Ecuadorian Leaders Request Your Service

FUNDAC (Fundacion de Damas Calderonenses) is an organization legally constituted since 1993, is conformed by 20 voluntary women whose mission is offering social help to the needy classes of Calderón, specially worker women, poor children and old people. The social services help that we bring are centered exclusively in the Day Care center Nuestra Señora del Carmen, now we have two functional local that harbor 130 poor children whose ages go from the 3 months of age to the 5 years old. We also work with people mature adults for who we offer Shops of growth and identification of their list of third age with recreational and occupational days.

Welcome to Calderón!
Calderón is a rural communiy in Quito’s Metropolitan District, are located to the north from the capital to 30 minutes of distance, its climate is dry of nature, with temperatures of up to 30ºC. The population has increased in these last 10 years due to their benign climate.
Calderón is characterized for bread handcrafts and for carved in wood being these of national and international recognition. Their people are kind and simple, at the same than other places here it has migrant indigenous population that left their children under the care of third people and to who we also offer our contingent of social help.

The day care centers are located in the first one in center of Calderón next to the Municipal Market and the modern local N. 2 in San Rafael's sector

From the year of 1998 we have the great opportunity to have the help of Global Volunteers, their annual brigades have left us samples of shared work, solidarity, friendship and mainly its economic contingent has been good for the execution of construction projects.
We should indicate that yours generous contribution in this last season has been excellent to finish the first one and second plant of the new construction of the local N. 2 located in the neighborhood San Rafael to 2 kilometers of the center of Calderón, in a same way the donations of educational material for the good operation and attention to the benefitted children.

Our recognition and gratitude for all the volunteers that visited us, to their directors and coordinators that every day is pending of our necessities a thank you infinite, God blesses.

Lourdes Erazo
FUNDAC REPRESENTANT

The 133rd Calderon Brigade

The 133rd Calderon Brigade

(“Personal relations are the important thing for ever and for ever, and not this outer life of texting and twittering (sic). E. M. Forster, Howards End).
[Notwithstanding, here is the twittering.]

Well here we are in Quito
With goals and expectations
So we can serve the children
We gave up our vacations.

We’re tended well by Edith
She keeps us well apprised
Of where to be and when and how
She fears being too surprised.

Michelle’s a GV veteran
She keeps us all enthralled
She brought along two friends
She’s the mentor to them all.

Maggie tagged along
To give volunteering a try
She’s the trio’s photographer
For a shot she has a fine eye.

Emily appears quite stalwart
And claims to be a bit shy
But behind the formal manner
A soul of warmth will catch your eye.

Kara served in Tanzania
She has a pleasing manner
She approaches work quite carefully
To her problems do not matter.

Ashley can be hard to please
She’s bound up blue and firm
With children she’s not easy
So she picked a shorter term.

Lori is bold and wide open
She liked to hang out with the boys
She’s a hit with all who meet her
But was embarrassed by the birthday noise.

The first week went by quickly
And we learned the ropes quite well
To those departing early
We bade a fond farewell.

Kathy ventured the farthest
To join our merry team
She liked the shops in Otavalo
Of Ecuadorian sopa she is not keen.

Sarah smiles oh so coyly
She retired at twenty-eight
She has a fear of running water
And trusting South America with her fate.

Laura slipped in late on Sunday
With her a suitcase of gifts
With Andre she toured the Old Town
And from her we all get a lift.

Sonali’s a gracious young woman
And time with her really flies
When her father gets his hands going
She tries her best not roll her eyes.

Arun is Sonali’s father
A most gregarious fellow
He has a keen eye for a bargain
A Bond fan he’s the fellow to follow.

Margaret is quite particular
Not a thing out of place in her house
Her son throws his socks helter skelter
And her waffles come out like Mickey Mouse.

The writer of this little ditty
Seems at times to just go along
But if you dare put a mike in his hand
He’ll break out into some kind of song.

Martin talked us off to Otovalo
And advised us all to look about
The Indians are mighty shrewd merchants
And the goblins will get you if you don’t watch out!


We made a stop at the equator
And we were told the reason why
This is the best place for viewing
But have you seen a star in the sky?

Sunday was our day of rest
And a chance to go it alone
Some shipped off to Mindo
A trip from “Romancing the Stone.”

And who can forget Mosaico
With its constellation of light
We harked back to La Mitad del Mondo
And thought the guide may be partially right.

I trust that all’s been accounted for
I know our work is finally done
We all gave the best that we had
And will leave with the rising sun.

(June 26, 2009)

Written and dedicated to the team by Guillermo

"I am happy"

Quote of the Day: “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.” – Mark Twain

We all have many reasons for coming on this trip: for choosing Ecuador over China, for choosing Global Volunteers over some travel agency for a tourist-like vacation; for wanting to work with small children rather than adults.

I chose to come to Ecuador through Global Volunteers for many reasons, but probably primarily because I felt I needed to step out of my life for a while, and see things from a different perspective. It’s easy to get stuck only seeing yourself and your own experiences.

I thought that coming to Ecuador would feel like I was being transported into another world, but really, Quito and the people I have seen and heard about aren’t very different than me as individuals. It seems that the politics and the economic state of our world divide us more than anything else.

Little Abel in Rincon Construcciones is just as mischievous as many boys that age in the preschool class my son Cainen was in. Naomi is just as quiet and shy as my daughter. Melanie, Aidan, Kerly, Wendy, and Jonathan all want love and attention like any child does.

And as Sarah told Andres in the car the other day on our way to the show: when asked how Ecuador is so different than the United States, I paused and couldn’t think of what to say. She said (maybe somewhat jokingly) “everyone here speaks Spanish.” Maybe that really is the biggest difference (at least for a white, English-only-speaking American)

I have felt the stress that sat in my chest from my problems with my job and family loosen over the past week, and I have been reminded that I need to count my blessings. I am reminded by hearing the stories of so many people and working with the children the past four days, that we have more in common than we sometimes think.

Edith told us this morning to recognize the times which we are happy, instead of always feeling that our happiness is in the future or incomplete. And to name those moments by simply saying “I am happy.” Two weeks ago I would not have been able to say that, but right now, I think I can honestly say- “I am happy.”

Written by Cara

"Go with the flow"

The day started off with a hearty breakfast, as usual. With the arrival of Laura from Lexington, MA, our motley 13-member volunteer team was complete!

Edith, our ebullient host, briefed us on the protocols to follow on our first day at the children’s center: no photos until later in the week, willingness to be deployed to any chore at any time, and splitting the donations between the two centers.

After breakfast, we boarded our bus. With the bus’s sliding windows, rattling window panes, its jerky movements during gear shifts, and its thick diesel fumes, I was reminded so much of India. Actually there are so many facets of this lovely country that remind me so much of India that in spite of having been here only for 2 days, I feel right at home here!

We arrived at a fruit market right in the heart of Calderon. After a few steps through the market, we got into guardería #1, with that childish excitement of meeting the children at the center. As soon as we walked in, we were greeted by a loud chorus of ¡Hola! It is really amazing how universal some things are, when it comes to children’s behavior! After a quick “lottery”, Edith split the team into two, one for each center. All of us walked to the second center, and on the way, we got a glimpse of the neighborhood. It is a poor neighborhood, but all the people we met were so warm and welcoming. Gosh, I already love this country! We toured center #2, and inspected the ongoing construction work. Michelle, a returning volunteer, commented on how much progress had been made since she had last been here, a year ago.

The people assigned to center #1 walked back to their center and we assumed our respectively assigned duties. I was in Rincon Ciencia, with Tiá Elisabeth. The initial half hour was a little challenging, as I was trying to recall some of the Spanish words I had learned from the guidebook. One of the kids quickly picked up “OK” – I assume I had used it so much without thinking about it, that she caught on to its meaning! I helped Elisabeth with some tracing work, and then helped the kids with some drawings. Thank God I knew the words for cloud, sun, sky and rain!

We helped the tiá’s serve the kids’ lunch, and after the kids were all settled in, we walked down the street to a neighborhood restaurant for lunch. In the afternoon, we helped cut out some patterns that were going to be used to make hats for a park outing later in the week.

At the end of the day, I was exhausted (the 9300 ft. elevation didn’t help.) But the fact that the tiá’s worked so hard day in and day out gave me the strength to continue. Come to think of it, I will be back in Palo Alto in 2 weeks’ time, and these women will still be working in this challenging environment. In a lot of ways, all the women in this center really inspire me to work hard every day of my life; in a funny way, they are helping me, rather than the other way around.

Written by Arun

No Act of Kindness is ever too small.

A delightful celebration was given for us by the children of #2
Daycare to end our two weeks of service. The children including the babies were dressed in costumes as they danced and sang. The time to leave was sad but they gave us good feelings of being appreciated and needed. Even with the lack of material goods, the children were very loving and especially well behaved. It was an unforgettable experience our time in Ecuador.
Global’s leader, Edith, has a gift of caring and makes service an easy task. Her energy was endless, her time and skills very much needed to keep the program organized and the work enjoyable.
The lodging was quaint and the food was the best we ate in Ecuador!

Written by Laural

Secong week.. here we go!

Quote:
“Ability is what you’re capable of doing.
Motivation determines what you can do.
Attitude determines how well you do it.”

Week number two for Laural and I started out just as it had last week, with breakfast, reading of the journal and a brief meeting. It was exactly like last week except that we were missing Roberta and Brittany. As we split our services between the two daycares this week, we really missed Roberta, with her excellent motherly skills and Brittany, with her endless energy and enthusiasm for the kids and the work. We dropped Laural off at the daycare number one and Edith and I headed off to our new home for this week, daycare number two. We walked into bright new faces yelling HOLA and immediately we felt at home. Although every tias probably could have used our help, Lilly assigned us to work with Cristina who’s in charge of the under 2 year old group. We were amazed by Cristina’s efficiency in running the daycare number two. She was warm and caring but also firm and commanded the attention of all the kids. She quickly had Edith and I working, getting kids cleaned up and playing. We found daycare number two to be more organized and hygienic, which only made me that much more impatient to have the construction of the second floor completed quickly so that they can accommodate more kids here. After helping with lunch and clean up, Edith and I quickly trekked back to daycare number one to pick up Laural for lunch where we got much wanted update on the kids of daycare number one. It seemed that because of the election yesterday, both daycares had less number of kids than usual. When Laural returned to daycare number one, she found out that one of the babies that were sick earlier in the morning had gone home. The afternoon flew by, with Edith and I cutting out letters for the rincons and other rooms and Laural continuing to care for the babies and washing their bibs. The team returned to the hotel and rested a bit before our cooking demonstration from Lusmila who showed us how to cook the traditional Ecuadorian chicken soup. We will definitely be making a trip to SuperMaxi to pick up some seasonings that we can’t get in the states to make this soup!

Written by Rim

First service day...

Quote:

“Where you end up isn’t the most important thing. It’s the road you take to get there. The road you take is what you’ll look back on and call your life.”

We began our first service day with breakfast and a brief meeting. I’m proud and surprised to report that we departed on time at precisely 8:00 am. The trip through Quito to Calderon was uneventful except for the fact that our van was the size of a large shoebox. The daycare center is located right off the local market thorough fare. Needless to say, the area is very poor. Our arrival commenced with a briefing from Lilly, the center’s director. We were given a brief tour. Much to our delight, eager and enthusiastic faces greeted us with shouts of HOLA! The team, led by Lilly, took the 10 minute walk to center II. Scott, the rooftop guard dog announced our arrival. Once again, the warm welcome was a complete joy. All the smiling faces and waves and shouts of HOLA make us all that more eager to start working with the children. In fact, some team members, (Brittany) were getting a little impatient to start. After our tours of center II, we headed back to center I. We quickly sorted and catalogued the donated goods, then headed off to our “rincones,” Laural with the babies, Rim in Lecteurs, Brittany in Art and myself in Construction. The children rotate “rincones” in 30 minute intervals so we had the opportunity to work with a wide age group of children. At 12:00, mayhem broke out as it was lunch time for the children. Thank god the children are the most cooperative, helpful, independent little sours. If it weren’t for their easy nature, feeding 40 kids would be a lot more difficult then it was. The children willingly line up, use the bathroom, wash their hands and carry their chairs to their assigned tables. Truth be told, you would never find this degree of cooperation in Daycare centers in the states. I was surprised to see that the “Clean Plate Club” rules here. The children must finish all their food! After lunch, the stuffed and exhausted children nap 6 to a bed. The equally exhausted members of team #132 headed off for lunch. At 2:00, we returned to help clean. Everyone pitches in, floor sweeping, bed making, mopping, dishes, even taking blankets outdoors to wash the old fashioned way. After clean up, the children must be spruced up; hairs combed, hands and faces washed and clothes straightened, all in anticipation of parent arrivals. At this point, Mari was waiting to transport us home. In the sprit of Ecuadorian warmth and generosity, Mari gave Lilly a ride to her destination, only to drop her off and pick up another passenger, only to drop her off and pick up yet another fare – but the most important – her 7 year old son, Ronnie. Upon arrival at our hotel, some of us rested while others ventured out to the mall and SuperMaxi, a very special outing for Rim as living as a single New Yorker, she never actually sees a grocery store.
Dinner was followed by a “38th” birthday celebration for Rim. She wished to celebrate January Birthday in Ecuador but couldn’t. So….better late than never. The evening ended with all going to sleep with the happy faces of the children in our memories. What an extraordinary impression they leave on us.

Written by Roberta