Millhillmissionariesecuador: The purpose of this blog.

The Art Work is by Joseph and Sandra Hould, former

Mill Hill Associates U.S.A . St Louis, Missouri.

A typical slum in Guayaquil. This one is called Suburbio.

THIS BLOG HAS NINE CHAPTERS.

I. THE PURPOSE OF WRITING THE HISTORY OF THE MILL HILL MISSIONARIES IN ECUADOR
II. THE MOTORWAY
III. MISSION
IV. AFROECUADOREANS
V. STATISTICS AND LOGISTICS
VI. PHOTOS ALMOST LOST
VII. THE DISPENSARY ST ROSE OF LIMA
VIII. THE DAY CARE CENTRE AND THE CATHOLIC SCHOOL
IX. LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOUR AS YOURSELF.

A Blog is somewhat like a labyrinth.you have to find your way through it.
With a little patience you will succeed. At the bottom of each page. You can move the blog along pressing on the two words ENTRADAS ANTIGUAS. Press.Good Luck.

South America has inspired missionaries, explorers, arqueologists, schoolchildren, romantics, bandits ,pirates ,and tourists, ever since the days of the Incas Huascar and Atahualpa and their conquest by the Spaniards, FRANCISCO PIZARRO, SEBASTIAN DE BENALCAZAR,FRANCISCO DE ORELLANA AND DIEGO DE ALMAGRO.,1532

This story or history of the MILL HILL MISSIONARIES IN ECUADOR is dedicated to all the members of our missionary congregation known as ST JOSEPHS MISSIONARY SOCIETY OF MILL HILL. It is also dedicated to all my family,relatives, friends and benefactors, to the communities we have worked with in Ecuador, to the wonderful Ecuatorians who have formed the mission team since the work began in 1975 and 1991 and to the Mill Hill Missionaries, priests and lay associates who pioneered and helped to establish the Faith in the Isla Trinitaria. Many people have asked for the simple story to be written about the Mill Hill Missionaries in Ecuador.Ecuador is a small tropical country near the top of south America on the Pacific coast between Colombia and Peru.It is called the pearl of the Pacific.It is so small that it is sometimes diffcult to find.If you have access to a school globe you could find the equator and follow it round till you reach south America., Ecuador has a beautiful Pacific coastline, it has soft white sand beaches and warm seas , it has the beautiful Andes mountains, and it has the dense humid jungle.It has volcanoes some of which are active at this time.It is called the Amazon country though in fact nowadays it has little to do with the Amazon. Ecuador lost a big proportion of its territory in the Protocolo de Rio de Janeiro January 28th 1942. It is a tourists paradise.The population of Ecuador is 13,700,000. It uses the USA dollar..Its recourses are oil,fish,shrimps and lobsters,bananas,balsa wood,coffee, cacao,wood,flowers,fruit and vegetables,and Panama hats.The Galapagos Islands belong to Ecuador. Charles Darwin was there to study the species,flora and fauna, during his famous voyage on the Beagle(1831-1836).Prince Charles and Camilla have just visited the Galapagos Islands march 2009 to commemorate the 200 years since the birth of Charles Darwin. They were thrilled with their visit. Prince Charles baptized a baby tortoise giving it the name of William. The word Galapagos means giant tortoise.So the Galapagos Islands are the islands of the giant tortoises. Ecuador is five or six hours behind London time depending on the time of the year.The people are European, Afros, Mestizos, Mulatoes, Indigenous, Indian, Quichua, and there are many tribes in the jungle(Shuars,Jivaros,Cayapas,Kwichuas,and Canaris).

Isla Trinitaria slum

the slum or better put the swamp

the slum

HERE ARE FOUR PHOTOS OF THE ISLA TRINITARIA SLUM .THE SECTOR IS CALLLED THE ISLA DEL VALLE. ISLA TRINITARIA.GUAYAQUIL.ECUADOR

The languages spoken are Spanish,Quichua, and tribal .The religion is Catholic and Evangelical. The government with the new President Rafael Correa has launched a project to eliminate illiteracy in Ecuador and many other projects to benefit the poor.Ecuador has two weather seasons,wet ,december to may, and a dry season may to december. The wet season is our winter and the dry season is our summer. Our winter is extremely hot and humid,and there are plagues of mosquitoes flies.and frogs,and the people get sick with malaria,dengue fever,respiratory infections,,typhoid, TB, diarrhea,,skin diseases , and parasites.The Mill Hill Missionaries were assigned to work in the Isla Trinitaria,a huge slum, in the south of the city of Guayaquil which is the commercial capital of Ecuador. This was in 1991. May 9th.

Two priests were appointed. Father David Murphy and Father Frank Smith.The Isla Trinitaria is one of the slums of Guayaquil. It was a vast unhealthy swamp but an earlier President Rodrigo Borja filled it in with sand and sluice from the massive river which surrounds the ISLA TRINITARIA..In 1989 the government built a motorway through the swamp to enable the heavy vehicles from the port of Guayaquil to bypass the city.Thousands of poor people flocked to the island to squat alongside the motorway and claim a piece of land..they built bamboo huts as houses..The Mill Hill Missionaries arrived after the motorway was built but before the Belgian Dredger firm filled in the land. That is almost 18 years ago now.Now many changes have taken place in the island. The island is partially paved.We have running water,though it is not drinkable..We have a sewerage system which is faulty.We have electricity. Street illumination at night is pathetic in the slum. There are many cement houses.

The new President is building cement houses for the poor.He gives a bonus to the very poor people. So the situation has vastly improved.All these things had to be fought for.All credit is due to the people and some good politicians,and Presidents and to the brilliant mayor of Guayaquil Jaime Nebot. Many things have been achieved but there is still a long way to go in the Isla Trinitaria. The poverty is still alarming.

Father Wim van Gastel mhm became parish priest of Our Lady of Peace parish. Father Brian Ahern mhm stayed with Father Wim but looked after the Divine Child church and the St Teresa church in the Isla Trinitaria. Mary Kilcoyne mhm AND Anne Harrison mhm, and Ildi Dunai mhm with the help of a wonderful catechist called Narcisa Medranda looked after the Sagrada Familia church, and all the communities in the isla trinitaria.They trained leaders, catechists in the whole island.The Good Shepherd Nuns eventually built a convent and school in the isla trinitaria, and also a dispensary in the area of the Divine Child. The INMACULADA Nuns also built a school in St Teresa,s parish and have some 800 pupils. The Franciscan missionaries of St Joseph(The Mill Hill Sisters) also work in Guayaquil but not in the Isla Trinitaria. They work in another big very poor slum called EL GUASMO.They run an excellent clinic founded by Sister Theodora Slot FMSJ. Sister Josefina,Sister Eduvige,Sister Jenny Meir,Sister Frances Slater,Sister Sara,Sister Mary Monari and Sister Moira Geary(superior) have their convent and dispensary in the parish the Immaculate Heart of Mary in the Guasmo slums. The names above are of the Sisters I have known here. Some have moved on.The Franciscan Missionaries of St Joseph also work in Colimes about two hours from Guayaquil( Sister Maura Murphy fmsj.now retired on sick leave and Sister Mary Coyne fmsj) and in Quito(Sister Catherine Vaughan fmsj and sister Nuala from Lancashire.uk)). The Sisters were invited to Ecuador by Father Des Dalton from the Cardiff Archdiocese who has worked many years in Ecuador as a St James Missionary.The St James Missionaries were founded by Cardinal Cushing of Boston USA in 1960.The Mother General Sister Joan fmsj has been to Ecuador on visitation and the Superior Generals Maurice McGill mhm, and Jac Hetsen mhm have visited the Sisters on their visits to the Isla Trinitaria, Father Bill Tollan mhm and Brother Jos Boerkamp mhm too,.Father Brendan Sullivan mhm and Father Louis Purcell mhm The FMSJ sisters have been an inspiration to everyone in South America. They are totally dedicated to the poor. St Francis I am sure is very proud of them all. I have just heard from Sister Moira,the Superior, that the Sisters will close their dispensary soon because of the lack of patients, and they will leave el Guasmo. Sister Moira will go to the uk, and Sister Josefina will go to los Domingos de Colorados to work- We all wish them every blessing, and we thank them profusely for their magnificent work in the slums of El Guasmo.This latest news is of november 3rd 2010 just as I am preparing to leave my mission too this month. This truly the end of an era,

The latest news as of today august 16th is that Father Francis Smith mhm will retire from his work in Guayaquil November 30th 2010 or there about. An Ecuadorean priest has been nominated as the new Parish Priest. His name is Padre Jose Manuel Delgado aged 31 years. We welcome him with open arms and will help him to settle in to his first pàrish. The Mill Hill Missionaries have no one to send to replace Father Smith. Father Jose Manuel Delgado is a diocesan priest.He speaks good English. It is good that the Mill Hill Missionaries are handing over to the diocesan church that which years ago was mission territory. Father Smith mhm has just completed 20 years in the Isla Trinitaria and 30 years in Ecuador altogether.

I thank everyone involved in the Mill Hill Mission in the Isla Trinitaria very much indeed.

august 16th 2010 flsmith