The very sad news this week came when we heard that our good pal from the Parish, Pedro, had died. Pedro was well-known to many of the Scots visitors that came here as he lived near the school and was a regular at all our Masses. He was 78 when he died last Saturday and had suffered since June with a cancerous growth. He really was a lovely guy and the funny thing about him was that at Mass, when people were asked to add their own petitions, he would always pray for ‘Padre Martin’ …. That he might get wisdom. I pointed out that he never prayed that I might get MORE wisdom and people could think that I didn’t have any wisdom at all. But he never changed the prayer. Good old Pedro, rest in peace. Things are gearing up for a busy month of December with the Confirmation (100) and First Communions (250). Last week I went to the printers to get the certificates for all the children that take part in catechism classes. You see, we have two years preparation for First Communion and two years for Confirmation, plus we have an infant’s class. So I signed over 900 certificates last week. 900! Although as I pointed out to our catechists on Saturday just because we have quantity doesn’t mean we also have quality. I think we need to work at that. However the signing of the certificates made me realize that we do not have enough space for 250 First Communion kids what with all their family etc. So on the same day – 13th December – we will be having two First Communion Masses. No doubt my smile will be worn by the end of that day! I went down to the Soup Kitchen today for lunch as I often do. The mean is very good: a good plate of home- made soup followed by a plate of rice and beans all washed down with home-made fruit juice. I was asking today how they judge what people get into the Soup Kitchen. And Freddy as able tot ell me that they actually visit the kids before they accept them for the Soup Kitchen to check that they are the poorest ones. Mainly it will be kids whose parents are not at home all day because they are working in the city; so they would be coming home to an empty house and an empty plate. Our newest chapel – Saint Narcisa – was having it Novena this week so it was great to be able to participate in that bamboo chapel. There is room for about 120 people crammed in to the chapel and each night it was full. The way they had organised it is that they had invited the various areas of the Parish to take charge of organising the hymns and prayers and had also asked a priest or nun to give a talk. I wasn’t able to go every night but, when I was, it was always a lively affair. And now you find me down at Ayangue for our annual retreat. The retreat has not actually started yet as people are arriving all day – from Peru, from Boston and from Bolivia as well as from all parts of Ecuador. I had the task of going late on Saturday night to pick up the two priests that will lead the retreat, Fr. Jim and Fr. George, both from the USA. We had a good few chats over these last few days and, of course they had their work cut out with me …. they’re both psychologists!

The Charity ‘2 Hands’ comes from the midlands of England and is led by Dianne Kidd and Douglas Mullen (originally from East Kilbride). They run their charity to support Church projects in Ecuador. So far we have been the lucky recipients of funding for our School. And they are interested in helping us for the forthcoming Medical Centre. This week’s big adventure then was me sending a Memory Stick with a few short videos of why we need a Medical Centre with interviews etc of people inside and out the present First Aid post. I sent it by DHL and you can track your parcels on the net. So one day it was Guayaquil to Panama, then it was on to Barbados (for some reason) before it made its way over to Europe and England. It eventually got there and Dianne and Douglas have now transformed it into a short five-minute clip. So hopefully it will be of use to somebody. And hopefully the Medical Centre can become a reality. I was woken up last night at 1am!!! Ring, ring, ring at the door! Wasn’t too impressed by getting woken up but then found out it was a sick call. Just round the corner from me is Dario, a sixty-four year-old who has been ill off and on. This time his family had thought that he was really suffering – he looked really bad and I said the prayers. As I left I wasn’t sure if he would still be with us by the morning time. And sure enough when I went back in the morning, the undertakers had already arrived. IT was sad as always to see the family in tears, a family that I have visited often. Poverty all around but, despite that, they give a lot of dignity to their dead. Rest in peace, Dario. Last Sunday we had a medical Brigade come out from one of the city centre parishes. There were about fifteen doctors and nurses ranging from dermatologists to dentist (and other specialties that I cannot spell). We had arranged that there would be a ticket system to prevent fights and, in the end, we had around four hundred patients. Everyone was treated with patience and the treatments and tablets were all free. It was all well appreciated but the great need that was shown that day reminded me of how urgent is the need for a medical centre that has affordable prices to the poorest. To finish the day today, I had a pleasant but unusual experience. I say unusual because it is something you would not associate with being in a shanty town. Our Parish School celebrated its’ first-ever “Prom”. At the start I was a bit unsure of whether it was right to have such a thing but the kids insisted for about two years and eventually Adela and Freddy relented. So last night the patio of the school was bedecked with make-shift lighting and romantically set tables. There was food on the go – not a posh meal just sausage and chips (but lovely nonetheless!). And there was a School Queen elected by the pupils – Alison, one of our Catechists. And there were posh suits (hired, I suppose) and home-made dresses. The kids danced (I did too) from that 10pm start until around 2am. I had long since gone. On reflection though, I thought to myself well, it’s a school and it can and should act like any other school. There was no extravagance associated with it – it was very much simply put together and very much enjoyed by all. It will, I suspect, become part of the school calendar!

Tom Oates came back on Thursday and it is great to have him back not least because I don’t have to be doing their extra Mass. I love going back to Tom’s Parish each year to remember old friends but you don’t really feel part of the community and you drift in and drift out. In any case, I have now seen Tom – he came over this morning – but there was no present of US chewing gum! Oh and no mention of the big US event of the week – the election. So I don’t know if that means he’s Republican or just forgot to mention it. And the great news he gave me was regarding the building here of the Medical Centre. I mentioned that we are fighting with the ‘lawyer’ over rights to the land where we want to build. He said that, if the land belongs to the City Council, then the lawyer has no claim over the land and we have legal rights over it. Of course, that was the position we had already come to but it was good to get an independent voice supporting our view. Let’s see if this week’s meeting with the Council brings ‘white smoke’; if so, we can move closer to building start date. Talking of a building start date, I went over to see Colm Hogan’s new school building this week; they are doing the building for a school start-date in April 2009. I had already seen the three classrooms that had been built before I went home to Scotland but now they have started building a convent for some Philippine nuns that are coming to run the school. The convent is large and will house three nuns. It is great to see Colm’s sector expanding too although it is still incredibly poor as well – no running water, sewerage and no electricity. Ten days ago I was asked to go to a Rotary Club function to speak about our work here. The meeting was in a very posh house in a very wealthy part of the city – totally different from Nueva Prosperina. There was genuine interest in what is being done here. As ever there were promises of help. Normally the promises remain as such but these promises produced fruit this Tuesday as I was the proud deliverer of fifty boxes of beans (a thousand tins of beans). Thank you, Jorge Luis – right enough I wouldn’t go near the school Soup Kitchen for a few weeks!!!! The bad news of the week is that Oso had another raging fight with a dog out on the street. I was going over to see Felix about the Church benches. Since it was a nice afternoon I thought I would walk and, since he had been a good boy for over five months, I thought Oso would be calm enough. He was – most of the way – until about five minutes from Felix’s house! He went into a raging fight with a smaller dog. It wasn’t quite a case of putting my fist into the lion’s den but you get the picture. I had to rescue the other dog from Oso – and then make sever apologies. Never again for Oso’s walks around the sector.

This weekend has been quite quiet as it is a mix of school holiday week with All Souls weekend where people travel the country to get to their home villages in order to visit the graves of their loved ones. It is a nice tradition but it does leave our relatively new areas with very little people. Having said that, with less people there is less need of water tanks (normally come from 4am tooting their horns) so I have been sleeping till 5.30am/6am!!! This week also saw our in-service at the school. As I said last week there seems to have been a specific problem which needed to be sorted out. So we had our two days in the school – we had been scheduled to go down to Ayangue! The first day I led them in a discussion on ‘sin’ and how our actions can harm others. Colm was also on hand to hear Confessions – I think most went. We looked at the specific problem but there was no one standing up saying ‘I am the cause’ ….. so we moved on. The next day I had decided to concentrate on ‘community’ but, rather than talking about it in a dry sense, I decided that we should do something active that shows how to ‘build community’. So I sent them on a Treasure Hunt around the sector. I think they thought they were walking around two or three streets but one group was out for over two-and-a-half hours! At the end of two days it was back to hugs and kisses, smiles all round. Oh yes and a water fight to show we are all pals again. I am not sure if our two days achieved their purpose but they got there, In getting ready for the Treasure Hunt, I went round the route and therefore the sector walking. It is one of the simple and great joys just getting out and having a walk. When you are driving you don’t have a chance to meet people but when walking you can stop and talk to folk, go into their homes. And you end up seeing people’s lives so much closer. It is a real privilege. We are moving ahead with plans for the Medical Centre. The housing charity, Hogar de Cristo, are working this week in trying to find out exactly whether we can build on the plot of land beside the Nursery. It could be tricky of course because the ‘lawyer’ could cause problems in saying that the land is his. Having said that, if the land is clearly stated as municipal and the City Council gives it to us for a Medical Centre, what can be said????? This week should move it forward a wee bit more.