For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Kaitlyn. I was once an active member of the Kirk of Kildaire—a regular at Youth Group and Sunday school, a member of Covenant Ringers, and a helper in the nursery. But God has called me elsewhere, and I now reside as a Peace Corps Volunteer in a small community in coastal Ecuador. It is hot, dusty, dirty, poor, and as my mother called it during her recent visit—depressing. But, I love it. It has become my home.
The purpose of this letter is to thank you all for your generous clothing donations and to tell you all about a bit the people that they went to. A few weeks ago, my mother and my father came to visit me. We hadn’t seen each other in nine months, the longest we have ever gone with out seeing each other. As you can imagine, it was an emotional reunion. They brought with them, in addition to their own belongings, two large fifty pound suitcases full of clothes. Today, one of my Ecuadorian friends and I went to the poorest sections of my town to give beautiful, new or lightly used clothing to families without floors, running water, four solid walls.
Gisella is a bright and friendly girl who I have taught to read. She used to not be able to read her homework instructions. We are now reading Charlotte’s Web together. She lives with her mother, stepfather, and four of her brother and sisters in a small cement room. A curtain separates the ‘bedroom’ where they all sleep together from the kitchen. They don’t have running water or there own bathroom. They have to share a communal sink and bathroom with their neighbors. Every child received several shirts and pairs of shorts. Three of them received shoes.
Jocelin is an 11-year old friend of mine to whom I taught swimming lessons. When she began she was afraid to leave the shallow end. When I finished with her, she was swimming laps. Jocelin lives with her parents and younger brother in a small house made of sticks. They don’t have a floor and when they want to enter the house after they’ve locked the door, Jocelin has to crawl through the window and open it from the inside. Jocelin and her brother each received two new outfits which they proudly modeled for me.
Wilson is an energetic, twelve-year old sweetheart. He loves to play soccer and brings a soccer ball wherever he goes. Sadly, his parents are separated and his father does not send his mother child support. His mother can’t afford to support Wilson and his brother and sister. She wants to take Wilson out of school and send him to work on the banana plantations. He is going to end up working there anyway, so what does it matter if he can read or write? Wilson, his siblings, his two cousins that live with him all received new clothes.
Marina is a kind and generous woman who has five children. She used to be a runner, and won several trophies in her youth that she proudly showed us. She stays at home to care for the house and children. She doesn’t have very much, but kindly offered my friend and I breakfast. Since I hadn’t eaten and it is rude to decline food, I accepted. I was treated to a huge breakfast that I couldn’t finish. Each of her children received several clothing items. Her youngest, who had been wearing shoes that he complained “hurt his bones” because they were too small, received shoes.
Elena is a young mother that I met while chatting outside with my neighbor a few days ago. She is a refugee from Colombia who recently moved to my town. She fled her country with barely anything but her three children in tow. She has no friends and family here to help her, nor has she been able to find a job yet. All her children received new clothing.
Maria is nineteen years old and recently gave birth to a baby girl. When she found out she was pregnant, she married the baby’s father. Neither her family nor her new in-laws have the space or the money to welcome a new into their family, so the two newlyweds live separately. A month before her baby was born, her husband was in a terrible motorcycle and had to be taken to Guayaquil, the largest city it Ecuador and about 3 hours away, for treatment. He has not yet seen his month-old baby daughter. They new mother gratefully accepted several clothing items and a pretty baby blanket for her daughter.
In total, seventeen families where helped with the clothes that I have received so-far. More clothes are on their way. On behalf of the people of my community, thank you so very much! You have relieved many parents’ burden to clothe their children and you have given many children new clothes to be proud of. As they say in Ecuador Dios le paga- God pays you.
Yours in Christ,
Kaitlyn
