3 weeks and 3,000 miles ago I spent the day with Karen and Richard. They are the kids in Ecuador that my wife and I sponsor through Compassion International. They are both in the sixth grade. And that is the age that most Ecuadorians quit going to school. They go out and find jobs to help support their family. Then many end up not so many years later with a family of their own. Kids having kids.
This is a cycle that must be broken.
So I spent some time encouraging Karen and Richard to stay in school and to stay in the Compassion program. I met their mothers, Sarah and Azucena, and encouraged them in the same way.
We met in a park in Quito, Ecuador and spent some time playing and talking. Then we all went to the mall across the street to order lunch for the rest of our group. As we were going up the escalator I asked them if they had ever been on one before. They said only one other time. And that was in 2005 when my wife met them. To go back down they wanted to ride the elevator. Stuff I take for granted was like an adventure for them.
After lunch we went to an amusement park. They went straight to my least favorite ride…….the roller coaster. But I got on anyway and found myself thinking as we climbed the first hill: “Okay, I’m on a roller coaster in a third world county…..who inspects these things?” And then down the hill and through the loop we went.
The best part of the day for me was something Richard’s mother, Azucena, said. She said she was having a lot of fun ( she rode all the crazy, upside down, twirly shaky things with her son ) and that she thought it “was a good day because she could forget all her problems.”
I would love to see the cycle of poverty broken in these families.
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