeling of helplessness and hopelessness as the clear vulnerability of our neighbors is exploited in the rain. As a foundation we do not give any monetary support directly to families. While I agree with the value and purpose of our foundation’s mission, in these past 2 weeks I have struggled so much with being instead of doing. I want to help, I want to act. All I can do is help my friend wipe off medicine boxes as she puts back together her pharmacy, or help hang clothes up and chat while washing with neighbors.

While it has been a difficult month, Monte Sinai is resilient. The people get back up and keep moving forward, sometimes there is no other reason than that they have no other option but to fight and continue. I pray to learn from and embody this same form of resiliency. So, amidst these tragic nights of rain, there have still been reasons to celebrate during this rainy season:

 We celebrated MANY birthdays these past months. A LOT of banana breads baked!! (a couple photos above)

 As mentioned in a previous post, we took advantage of every second of Carnival, a 3 day national holiday and water fight in February.

 While 3 volunteer´s families were visiting Greg, Jimmy, and I went to the beach to reunite with his Uncle and relax on the beach.

 We are in school vacation now! I went to the graduation of one of our neighbor´s and we celebrated him being at the top of his class.

 We celebrated women for International Women´s Day in the center of Guayaquil.

We also celebrated dia de amor y Amistad (Day of love and friendship, or Valentines Day) with Greg’s family and wings! We saw the Super Bowl together – unfortunately the only entire football game I have seen this year. We’ve had two GREAT retreat groups come stay with us, College of Idaho and Fordham University. And we are working at vacation courses for the kids at our afterschool program – teaching English, Math etc. and then working in workshops (I am helping with the bracelet making workshop). It has been a quick and eventful few months.

Please keep Mount Sinai and the numerous families affected by flooding in your thoughts and prayers.

Día de la Mujer (Women´s Day)

During the past few weeks my office at Hogar de Cristo has been celebrating women in honor of International Women´s Day on March 8^th. Before explaining how we celebrated the day, here are a few of the statistics of women in Ecuador that I learned in these past few weeks:

·         8 of every 10 women in Ecuador have suffered some kind of gender-based violence

·         In the province of Guayas (where Mount Sinai is), a majority of the women have suffered violence from their partner:

(Recreated and translated from Herencia de los vulnerables)

·         90% of women who have suffered gender violence do not separate from their partner in Ecuador

·         In October 2011 alone there were 14,337 reports of intra-family violence in Guayaquil

As a woman in Mount Sinai it is difficult to report cases of violence and rape. Many don’t. Many that try never see any results. Many women are trapped in situations of economic and emotional dependency in their relationships. 

I can do nothing in my volunteer year to address the cultural and structural issues that enforce patriarchy. I actually feel pretty hopeless and helpless some days visiting neighbors and working on workshops at Hogar de Cristo. But in celebrating International Women’s Day I felt hope. Seeing all of the female community leaders fighting for a better future for their children spending the day with their daughters was inspiring.  We celebrated the recognition of our worth, our power, and our rights as women this week. 

With one of the community presidents

Celebration at San Felipe

A couple weeks early we had our own “jornada de mujeres” at the nearby San Felipe Neri school where two Rostro volunteers teach. The day consisted of songs about women, a drama performance entitled “In Her Shoes” performed by teens, and a short documentary film of the women of Mount Sinai. I by accident signed up fellow Rostro vol Miguel during our team meeting to sing and play guitar – he was great, the women gave him a standing ovation! The drama performance had a husband and wife who magically switch places (sort of like the movie Freaky Friday). In this exaggerated performance, the man comes to understand the suffering of women (and mothers) in a machista culture. At the end Alejandra asked how many women in the audience could relate to the difficult life of this woman and the initial maltreatment by her husband. At first only a few shy hands raised, but slowly almost every single hand rose. We concluded the day with a film. That week we met with different community groups of women and female community presidents and filmed responses to questions like “what rights do you have as a woman?” or “why are you valued?” etc.  At the end each group of women wrote a response to “Somos mujeres…” (We are women…) and in unison read it out loud. One example is: “Somos mujeres felices, respectadas, valorizadas. Somos mujeres poderosos” (We are happy, respected, and valued women. We are powerful women). It was cute to see how excited and then embarrassed each woman got when they saw their contribution to the film.

Celebration on the boardwalk

Hogar gave out frames with titles 

A few photos of the exposition

On the actual day, March 8^th, we traveled by bus with Hogar de Cristo employees and many women of Mount Sinai to the center of Guayaquil to celebrate. On the boardwalk was a concert and tents from many Ecuadorian foundations (including Hogar) that work with women in many different capacities (empowerment programs, microcredit, etc). From there we went to a nearby museum featuring the art project of another international Hogar volunteer. It was an exposition of photos of the women of Mount Sinai holding signs saying “Soy una mujer…” (I am a…woman). For instance “I am a fighter;” “I am a woman created in the love of God;” “I am a woman of character who survives the circumstances of life.” Most of the women featured in the exposition were at the museum for a presentation. It was very powerful to hear them speak on how they have learned and believe through this project that they are valued and loved – especially since I know about 75% of the women photographed.

Happy Women’s Day to all of the women in my life who have taught me, accompanied me, and shaped me!