Making a Difference in Ecuador

Recently I had the pleasure to meet up with two old friends of mine: Jenny and Gonzalo. They have a volunteer work in Ecuador, where Gonzalo is from and were here in the UK for a while to help care for Jenny's elderly mum. Now they are returning to Ecuador and we will be helping to support their work there.

In Ecuador, there are no such systems as the NHS, nor government benefit programs. So the people depend on NGOs and Charities for some of their most basic needs, especially the poor.
 Gonzalo and Jenny will be shipping down supplies of inspirational and educational books in Spanish, that they had been able to aquire while they were here.

Gonzalo's brother, who is a doctor, also gives of his time and expertise to the needy  in his country. Here he is giving a free medical check to a handicapped patient.

Activities include a training course for other volunteers called 12 Founation Stones. Here are photos of the graduation of those finishing the course.

"Chocolatito" is the name of a program for deprived children, which often involves the apprearance of a clown!

Laughter Therapy for Palestinians

One of our friends comes from Palestine originally. He now lives in London and is director of a Sunday school that teaches about 150 children the Arabic language and culture. Recently four of his family members were killed in the conflict in Gaza, which is where he is from. They were all civilians. We wanted to do something to help encourage him during this difficult time and we thought that " Laughter Therapy" might be a help. Several of us enjoy working with children and we have developed a programme whereby we are able to entertain children (and the attending adults too) in a way that is fun and meaningful at the same time. Our programme includes tricks, jokes, lots of music, disco dancing, puppets, games, etc. We also do balloon sculpting and face painting. We adapt the programme according to the occasion and ages of the audience.
Here is a quote from a famous comedian about laughter:

"It dawned on me then that as long as I could laugh, I was safe from the world;
and I have learned since that laughter keeps me safe from myself, too. "
-Jimmy Durante

We asked our friend if he would like us to come to his school one Sunday and put on a little show for the children, free of cost, to which he readily agreed. It was a lot of fun. The children were wonderful and so were the teachers and even the parents that came towards the end to pick up their children from school. We were asked by our friend to impart some kind of a meaningful message. So, when we were distributing the balloon swords that we had sculpted for all the children, we explained that even though some people take up the sword and other weapons to fight and try to solve problems, that "Love, humility and prayer solves all problems" and we should pray for peace and for forgiveness to those who wrong us. We enjoyed heart warming conversations with some of the teachers and parents who were born in various countries--many from Palestine and surrounding areas. They all showed so much appreciation towards us as they told us about their individual situations and some of the problems that they face, as they asked us to pray for them and their families and loved ones. We even had a chance to get to know some of the teen boys who very willingly helped us carry our equipment out to the car after the programme. Our friend also shared with us a little of the mission of this Sunday school. It's not only to teach reading and writing the Arabic language, (the children already speak Arabic as they learn it at home, but they need help learning to read and write it). "This is also a Centre for them to learn our culture. You see, " he added in a sober voice, " we need to also supply a meeting place for them where they can meet and make friends and do something productive, or else the fanatic elements will lure them into their violent ways". As a mother of five sons, this really hit home for me--that these dear parents have to stand constant guard over their children to help them develop the right morals and character and not be enticed by those wanting to use them for evil. If our programme this day has helped encourage even one person to stick to the good and to strive for peace, then it was well worth all the time and work that went into it.

"Take a stand for God, a stand for peace, a stand against war. Take a stand for freedom, and against the hypocrisy, greed and selfishness of those who are eager to wage war. Pray for peace. Pray for the innocent. Remember, you are accountable to God and will stand before Him one day. Live accordingly. "(from God’s Position on War. Complete text available upon request)