Volcanoes…first it was joke, now it is real…

Yes it is true, Tunguraha is erupting since Friday, and last night quite strongly so that Margarita and I hid in one bed, because the windows were shaking loudly in every eruption. People living at the volcano lost their houses and the livestock they live of. People living from tourism loose their business for a couple of days in high season. I am very worried about the campesinos that already live in great poverty very close to the volcano. I saw pictures of the places I know which looked like from the moon after the Lava came down the hill. It is still erupting and it does not seem to stop soon. Today we bought food to send to the family of Margarita which hosts a lot of people close to the affected areas as a refuge. If you think you can mobilise some people to give money to support the campesinos after everything is over, to buy new liefstock, rebuild the houses and send their kids to school, it is very much appreciated and I will find the right organisations to give it to or families that are affected.
SUPPORT NEEDED - URGENT

Time is running ...

Half Time is over it is going towards the end and the work is not getting less, but I get more stuck into. I love the job and now it is amazing to see things moving forward. The Maltrato Infantil (Child Abuse) Leaflet is ready for use in the communities and the Manual on how to use it and do workshops on this topic is finished as well. Wednesday I will present a workshop on this for the facilitators in the communities. I am quite nervous about this but I love to do it. The Photos from the Project with the boys are ready tomorrow and they cannot wait to see them. For me it was so amazing to see them proudly taking pictures with the cameras. Here this is something that not everyone can afford but they had the opportunity. Even if the pictures don’t turn out well, the experience for them gave all of them a great push in their self-esteem. You cannot imagine their smiles on their faces. Even the police was jealous! Tomorrow I will have a very difficult task of trying to keep all the photos together, because all of them are so excited to see them. We will use the photos to prepare an exposition the following week and to invite lots of people from outside to raise awareness about the situation of the boys and what kind of life they live or have to live. At the moment we are trying to raise funds for paint, fitness machines, computers and the building work that is going on. Just for the professionals: Here in Ecuador, they just seem to go for things and hope for luck to find some money somewhere, mostly nothing like great plans, funding proposals etc. At the moment though they are very much struggling and if anyone of you likes to do an activity to raise any amount of money, you are very welcome. Whatever it is, bag packing, jumble sale or other things…go for it and send the money over here. I will make sure that it gets used properly and will send you pictures…and a big Thank you!
Furthermore Marco another volunteer and I are embarking on designing a Volunteer Manual because we observed that a lot of things can go wrong and can do harm the boys and their development.
So, I think that is a very brief update on what is rolling in Riobamba. There are a lot of little things that go on as well and I will let you know soon about them…And when I managed to charge the batteries for my digital camera you will get more pictures, I promise.
To all of you that are faithful readers, thank you so much for your support, your emails and your advice and encouragement. I really appreciate it over here. And as my Scottish friends know, I have very great difficulties in working with unpunctual people  and therefore appreciate some encouragement 
With Juan and Margarita we have some future plans for future relations and you are all welcome to help out with whatever is possible.
Let you know more soon.

That is where some money went ….and if anyone wins the lottery…

Last week I finally decided to spent some of the money that was raised by a farmacy near Freiburg/Germany and by a Latin Night in a Pub in Scotland with the help of a lot of Sponsors.
In the centre there is one problem the staff there keeps mentioning when asked for urgent changes: the police. Police here is not like police in Europe. They have a different attitude to work and with a good number of policemen in the centre exist quite difficult problems that hinder the work of the professionals in the centre. The boys do spent day and night there and staff leaves at 6. After that they are alone with the police that is with them constantly, in the same house, same rooms etc. The space forces everyone to live quite close and the fear of the policemen that the boys try to run. Therefore the boys are never alone, always with authoritive policemen who are contradictory to the vision and objectives of the work of the centre. Therefore Juan decided with a bit of money in one pot to build the wall around the centre higher and install lights for the night, so that they can successfully ask the police authorities to remove the policemen from the boys’ quarters and put them in the corners of the centre. That would solve quite a lot of tensions and problems and incidence (as one very ugly one last week). As we are in Ecuador though, the pot of money was not enough and that happens a lot over here. Step by step, always waiting that something happens. And how lucky this time again, friends, family, businesses and other supporters raised a couple of hundred Dollars for me to take over to Riobamba. Thank you so much and now you also now what it was spent on. As an almost Social Worker and observer I can assure you that this is quite a beneficial way of spending the money for the lives of the boys. Thank you all so much …
By the way, if anyone wins the lottery, there is still this amazing project “Juan´s dream” in Santa Cruz: a village with workshops (to self-finance), a Human rights centre, schools, colleges and family houses for young people from very poor backgrounds that otherwise would not have a chance of education. It is a centre to facilitate the growing and flourishing of young leaders of tomorrows new and fairer, just world. At the moment it is still just foundations and structures of 3 houses and needs at least 175 000 Dollars more to get build. There is more to it and if anyone wins the lottery, get back and ask…it is honestly and amazing idea that is more than beautiful…

¡Europe is paradise! – ¿Really?

Another amazing, heart-warming experience I had was with some of the muchachos. I finally managed to get them talking seriously about some things and they seemed to open up. For me it was unbelievable when they asked me seriously if Europe and the USA have thieves and delinquents as well!!! I was a bit shocked about this question because it seemed so absurd to ask. I answered of course do they have, Europe and the USA are not the paradise where everything is perfect, poverty does not exist in the dictionary and problems is a word from South America that we cannot apply to our lives. For them people from Europe live in complete paradise, we earn lots of money and live like kings and queens, do not have any problems, and don’t care about people like them. This really made a huge impression on me.

Me and almost 30 señoras ...

There are a lot of things that happen, like always but here it is very confusing for me because on the one hand people are very slow, never punctual (1hour late is normal) and do not take things too seriously, even at work. Of course that can be quite refreshing but first of all, where I work, we work with people, and in the centre and in the countryside mostly with very vulnerable people. Therefore slowness and a little lack of taking things seriously can do quite a bit of harm at one point. The second problem I have is that my time is very limited and I should plan, but since I arrived this seems almost impossible. Yesterday I sat down and planned what I want to finish when but I really do struggle with a week late collaboration every time I need it. Well, Ecuador is different things go differently and obviously a bit slower. I still do hope that the Maltrato Infantil (child Abuse) leaflet and Manual on how to use it and do workshops with it, will be finished next week. I luckily have a friend in the Foundation who is also a volunteer and said he will help me with putting everything into the right words. So I do hope that tomorrow or the day after we will sit down and go over everything I have written so far. Thank you Marco! Last week was quite exciting for me because on Tuesday night at 11 Juan and Margarita told me that they wont be there tomorrow for the team meeting of the Desarrollo Infantil project and that a group of 15 facilitators (doing very similar work) from Ambato will join us as well. Well, that sounded interesting until they put the planning and presentation in my hands. At 11 o’clock at night!!!!!!! Mils gracias! But I do love to plan things like that, so we exchanged ideas to make sure we are all on the same track and I stood there at 8:30 in the morning, prepared for the day. I was a facilitator of a workshop of 26 señoras and one señor. Interesting experience with my medio Spanish. I was quite aware of time and pushed people quite a bit to get the most out of the morning. At the end I had some new friends from Ambato who love to come and do work experience in Scotland and Germany and moreover managed to heat up my body temperature in the freezing Andes that I only needed a T-Shirt while everyone else was covered in Ponchos and wide scarves .
On Thursday we had a very productive meeting which really cheered me up and gave me new energy. I finally shared all my thought, observations and recommendations I prepared for the Centro Apoyo Juvenil with the team and together we embarked on identifying all the necessary actions we need to take to improve the work of the Centre for the sake of the muchachos. There is a lot to come but as Juan and Margarita asked me to keep doing, I have to push a lot to get things moving. Culture is Latino culture…laid back…