Isla Trinitaria. Guayaquil. Ecuador.2009
Maria Toledo y sus 7 niños en la Iglesia Sta Rosa de Lima.
Maria Toledo is a young mother of seven children, six girls and one boy. She is almost as tiny as her children, Her husband is constantly looking for work but had no success because he had no documents. They live in our parish and they are as poor as church mice.. With the world economic recession the number of poor people in Ecuador and in Latin America. is increasing. Maria and her family struggle to live on a dollar a day. Their diet is cheese soup and boiled rice with vegetables. Since Maria brings her family to Mass every Sunday.I asked the parish council to take Maria and her family under their wings. They did so willingly.. As a result the parish helped Maria and her family to get all the necessary documents. The children had no birth certificates. They should have been registered at birth but the parents never bothered.. . This is a big problem here because it costs money to register late.. A child without a birth certificate cannot get into school. A man without a birth certificate cannot get a job.. But the parish succeeded in getting all documents and in putting the children into school. And in getting the husband the chance to get a job. Our dispensary gives free medical treatment to Maria and all her family. Her mother has a spacious bamboo shack so Maria and her family lived for a time with her mother but now she has her own plot of land and her own bamboo house. You can see Maria and family in the photo. The future wont be easy for her but at least someone has given her a chance to survive. The parish community has put her children into school.The parish has helped many families like Maria Toledo,s to get their documents.. and to get into school and to get their property,their shack and their plot of land recognised by the town council.To see the joy on the faces of those who have received their documents, is a reward in itself.,…Love your neighbour as yourself.
The young mother with her two children. April 2009
Lupe Bravo is a young mother with three children. Her eldest son Luber is 12 years old and completely paralysed from birth. He is blind and dumb but hears something. He knows his mother. Lupe has really looked after him and her other two children. She isnt a beggar. She works every day to find the money for her family. The father abandoned her after the birth of her last child. Our dispensary gave her the first wheelchair and has helped her with medications. Our parish have built her a room with a special toilet. Luber is beginning to lose weight alarmingly. She has to feed him all the time. Mothers make such tremendous sacrifices in bringing up a family. I would say fathers too but in this case the father abandoned his children.
Lupe Bravo y Luber 2009
Lupe Bravo and Luber 2009
When she was young , her common law husband used to beat her up. When she pregnant with her son John , he kicked her in the stomach and the breasts repeatedly. As a result when John was born he was totally paralysed. Sandra had a rough time. She said her husband was around somewhere. We located him and he seemed oblivious that he had caused big problems. In fact he seemed to be mentally retarded. He was incapable of doing anything for his wife and son but he agreed he would come with us to the Hospice for the terminally sick. Both Sandra and her son John died in the Hospice but they were very well looked after. The suffering of Sandra was most upsetting but what a valiant mother she was.Even though she cried a lot and couldnt find a comfortable position in the bed and found it very hard to sleep, she never complained.She had received the Sacrament of the Sick. May she and her son rest in peace.Amen. Here are the photos.
Juan Rojas Vera. Paralysed from birth.
He accompanied his mother to the hospice for the terminally sick. They both died within a few months. May they rest in peace.,
Yessenia with her baby daughter Maria
Fanny Caicedo has a large family and they live in the worst part of the slum.Her husband Juan does odd jobs here and there but the family of eight children are very poor. Our parish gave her a cement floor and a more solid house.The got all the documents for her family since none had been regiostered at birth. This took several months. Fanny was a Catholic (she says she still is) but she began listening to the Protestant radio and was convinced of the need to fast in order to be close to God. This had serious consequences because the children became malnourished and our dispensary had to treat them and feed them. The situation got so bad that we had to rescue the children and send them to a Childrens Protective Care centre on the coast run by Father Dumas and Lay Missionaries. We sent four children. Fanny kept four. She is coping much better. She sees her children who are in care regularly and they spend their holidays with her. They are being well educated and well fed and they bathe in the Pacific Ocean every day. Nobody likes taking children away from their mother but if we hadnt intervened the children would have died of malnutrition in the name of God which would not have been right
Isabel Toledo and her children
Isabel Toledo
A house to be built on rocks
Making progress with Isabel,s house.
It is beginning to take shape.
still building
An important part of Mission is to train leaders especially among the youth. Our Mill Hill Lay Associates Mary Kilcoyne from Southport, Anne Harrison fromTyne and Wear(May Anne rest in peace.) and Ildi Dunai from Budapest, were extremely successful in training leaders from the many Basic Catholic Communities in the Isla Trinitaria. Boys and Girls, Men and Women responded to the call to serve their Saviour Jesus Christ. They are now disciples and missionaries. To see so many young people involved personally with the Church, is a great consolation to an old Mill Hill Missionary like myself who began the Mill Hill IslaTrinitaria Guayaquil Mission in May 1991. Here is a photo of our Catechists in our St Rose of Lima parish,Isla Trinitaria, Guayaquil, Ecuador and a photo of our Catholic Youth who took a theatrical part in our Good Friday Procession April 2009. The money to train the Catechists came from the Association of the Propagation of the Faith(the APF). Many thanks to all the wonderful people in England and Wales who contribute to the RED MISSIONARY BOXES. Their generosity achieves wonderful projects in the Missions. As a Mill Hill Missionary I would like to thank EACH AND EVERY ZELATOR AND CONTRIBUTOR with a RED BOX for their marvellous support. The Missions need your help. Thank you very much. Guayaquil. Ecuador. May 2009.
The Catechists St Rose of Lima parish .Isla Trinitaria. Guayaquil.Ecuador.
The Youth Drama Group "Mi Getsemani". St Rose of Lima church. Guayaquil. Good Friday April 2009
Mothers Day. May 2009.
A group of adults who made their First Communion. May 2009. Sta Rosa de Lima.The Adult First Communion Group.
OUR DISPENSARIO RECEIVED A HUMANITARIAN AWARD ON SEPTEMBER 21ST 2010 FROM THE FOUNDATION MEDICINESFORHUMANITY FROM BOSTON USA CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OUR STAFF., AND TO THE MILL HILL MISSIONARIES WHO WERE THANKED PROFUSELY BY THE FOUNDATION IN BOSTON FOR THIRTY YEARS WONDERFUL SERVICE TO THE POOR, THE SICK, AND THE TERMINALLY SICK IN GUAYAQUIL ECUADOR.
THIS IS AS FAR AS THIS BLOG GOES ON THE WORK OF THE MILL HILL MISSIONARIES AND JOSPICE INTERNATIONAL IN THE ISLA TRINITARIA.. I WISH TO THANK EVERYONE WHO IS IN THIS HISTORY. GOD BLESS YOU ALL. I WILL MISS YOU ALL TERRIBLY WHEN I RETIRE BUT YOU WILL ALL BE IN MY PRAYERS AND MASSES AND I PROMISE TO COME BACK TO SEE YOU. YOU WILL BE ABLE TO ACCESS THIS BLOG ANYTIME YOU WISH. I WONT SAY GOODBYE.I WILL SAY HASTA LA VISTS OR AU REVOIR. UNTIL WE SEE ONE ANOTHER AGAIN. HOPEFULLY SOON. I HOPE TO COME BACK EVERY YEAR TO GUAYAQUIL IF SOMEONE PAYS MY FARE. TAKE VERY GOOD CARE OF YOURSELVES. YOU ARE ALL VERY SPECIAL TO ME. AND YOU ARE ALL ENGRAVED IN MY HEART.MANY MANY THANKS. MUCH LOVE TO YOU ALL. FATHER FRANK
FRANCIS LIAM SMITH JONES .NOVEMBER 1ST 2010. STA ROSA DE LIMA .ISLA TRINITARIA
PHOTO OF ONE OF MY FAREWELLS