"Cada pobre, cada vago, cada mendigo es Cristo en persona que carga su cruz."
- Padre San Alberto Hurtado, S.J.-
Hogar de Cristo Founder
Discernment--although it was 2 days (about 12 hours total) of sitting and discussing everyone´s posibilities--went well. To be honest, my top choice every since we visited it was Proyecto Misión, and that was hard because it was also Coli´s (Colleen´s name in Ecuador) top choice. But, after a few strings were pulled, Hogar de Cristo decided the Misión office could take two volunteers. So if the picture up top wasn´t a give away already, I will be a volunteer at Hogar de Cristo next year, in the office of Proyecto Misión, with Coli as well! Our first day was last Monday.
As mentioned before, Hogar de Cristo is a Jesuit foundation who´s missino is to serve the poor and marginlized of Chile and Ecuador - specifically Monte Sinaí. Hogar was founded in 1944 by Padre San Alberto Hurtado, S.J., a Spanish Jesuit in Chile. After seeing the situation of the poor, he founded a shelter and school for boys and soup kitchen for the poor. In 1971 Tío Paco started a Hogar de Cristo in Guayaquil, Ecuador, founding the Vivienda project. Similarly to Habitat for Humanity, the Vivienda program builds houses for those people who are in insufficient living situations, giving them a cane house (looks like bamboo) at $25/month for 3 years, but it is also possible to qualify for reduced a reduced price or donations. Since then Hogar has come a long way and--in my opinion--has become something like 10+ nonprofits in one. Projects and offices include health centers, education, microloans, pastoral ministry, psychology, a clay water filter project, sustainable agriculture, workshops for women, and (my new office) community organizing.
To understand the importance of my office, you need to know a little about where I live this year. Hogar de Cristo used to be in the center of Guayaquil, but in the last 5 years they have moved to Monte Sinaí because they believe it is where there is most need. If you were to have taken a trip down to Ecuador 6 years ago, my house, neighborhood, and entire "town" would be nothing but open, agricultural land. It was owned by a few wealthy men who decided to divide up the land and sell it to families. However, this land--which was supposed to be used for farming--was government land and legally not theirs to sell. They gave families little slips of paper saying they purchased the land, which, to the government, is about as official as monopoly money in the USA...maybe a little moreso. Some new land owners then began to also sell land that was not theirs, and so on and so forth. Land continued to be sold by "land triffickers" and there was an immense influx of people from various parts of Ecuador who wanted to live closer to the city, or people from the city who could no longer afford it. In January, 2011, the government took their rist real step of involvement in this "illegal community" and arrested the men originally responsible, but also kicked out families who had purchased land from people other than those original men. As you could guess, there is still much confusion as to who may be kicked off their land and who can stay.
So imagine you live in a house made of a couple cement walls, a couple wooden fences, and a tin roof. Any electricity you have is pirated from the state (as most of the community has it rigged to their houses) and goes out at least once a day. Any clean water you have is from a water filter jug you bought across the street. Your street is unpaved and you know if you ever need emergency medical care the fastest thing would be to take a bus 15 minutes for help. You cannot receive mail, fill out official documents (because you have no address) and you are unsure if the government will come to your door one day and demand you to leave. I suppose that is a difficult request--to imagine that--but this is the situation of most of my neighbors, and it is a reality Hogar and Proyecto Misión hope to help change.
Today over 6,000 families live here in the Monte Sinaí community. Proyecto Misión at Hogar de Cristo is a 3 year project (it ends next year) and aims to accompany those people of the community, educating them of their situation, and strengthening integral development within the community. This is done in hopes that when Hogar is no longer around, the community can stand on its own. The office has organized committees in various "neighborhoods," all of which have a leader and participate in weekly meetings, workshops, events, etc. The tangible goal before next year is to put the committees on the track to becoming legalized as a community organization. Once that happens, it will help them all in the much bigger goal of legally registering the land they live on, hopefully giving them addresses (which you can all probably recognize the immense importance of).
As for me personally, I will be helping out with this project in whatever way they need me, including accompanying them in the beginning as they visit the community members, get to know faces, deliver invitations, attend talleres (workshops), and really try to be a face of trust for neighbors who may or may not believe in the cause. In the future, when my Spanish improves and I have my feet firmly on the ground (if that could ever actually happen) there is definitely potential to work with specific skills and iterests of mine, including multimedia and video, perhaps even putting something together for the end of the 3 years. As a matter of fact, this morning they informed me that they want me to lead computer classes for the committee leaders. Ha...I chuckle imagining my current level of Spanish proficiency in front of 10 adults. There´s no doubt it would be fun, but that is an example of something that may come with time.
Right now it´s definitely been a bit overwhelming trying to get a hold on all of this--aspects of a new job, my neighborhood, the parish life--when I cannot fully communicate. But I often remember something Molly Davies, a friend and mentor from Creighton, told me when leaving a long conversation: "Be gentle with yourself." That was the first time I´d heard that phrase, and I´ve heard it often since. It is not always easy to keep in mind, but today I am just enjoying the opportunity to be a part of such an amazing project and am expecting to learn much from the people, both community members and co-workers. I never know what´s in store for the day, but as a strong Type B, I think I´ll do OK.
Miguel
HdC Vision:
We are contributing to the restitution
of the rights of the people in major situations
of poverty, vulnerability, or exclusion;
influencing structural transformations
towards a more just, equal, and inclusive
society in Ecuador.
Very happy for you! Glad to hear everything is going well. Keep up the good work.
ReplyDelete-Thoughts and Prayers,
Mark W