Post from the beginning of month two:
Monday, our first day of ministry at Camp Hope in Quito Ecuador. First off Camp Hope is for special needs individuals ranging from toddlers to adults, it provides different types of therapies. Our day started off a little later than planned but in world race style we go with the flow. I hadn’t done much research so I didn’t know much about where or what the facilities looked like.
Once we had signed in, we were given a tour of the facililty. The students are broken up into classrooms and ability. In each room there are workers and volunteers moving about. In each room I felt completely useless. What do they need me there for, how will I be able to help, people go to school back home to be able to work with them, what benefit will I provide. So at the end of the tour we were asked which room we wanted to help with, there was also gardening. OK. What’s going on? What do they want us to do? The rest of my team selected rooms in which to work, so I ended up gardening. OK I can do this, first step weed and dead head, clean up the flower beds so they look pretty, then it starts raining, so I end up cutting cardboard. Lunch. I can do this.
Then the request. “We need people to go to the classrooms to help with lunch.” OK, sure no problem. So I show up in a classroom still having no clue what I’m supposed to do. They tell me to go to this one girl, ok. I help her feed herself, then brush her teeth. Now do I leave, I don’t know. They mention sitting with them and rubbing their backs. Ok, I can do that, its probably the easiest thing for me to do. He ends up falling asleep in my lap. The next thing I’m doing is feeding him a snack, then getting them ready to go home. We bring them down to the van and probably cause more confusion than required but we’ll learn. Day one complete.
