Written August 18, 2019
What is home? Who is home? Where is home? Why is it home?
The dictionary defines home as 1. a house, apartment, or other shelter that is the usual residence of a person, family, or household. 2. the place in which one’s domestic affections are centered.
Imagine an extreme economic or violent situation so bad that you are forced to leave your home country in order to survive, in order to feed your family. This is what it has been for the Venezuelans and Colombians we have met here in Ecuador. Imagine a box of your favorite cereal costing your month’s salary. Imagine drug lords wanting your property, saying it is either you leave, be killed, or join our cause, but either way we want your land.
Now imagine sitting in a coffee shop minding your business, checking some emails, and a child comes up to you asking you to buy a 25 cent lollipop. You gladly buy one because how could you deny this child who looks like they desperately need a bath and new clothes. Then 20 minutes later, a man comes up to you asking if he can shine your shoes. You show him you’re not wearing shoes, but you’re wearing Chacos. He responds, “please let me shine them, I need to eat.” After a brief conversation in broken English, you learn he walked here to Ecuador from Venezuela. Now, he’s trying to make $10 a day to feed his family. Over and over, similar scenarios like these happened to me in Medellin and then in Quito.
August is an ATL month for all of the squad, meaning there are no assigned ministry partners. On July 31st, seven squadmates and I sat down and discussed our vision for the month of August in Ecuador. We all came together because we have a heart to somehow help the Venezuelan refugees in a way that was sustainable even after we left Ecuador at the end of the month.
Our first line of business was to learn all we could about the Venezuelan crisis and figure out the best way to help. We started making phone calls, talking with everyone we met about it and visiting organizations. We went to the US Embassy, the Venezuelan Embassy, UNHCR, the Red Cross, UNICEF, churches, and other leads. That first week, we followed up with leads, and had lots of divine appointments, as well as a lot of closed doors. Either way, we kept going and even our Uber drivers were divinely placed to help us.
Every day we met to compare notes and figure out our next plan of action. The next line of business was to plan an event where all of the people and organizations could be in one place to give information to the Venezuelans, and also bless and encourage them, and of course share Jesus with them.
We went ahead and set the date for August 17th. We had planned to have a free festival/event for Venezuelan refugees here in Quito. As we reached out to contacts all over Quito, the event grew and expanded to over 90 volunteers, dozens of organizations, and the event was not just for the Venezuelans, but for all refugees in Ecuador from Colombia, Venezuela, etc. We even had opportunities to talk about the World Race and the event on the radio and on a popular Ecuadorian podcast.
As we reached out to contacts and people started to get excited, we realized that we’d need more funds. Some of my squadmates had fund-raised specifically for Venezuelans in Colombia, and we had planned to use that leftover money. The next line of business was to fund-raise more money for the event, so we could provide food for everyone, buses to transport people not in walking distance, an inflatable slide for kids, etc. Thank you to all of you who reached out after 2 blog posts ago to give funds, which I used for Ubers to/from meeting contacts, among other things.
Please see this link for a short video from the day of the event by Ashley:
August 17th turned out to be an incredible day! We surveyed most who came to the event, and the number was 1,485 refugees, not including over 90 volunteers and those representing organizations. We had a lot more people than this because things got chaotic towards the end and we couldn’t keep up with the flow of people entering the event.
We had free food for everyone, an inflatable slide/bouncy house for kids, lawyers to answer visa/passport questions, preaching, singing, skits, face painting, balloons, and piñatas for kids, and so much more. It was an amazing day of seeing a dream God put in each of our hearts come to pass. Like one of our raised-up squad leaders said, “without the 8 of us starting the process, the event would probably not have happened.” I’m honored to have been a part of the team.
Now, as of when this was written, I will be taking the next few days as adventure days to explore Ecuador. August 23-28 are Final Debrief days with the whole squad and our leadership. We fly to Florida in the USA on the 29th!!!
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As a Christian though, my actual home is in Heaven. It’s a physical and spiritual place that I look forward to. I’ve been slowly reading and meditating through Ephesians this month, and one thing I’ve learn is that Jesus chose all of us, but it’s not until we choose Him in everything that an incredible adventure ensues.
In courageous faith and for His glory alone,
Sharon
