Well this is me back on Blog-line after a short break while I forgot how to do blogs. I have gone back to computer class and hopefully these will become a regular feature of this website.
Yesterday I went with Jamie Maxwell (and HCPT friend who just recently has graduated in journalism) up into the mountains to visit another St. James’ priest, Liam Reilly, from County Mayo. Liam had been with me for a couple of weeks when he arrived on the Missions I n January; and, after a few months in another Guayaquil parish, accepted the challenge of starting a Parish in one of the remotest parts of Ecuador. I had visited a couple of times but this time we stayed two days allowing us to see the Parish in action and to travel to some distant parts.
As well as serving the main village of Chontamarca, Liam has thirty-five remote communities some of which are only accessible on horseback. Sadly we didn’t get a chance to do the horseback bit but we did visit four or five remote communities. It is because of their remoteness that the people of these communities live in poverty: no running water; and a lack of education or health care simply because there is not good access. Many of these communities have remained unchanged for years and a lot of the older villagers told me that they had never lived anywhere else. Sadly most of the parents of young children have left the area to find work in the USA or in Spain from where they send money back to their families.
In one village while Liam was talking to the children preparing for First Communion in December, myself and Jamie played football, volleyball and other races on the make-shift tennis court. It was great fun just to “waste time” having fun, although we both got sunburnt quite a bit! Then, together with the older members, we celebrated Mass together where some of the hymns were in the ancient Latin language of Chechua.
What amazed me is that these remote and poor people seemed as happy as anyone I had seen. Yes they no health care available, yes the education system seems very poor, yes they had great poverty but their indigenous way of life gave them stability and I left wondering who was the happiest, them or me?
