Located in Conocoto, 30 minutes away from Quito, the capital of Ecuador, Houses of Happiness was founded by Henry and Dorothy Davis 40 years ago. Currently run under the auspices of the non-profit Davis Foundation (The orphanage is known locally as Fundación Davis), it sits on 50 acres of property that includes 20 houses for the kids, a school, a church, a cemetery, and guest houses for visitors.
There are church services on Wednesdays and Sundays (open to the community, of course), in addition to two other churches that the foundation supports. We visited them on our last full day in Ecuador. The first is busting at the seams, but has buildings for services and Sunday school. The second is in a more rural location. The church meets in what was once the living room of the pastor's house. There was a keyboard guitar, and this cool percussion instrument (reminded me of one of those 4 sided cheese graters, for some reason), taking up a quarter of the already small space. Our church has sent them money to help lay the foundation of a church building.
We arrived in Quito on a misty and cold Saturday night. There were twelve of us on this missions trip…but it hardly seemed like it involved any serious missionary work on our part. Our accommodations were relatively plush – beds, towels, hot showers provided; three square meals a day where we never lacked for any food and people cooked our meals and cleared our places from the table. We were taken on field trips – to Otavalo (where there is a market famous for its textiles), Cotapaxi (where there is one of many dormant volcanos, and well known area for leatherworks), Quito and the Equator. We were being served at every turn. What service could we possibly provide?
Our mission, quite literally, was to 'love on' kids. Play with them. Talk with them. Chill with them. So we brought bubbles. And basketballs and jump ropes and arts & crafts and books. The younger ones liked freeze tag and frisbie and whiffle ball and piggy back rides ("caballito", they would ask). And cameras. Not only having their picture taken, but taking pictures. With your camera. (Have you ever seen the photographic stylings of a 4 year old who doesn't look at the view finder thingy? Or a 9 year old who is not afraid of taking extreme close ups?) So when we went down to the park after quiet time that first Sunday, we quickly found things that they enjoyed.
Monday began a tour of the facility. We saw the cemetery (where Henry, one of founders who has since passed away, is memorialized), the fire pit, and dorms under construction. The plan is to have a summer camp for kids of the community in the summer, and for the rest of the year use the buildings (included the already completed kitchen and mess hall) as a seminary. The older children have the opportunity to help with the construction, and get paid for it.
There was a law recently passed in Ecuador that mandated children in orphanages over the age of 14 must leave. So Pastor Miguel (the director) has hired back the children who want to stay. During the school year, their work is school; during the summer, it can be construction or whatever else they need help with.
On our tour, we also saw llamas & alpacas (Tio Bill, the agriculture director, hopes to one day breed alpacas so that they can sell the wool and/or sell woven fabric), pigs, rabbits, and cuy (guinea pig).
Cuy is pretty much the national food. The orphanage raises them for sale, but we got to taste some. Got to see them gutted before they were roasted, too. Tastes kinda like chicken, actually. I liked it. (Granted, I also didn’t' hold any of the guinea pigs that are raised for sale. So I probably has less sympathy regarding eating one than some of the others may have had.)
In the afternoon, we walked into Conocoto and when to a local store. They had all of the staples, as well as clothes, tvs, rice cookers, lawn chairs... Every town in Ecuador has a central plaza where there is a park. On one side is the local (Catholic) church. The Spaniards insisted that all of the towns be set up this way.
Tuesday was our first field trip. We went to the official equator. It's a small village, with food and merchandise shops. And a free stamp on your passport! We also went to the church of the Ecuadorian version of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patriotic museum (which told of Ecuador's history), and had lunch a mall. The mall had a food court that included food that is traditional to some regions of Ecuador (coastal vs. higher elevations), in addition to Burger King, Pizza Hut, KFC, and Chinese food (which is called something different, but I can't remember what). I bough two scoops of gelato for $1.50 and had the best sugar cone I have ever tasted.
We played with the kids almost every afternoon that we were there (they had chores in the morning). It confirmed for me what I suspected – that I had previously burnt out when working with children's ministries because children's ministry is not where I belong. I work best with kids in small doses or short stints.
Wednesday and Thursday, we had a block of time set aside where we had the kids to ourselves. We used it to do arts & crafts. They decorated picture frames (we took their pictures and brought a photo printer), book marks, balloons, & wooden airplanes, painted rocks, made puppets, made bracelets, got their faces painted, and played with ubleck (cornstarch, water, food coloring combined to a slime like consistency. Humm baby!). They had a blast.
Each house that the children live in is headed by a house mother, or mamasita. The kids are not segregated by age or gender, so it's more like living in a big family. Wednesday night, the mamasitas cooked traditional Ecuadorian food for us (potatoes, empanadas (but they aren't called that in Ecuador), hominy, avocado), and gave us a dance presentation. Some of the kids performed as well. Afterwards, we played games. Good times.
Thursday morning, several of us hiked one of the dormant volcanoes known as Ilalo. (There are seven volcanoes surrounding Quito and Conocoto.) At its peak is a lightening rod in the shape of a cross. One can actually climb inside of it. I was one of the last ones to make it to the top. Mind you, the orphanage is at ~9,000 feet. It as my favorite part of the trip, trucking up the mountain. I figure if I can do that, I can do Half Dome. I take the stairs now (3 flights) when I go to work. Gotta get ready for next time
Friday was our field trip to Otavalo and Cotapaxi. We stopped at the other official equator, where some Otavalo Indian girls boarded our bus and sang for us. In Otavalo, we bargained for wool goods, jewelry, and other textiles. Cotapaxi is a dormant volcano, with a dead lake (no water flowing in or out). After visiting the volcanic lake, we went into town for leather goods shopping. My friend got a leather jacket on sale for $50 (regularly priced $80). It would've been at least $160 here at home.
Cotapaxi is also an area where native Indians were elected to government positions for the first time in Ecuadorian history. As such, it has been the site of an Indigenous People's conference, where indigenous people from all over the world (Canada, US, Japan, Australia, Mexico, etc., etc.) gathered to discuss the issues that they face.
Saturday was the annual orphanage reunion. Many of the men came ready for the soccer games that are played against the school team. There was another dance performance by the mamasitas, as well as a mariachi band. (This was a surprise to me, as I thought of mariachi as being exclusively Mexican.) I had pork skin worth eating for the first time (those puffed air pork rinds have nothing on the crunchy salty goodness that I had). At dinner, there was fried rice and a sort of soup flavored with something that smelled to me like lemon grass. Some people didn't like it (and said it smelled awful); I though it was yummy. The reunion lasted pretty much all day, with raffle winners announced in the evening. Some families spent the night, as they had made quite a journey.
It was hard to leave. I was just getting to know the kids by the time we left. And I liked our pace in Ecuador – Slow enough to occasionally try my patience but fast enough to keep me occupied. And there was just enough routine (Only our meal times were definitely scheduled).
It was hard to move on to a life without the daily interaction with the missions team. We developed a bond working and experiencing Ecuador together. Despite our differences in personalities and temperaments, we were all agreed in our love of Christ and the desire to do our part in reflecting His love. So while doing the arts & crafts for the kids (including set up & clean up), everyone operated in their strengths, no one tried to be something they were not. We supported each other, we were cohesive. It was so cool! I'm not sure how else to describe it…"a well oiled machine" implies a precision and level of planning that frankly, we didn't have. God was so good at making the puzzle pieces snap into place and reflect a beautiful picture. When people talk about "the Body of Christ", this is what I experienced.
Another thing I learned was that serving God is not painless. It is a lie that I somehow, somewhere ingested – That once you accept Christ, all of your suffering and pain would be taken away. I would hear of people who were great servants for the Lord, and how they were continually blessed in their endeavors, and say to myself 'I could never be that way. I'm not 'godly' enough. Dorothy, the co-founder of the orphanage, told us of the blessings she's received. But she was also very frank about the difficulties she's faced (and continues to face). She talked of despair, of wanting to give up more than once. And for some reason, this is comforting for me. I guess it is the idea that it is okay to despair while doing God's work, and that He will provide for you in all ways, and in all situations.
I'd like to thank everyone who donated items: underwear, socks, clothes, books, toys, stuffed animals, puzzles…there was so much stuff that I freaked out about whether we could take it all. Alas, we couldn't (there is only so much you can fit in suitcases and duffel bags before you hit that 50 lb limit), but we did get all of the underwear, socks, stuffed animals, and a majority of the clothes down there. So thank you thank you thank you. What I couldn't get down to Ecuador will go to local charities.
I would like to go again; I want to see how the kids are doing, how the tiny church is coming along with the construction of it's new building. I don't know if I will be able to next year; we'll see how it goes. In the meantime, I'll enjoy in the memories.
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