The Life of (Liam) Reilly: October 2008

Monday, October 6, 2008

Greetings from Guayaquil.

Well, that was that, a few weeks at home is so short and yet does enough to energize and renew you for the next challenge. Settling back has, as always been

difficult but now that the project is up and going, the time is flying by. Everyday there is something, meeting with the director of the work to discuss the next phase of work, going to buy the necessary materials, taking care of the workers, I don't know what we would be like on the Olympic Village in London. But all is going so well. The only bad news is that the price of materials continues to increase very very fast. The project is set to cost 10-15,000 dollars more than projected before the holidays. But God does provide. It is so fulfilling to see a plan become reality and know the difference it will make in a short time to the lives of a very many people. Tomorrow, Tuesday October 7, we will also begin to put in place our plans for a "comedor" or Soup Kitchen, in another sector of the parish, "Cerro Redondo". That will be a slower project, depending completely on funds. After a meeting with the members of the community yesterday, Sunday, I was informed of the very real need for a "comedor" or soup kitchen and the possibility of serving almost 200 children every day. It is a fair committment and again dependant on funds from home. It would cost in the region of 16-20,000 every year to provide for that amount of children. We are to begin tomorrow and with the help of God...

A typical home of the indigenous communities

This is the home of Carmen Saeteros. She has just turned ninty (she thinks). Very often they have difficulty remembering their date of birth. Her very simple house is typical of the indigenous community and made from clay and stray blocks (bloques de adobe) with the luxurious models having tin roofs, (many with stray). These homes are bitterly cold for a man from Belmullet used to the bit hearth full of good black turf. But these are a tougher people. Carmen sleeps on the floor on a large bag filled with animal coat. Inside it is just one room with a table at one end and her bag (bed) at the other. She survives on milk and eggs (dairy products in large quantities being bad and all that jazz, she must have missed that health supplement) With no shoes and no socks, the earthen floor can be well... Recently we have decided to "renovate" her local run-down chapel at a cost or between $2000-2500. She said it was the best New Year present she could have received. She (as the elder stateswoman), and the rest of the community of Rumiurco are very proud of their Christian Catholic faith. Say one for her, she is quite ill at this moment.

Our New Church at Cimientos

Ciemientos is a community in the wilds of the mountains of Ecuador, untouched until recently by the "outside" world. It is a community constituted entirely of indigenous peoples. They speak Kichwa and are intensely uncomfortable speaking in Spanish (as am I, so at least we have that in common). Thanks to the support of the people of my native Erris, Co Mayo, this chapel is nearing completion. Unfortunately because of the incredible effects of the "La Nina" and associated weather patterns, the inauguration will take place in the summer, probably September. But it is a beautiful chapel, built on the foundation of an old Inca structure. (Ciemientos means foundation) They do not rue the loss of the Inca relic because they are decendents of the Canari people who were subjugated by the Inca Empire in the thirteenth century. One back as it were, if not a little too late.