Learning About Ecuador

I want Ecuador to be more than just a country my children can locate on a globe. I want them to learn in depth about it's geography, history, people and culture. We are doing this by reading books, watching films and even learning some Spanish. In a few years our family will visit Ecuador through one of CFCA's Mission Awareness Trips. We will be able to see firsthand how CFCA is making a difference in the lives of sponsored children and their families. We will also be able to meet our two sponsored children.

I will continually be updating this post to add more resources as we find them for learning about Ecuador and South America.

Books

Hungry Planet by Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluisio Quite possibly one of the most fascinating books I have read. Thirty families from around the world were profiled in this book. It offers an amazing look into people's lives and what they eat. This is a photo by Menzel of a family from Ecuador surrounded by the food they would eat in a week.

Ecuador by Colleen Madonna

Cultures of the World: Ecuador by Erin Foley

Children of the Ecuadorean Highlands by Barbara Beirne

Roses for Isabella by Diana Cohn

DVDs

Ecuador for Kids This documentary is narrated by children and contains delighful Andean music. There are stops to Ecuador's major cities with a focus on history, culture and food. My children ask for this DVD again and again.

Recipes

http://laylita.com/recipes/ A website with many authentic Ecuadorian recipes.

Learning Spanish

http://whistlefritz.com/spanish-completecollection.html DVDs, CDs and matching cards that help young children learn Spanish through immersion.

Humitas

In an effort to learn more about Ecuador and our new friends there we are trying out some South American recipes. I searched online and found a blog called Laylita's Recipes. The author is a woman whose parents moved from the US to Ecuador in the 70s. She was born there and moved to the US after high school. The blog is full of amazing and authentic Ecuadorian recipes and filled with step by step photos.

We first tried a recipe for humitas which are steamed corn cakes. We picked this recipe because we received a lot of corn that week from our local farm in our CSA box. Served with salsa they were delicious and tasted unlike anything I've ever had made with corn.

Our family had fun trying out such a unique recipe and eating a food that our CFCA friends must be familar with.

How I Named This Blog

One of the people I have always admired most is Mother Teresa. There is a wonderful children's book compiled by Edward Le Joly, Jaya Chaliha and illustrated by Allan Drummond called Stories Told by Mother Teresa.

One of the stories is called The Courage to Give. This is an excerpt from it:

She told this extraordinary story about a very poor family who showed love to their neighbors...

"A man came to our house and said, 'Mother Teresa there is a family with eight children who have not eaten for some time. Please do something for them.' So I took some rice and went there immediately. And I saw the children, their eyes shining with hunger. Their mother took the rice from me, divided it into two and then started to walk out of the house with the other half. 'Where are you going?' I cried. 'They are hungry also,' was all she said and then she left. When she came back she explained that her neighbors were hungry too. She had given half of the rice to them.

Now what really surprised me was not that she gave, but that she knew her next door neighbors were hungry, for usually when we are suffering or in trouble we have no time for others. But this mother had the courage of her love to give."

No matter how little we have we have to do our best to share with others. As Mother Teresa once said, “It's not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.” This giving of ourselves, our time, our money, our love, etc. can take courage. We have to trust in God while doing His work.

Birthday Card on the Way

My son's sponsored friend in Ecuador turns nine in early November.  

We had a fun time finding just the right card for him. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Hallmark stores carry some in Spanish. Everyone in the family signed the card to wish Abdiel a happy birthday. The mail can take up to two months so we sent out his card today to make sure it arrives in time for his birthday. 

Sponsoring With CFCA

Once I decided it was time for our family to sponsor a child I set out to find a charity that was a good fit for us. The Christian Foundation for Children and Aging was founded in 1981 by a group of lay Catholics. CFCA truly lives the Catholic teachings on charity. It was founded on the Gospels that tell us we are all called to serve the poor. Everything is done in solidarity with others and to preserve human dignity. Almost 94% of money goes directly towards supporting the program. Charity Watch gave them an A+ rating and the Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance says the CFCA meets all 20 of their rigorous standards. They are currently active in 22 countries and have more than 300,000 people being supported by sponsors. This is truly a charity I feel good about supporting.

There is more involved than writing a check each month and knowing it is going to help the life of a child, youth or aging adult. We learn about the person we are sponsoring and see photos of them. We can write to them and they can write back to us. This gives us the opportunity to learn about others and offer them support and encouragement in their lives. CFCA also has mission awareness trips so you can travel to the country where your sponsor lives and meet them.

I knew I wanted to make this a family experience. I thought we would sponsor one child, perhaps halfway between our children's ages of 4 and 9. But then I saw a profile for a girl who was just two months younger than my daughter. There was just something about her and she captured my heart. So I first signed up to sponsor Adriana. She lives in Ecuador with her mother and grandparents. Sadly her father abandoned his family and this makes it hard to make ends meet. I know what it is like to be not just a single parent but an only parent, as I was one when my son was born. His biological father also chose not to be involved. I will be writing to Adriana's mother to offer support and encouragment while my daughter writes to Adriana.

Adriana - My daughter's new friend

Then I saw a profile for a boy 6 months younger than my son. His name is Abdiel and he loves to play soccer just like my son does. And like my son, his favorite subject in school is math. I have a feeling they will make great pen pals. Abdiel has a beautiful smile and lives with his mother, father and siblings in Ecuador.


Abdiel - My son's new friend

Tomorrow my children will write to their new friends for the first time. It will take a long time for the letters to arrive in Ecuador and then they will have to be translated to Spanish before the children can read them. It may take a few months to hear replies, but we look forward to the day we receive letters from them.

Expanding My World

When I was younger I had many dreams and goals I wanted to accomplish in my life. I wanted to travel the world. I wanted to leave a mark by doing things to help others. I wanted to make a difference.

I'm 28 now and so many dreams have been shelved. Every day life seems to get in the way. When I graduated high school and started college I had my first child. After I graduated with a biology degree I had my second child. I have not had a chance to work much in my field of study yet because I became a stay at home mom. My days are spent caring for my husband and children, not making scientific discoveries or saving the world. There are days I don't even leave the house. My world has become very small.

It is an amazing gift to be able to raise children and I love being a mother. I feel very blessed in my son and daughter. This year after waiting 4 years and 2 months for a third child my husband and I discovered we were expecting again. We were suprised and overjoyed. Sadly I lost that baby on June 1st, 2012. A part of me has always wanted to have a big family. I sometimes think we are meant to only have the two we have now. We will keep hoping and trying of course, but in the meantime I feel my heart has a lot of love to give. I want to have other children in my life to love and care for.

As a young child I saw commercials for sponsoring children who lived in impoverished countries. Some of their faces and stories stuck with me through the years. I have always felt God had put it in my heart to sponsor a child someday. Lately I have felt Him speaking to me even more to do this. In recent years I have supported charity work in my own community, but this is a way to reach out to further and be part of the global community. This past week our family sponsored two children in South America. Suddenly my world doesn't seem so small anymore.