Martin Chambers Ecuador Trust

Well that’s them away – Ian & Michael. It was fantastic to have them here. It is great to have people here all the time. As I have said before, the way I now approach people coming out from home to experience life in the shanty has changed: I used to think that I had to create a heavy schedule and keep everyone busy and therefore contented. Of course, people like my friend Jamie Maxwell, who is out for three months, have a different plan – he is here to work in the school teaching English and gets on with his own tasks. However, normally people can only manage for less time (ten days or so) and I now think that it is as easy simply to say “Look, I am doing this and I think you’d get a good idea of the situation of the poor people and their families simply be tagging along”. And that is what we did with Ian & Michael: we visited some old folk in their homes; we visited the school; we celebrated Masses in the various chapels; we popped in to see poor friends; we visited some priests in the area. As well as that Michael & Ian’s visit coincided with the one-off Pastoral Visit from the Archbishop. This consisted in a walk with the Archbishop up and down the dusty streets to see people and places in the Parish; a meal with the Arch and his auxiliaries; and a big Sunday Mass with fiesta afterwards. This meant that my Scottish guests were meeting high heid yins all week: another surreal moment, no doubt. As we said farewell this morning and reflected on ten jam-packed days, I could hear from their voices that they had been touched and affected by the experience of poverty here but more so by the love and affection shown to them. It is the same “best ever” experience that we all have having lived here.