Martin Chambers Ecuador Trust

So we’re all feeling a little down after yesterday’s result! This week has been a bit of a whirlwind in terms of construction. The wall at Maestro was finished and looks as good as it did before it fell down last time!!! Hopefully, with the new structure put in place, it will survive any further landslides. Either that or the whole chapel will slide down the hill?? Then, just as that was finishing, I asked the architect to look at the path and staircase outside the Parish Church and all the way down the side past the house and Nursery. Basically the rains over the past two years have caused quite a bit of erosion of the stairway. So it needed restructuring and a proper drainage system put in place (since the city council will not do it, it’s up to individuals to get that sorted). What amazed me was that the architect decided to go for it right there and then. And, within a day, had ten men working on it. As a result it was completed within three days finishing on Saturday there. And, as if it were a test from heaven, the rain came on just as they were finishing seeing if the drainage they had constructed was going to be effective. Positive result. Which was just as well since I was already “toasting” their good work in the usual fashion. Thanks, lads. We were at Ayangue down the coast for our monthly meeting with the St. James’ priests. That is always good occasion with a lot of singing, craic and catching up. This time there was sadness in the air as Ed Veasey, who has been here for twenty years or more, is leaving to do a six month sabbatical. He has been in Guasmo, a really poor area of the city for the last eighteen years and has done a power of work with a very simple manner. He is a true missionary. We wish him well as he moves into a new phase of missionary work.

I was glad to go to Bismarck’s 3rd birthday party the other day. His Dad had just made a passing comment on Saturday about his party and I thought I might not have time what with Masses etc. But, on my way to another Mass, I stopped by the house and I was glad I did. Not only was the main man in good birthday form but there was a swimming pool inside their shanty house. An amazing experience. I didn’t actually go in the pool but I did dance and I did eat the cake. So I was suitably birthday-ed up!!! Feliz Cumpleaños, Bismarck!