Millhillmissionariesecuador

LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOUR AS YOURSELF.

2009-04-09T08:07:00.000-07:00

Pope Benedict 16th has said .....Love is the soul of Mission -. The same theme was expressed in the chapter on Mission in this blog. The Pope also said............We must become friends of the poor and suffering, casting the light of Christ upon the earth. The Mill Hill Missionaries in Ecuador have tried to do just this.

In a slum of 250,000 poor people living on top of one another, there is an awful lot of suffering. There is the poverty and suffering that you see ,and the poverty and suffering that you don’t see until some good person points it out. In our Sunday Masses we have always asked if any parishioner knows of a family or person suffering unduly in the confines of the parish. .The response has been good and the MILL HILL missionaries have been able to help people in terrible distress and suffering , thanks to the community who are becoming more aware of families who are living the poverty ,sickness and suffering of the worst kind. Here in Guayaquil the temperature this week 20 Abril 2009 has reached 40 degrees. Many families dont even have a simple fan so it is not surprising that people dont sleep too well. But when the temperature drops to 20 degrees the people complain of the cold!! . Whereas in the UK 20 degrees would be considered rather warm, and families would go to the seaside. The people here go the Pacific Ocean from December to the end of May when the temperature is between 30 and 40 degrees. For the rest of the year the beaches are almost deserted except for foreign tourists and Ecuadoreans who live in the Andes and come to Guayaquil for a holiday. It is now November 2010 and the tourists were frozen at the beach very recently during the public ho9lidays 1st,2nd and 3rd of November.The people on the beach at Salinas were wearing sweaters and jackets. the temperature was 20 grados.

Maria Toledo and her seven children. St Rose of Lima parish

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.

Maria Fernanda Ortiz is a 22 year old mother of two children. She lives in our parish. Her children are ok but she isnt. She has Hodgkins disease which has caused lymph gland swellings in her neck. You can see them on the photos. Her mother died when she was a little girl and she comes from Esmeraldas on the NW coast of Ecuador and she has a sister and a brother. She is separated from her husband. She was brought up by her father and her stepmother .She had no problems until about a year ago when she felt exhausted and noticed swellings in various parts of her body. The medical profession diagnosed Hodgkins Disease which in the old days was a death sentence. The cause of Hodgkins disease is not known.Nowadays with chemotherapy the patient sometimes can claim to be cured. Maria Fernanda came to the church St Rose of Lima because the chemotherapy was 480 dollars.She asked for help. The parish council agreed to help her and they took her to the cancer hospital and talked to the social worker who reduced the costs to $250. She was interned for a week and then given injections for week. She is with her children now until the next chemotherapy. The parish will continue helping her until she gets better. Will she come back'? She may not. We must look for her to encourage her to continue.The doctors are hopeful. Love your neighbour as yourself.

Maria Fernanda has Hodgkins disease. April 2009

Maria Fernanda has lymph swellings in her neck

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

Our next story is about a wonderful mother who suffered almost beyond human imagination.Her name is Sandra Vera Burgos aged 54 with three children. I heard about Sandra from a parishioner who told me that the woman was decomposing in her own shack from putrefaction of her breast. The shack had seen the best of its days and Sandra was sitting on a bed which seemingly had no mattress. On the floor lay a human heap. It was her son Juan totally paralysed and covered in bed sores. You can see the scene on the photos.The smell was absolutely nauseating not only in the shack but outside. Sandra said she had been like this for two years. She had gone to the Cancer Hospital but they had demanded $8,000 for an operation. Since she had no recourses she returned home and now she was decomposing alive. We took her back to the Cancer Hospital to be reassessed. The doctors were surprised by the state of the decay and said that nothing could be done.We took Sandra to the Diocesan Hospice for the Dying called El Hombre Doliente. She was admitted on the strength of the photos alone. She told us her story.

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.

Sandra Vera Burgos.Isla Trinitaria. 2008

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 Quiñonez is a young afroecuadorean girl who has syphilis and her baby Maria was born with the disease as you can see in the photo. Our parish did everything they could to hospitalise the baby and get excellent treatment but the baby died. Maria was baptised. Yessenia was sent for treatment and her partners were visited by the government social diseases nurses. We wouldnt have known about Yessenia except for a member of our Afroecuadorean Dance group. She disappears for months on end. The last time she had a test she was still positive. We have a big problem with Aids patients since the Aids virus is increasing in Ecuador. Several young men and women have already died in our parish. The government now has the medicines and also the Archdiocese of Guayaquil has an excellent Dispensary to help the patients.

Yessenia with her baby daughter Maria

Fanny Caicedo with her eight children.

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 is a good mother with a poor family who lived until very recently in a wobbly bamboo shack. Isabel is well known to the doctors and nurses in the dispensary because she suffers from poor health. They had visited her shack many times. They advised her to ask the new government to build her a house. She did but she was turned down because the land on which her shack is lodged belongs to her mother in law who is on a bad debt list- So she cant have a house. The parish council decided to help her build a house step by step. This is where we are at right now We have built the walls, the pillars and the floor. We still have the roof to do and the doors and windows. She and her children have been given all their documents and the children go to school. They were among the 30% to 40% of children who dont go to school in the Isla Trinitaria. The new president Rafael Correa is achieving wonders in Education and I am sure he will see to it that every child goes to school and that every adult can read and write. The President has just been re elected for four years so he is free now to achieve his programmes.

Isabel Toledo

The old wobbly shack fell apart .

A house to be built on rocks

Making progress with Isabel,s house.

It is beginning to take shape.

still building

As donations come in, the house progresses.

Father Frank Smith mhm with the Caicedo Family

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.

I PERSONALLY THANK THE MILL HILL MISSIONARIES FOR GIVING ME THE OPPORTUNITY TO SERVE THE POOR, THE SICK AND THE TERMINALLY SICK IN GUAYAQUIL ECUADOR. MANY THANKS TO FATHER NOEL HANRAHAN MHM A FORMER SUPERIOR GENERAL FOR GIVING ME PERMISSION TO STUDY NURSING AND THEN WORK WITH FR FRANCIS OLEARY MHM. FOR A FEW YEARS.I THANK FATHER FRANCIS OLEARY FOR HIS MISSIONARY VISION TO THE POOR,THE SICK AND THE TERMINALLY SICK WHICH WHICH ABSOLUTELY INSPIRED ME.MY GRATITUDE TO JOSPICE INTERNATIONAL FOR SUPPORTING OUR JOSPICE CLINIC ADMINISTERED BY MARIA LUISA PLAZA VERGARA,

MANY THANKS TO BISHOP DE WIT FOR ALLOWING ME TO WORK SIX YEARS FOR THE MILL HILL MISSIONARIES IN ST LOUIS MISSOURI. MANY THANKS TO FR MAURICE MCGILL MHM FOR ALLOWING ME TO BEGIN A NEW MILL HILL PROJECT IN THE SLUMS OF THE ISLA TRINITARIA GUAYAQUIL.ECUADOR I HAVE BEEN IN THE ISLA TRINITARIA TWENTY YEARS . ALTOGETHER I HAVE WORKED WITH THE POOR THIRTY YEARS IN GUAYAQUIL. FIRST TEN YEARS IN THE PARISH OF ST VINCENT DE PAUL IN SUBURBIO, AND NOW TWENTY YEARS IN THE PARISH OF ST ROSE OF LIMA IN THE ISLA TRINITARIA. I RETIRE WITH GRATITUDE FOR THE SUPPORT, INSPIRATION,AND ENCOURAGEMENT OF THE MILL HILL MISSIONARIES., AND FOR THE SUPPORT OF ALL MY BENEFACTORS.,AND FOR ALL THE WONDERFUL ECUADOREANS WHO HAVE COOPERATED IN THE EVANGELISATION PLAN OF MILL HILL MISSIONARIES. THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

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

MAKE A DOUBLE CLICK ON THE PHOTO TO SEE THE WHOLE PICTURE.

THE DAY CARE CENTRE AND THE CATHOLIC SCHOOL SANTA ROSA DE LIMA. ISLA TRINITARIA.GUAYAQUIL.ECUADOR. Second Page.

2009-03-18T14:24:00.000-07:00

St Rose of Lima School began in April 2000

Our School

Our School

Our Teachers

marching with the school on the motorway

The Day Care Centre St Rose of Lima

The Day Care Centre

Archbishop Juan Larrea blesses our school

st rose of Lima church

Father Jac Hetsen Superior General with the teachers

The Holy Family church built by the Mill Hill Lay Associates

The blessing

St Teresa church Palm Sunday

Kindergarden

The Blessing

The School

Refreshments after the Blessing

Our Day Care centre

Catechism class

A School Mass

School Graduation

Day Care Centre

Family Plaza Vergara

Father Jac Hetsen mhm in the day centre

Rose Obrien .Nutritionist.

Our clinic

The Parent Teachers group

Our Day Care Centre

THE DAY CARE CENTRE AND THE CATHOLIC SCHOOL SANTA ROSA DE LIMA.ISLA TRINITARIA.GUAYAQUIL.ECUADOR.

2009-03-16T16:58:00.001-07:00

St Rose of Lima school. with 300 pupils.

THE DAY CARE CENTRE WAS BUILT IN 1995 WITH A GENEROUS DONATION FROM ROBERT AND ROSE CRIMMINS OF BOSTON AND IT OPENED IN 1996 WITH 65 BABIES AND SMALL CHILDREN.THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES AGREED TO RUN IT FOR US. IT IS A NON PROFIT ORGANISATION WHICH RUNS HUNDREDS OF DAY CARE CENTRES IN ECUADOR.THE PRESIDENTS WIFE ROSITA PULEY DE BUCARAM CAME TO OPEN THE CENTRE FOR US.THEY HAVE KEPT TO THEIR WORD AND ACHIEVED WONDERS SINCE 1996. THEIR SERVICES ENABLE SOME 60 POOR MOTHERS TO GO TO WORK TO SUPPORT THEIR FAMILIES.. THIS YEAR THE GOVERNMENT HAS FORMED A NEW INSTITUTE AND WE ARE WAITING TO SIGN A CONTRACT WITH THEM TO CONTINUE THE DAY CARE CENTRE.THE ARCHBISHOP HAS AGREED TO ALLOW THEM TO USE THE BUILDING FOR THIS PURPOSE. THE CHILDREN AS THEY GET OLDER MOVE FROM THE CENTRE TO THE INFANT SCHOOL..THE SCHOOL ALSO IS NON PROFIT MAKING.IN FACT IT BORDERS ON FINANCIAL COLLAPSE IF THE PARENTS DON’T PAY THE MINIMAL FEES WE ASK FOR. SOME PARENTS ARE TOO POOR TO PAY THE FEES.. THE PARISH HAS VERY LITTLE INTAKE FINANCIALLY SO IT CANNOT PAY THE TEACHERS. WE CHARGE $10 FOR THE REGISTRATION FEE AND $14 A MONTH FOR EACH CHILD. TOTAL COST OF ONE CHILD IN SCHOOL FOR ONE YEAR IS $150. THIS MONEY IS FOR PAYING OUR CATHOLIC TEACHERS. THE MAYOR JAIME NEBOT SAADI VERY KINDLY GIVES THE SCHOOL BOOKS FREE TO SCHOOL IN THE POOR AREAS. THIS IS A TREMENDOUS HELP TO OUR PARENTS AND TO THE PARISH..WE HOPE THAT THE LORD MAYOR JAIME NEBOT SAADI WILL CONTINUE AS MAYOR OF GUAYAQUIL FOR MANY YEARS TO COME.

I THANK ALL THOSE WONDERFUL PEOPLE. MY FAMILY, MY RELATIVES,MY FRIENDS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD, IN THE USA, IN ENGLAND,IRELAND, SCOTLAND AND WALES,WHO SEND HELP TO PAY FOR THE VERY POOR CHILDREN WHO LIVE IN OUR AREA OF THE ISLA TRINITARIA..MAY GOD BLESS YOU ALL.OUR SCHOOL ST ROSE OF LIMA OPENED APRIL 3RD 2000 WITH 300 BOYS AND GIRLS AND 10 CATHOLIC LADY TEACHERS-. THE ARCHBISHOP CAME TO BLESS THE SCHOOL .CLERGY AND THE INSPECTOR OF SCHOOLS WERE PRESENT..YOU WILL SEE THE PHOTOS IN THE BLOG ..I CONSIDER A CATHOLIC SCHOOL ESSENTIAL TO A PARISH.. THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY IS THE BIGGEST CONTRIBUTOR TO THE PARISH COMMUNITY. THE CATHOLIC TEACHERS ARE BEACONS OF LIGHT AND THE STARS THAT SHINE IN HEAVEN..THE CHILDREN AND THEIR PARENTS ARE THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE.. THE PARISHIONERS ARE DELIGHTED TO HAVE A CATHOLIC SCHOOL.

WHY WAS THE SCHOOL ONLY OPENED IN 2000? SIMPLY BECAUSE THERE WAS NO MONEY TO BUILD A SCHOOL UNTIL FATHER PATRICK UNIVERSAL, A ST JAMES FATHER OF BOSTON, WHO HAD HIS OWN PARISH STA MARTA IN THE SLUM OF SUBURBIO GUAYAQUIL BROUGHT ROBERT AND ROSE CRIMMINS TO SEE STA ROSA DE LIMA PARISH.. THEY ASKED WHAT WAS NEEDED MOST. WHEN I SAID A CATHOLIC SCHOOL,THEY VERY KINDLY OFFERED TO BUILD IT AND THEY KEPT THEIR PROMISE..THEIR GENEROSITY IS OVERWHELMING..THE SCHOOL WAS BUILT IN 1999.THEY ALSO SET UP SCHOLARSHIPS FOR THE CHILDREN FROM THE POOREST FAMILIES IN OUR AREA..SOME OF MY FAMILY, RELATIVES AND FRIENDS HAVE CONTRIBUTED AND ARE STILL HELPING WITH SCHOLARSHIPS.I WISH TO THANK THEM ALL. THEY ARE IN MY PRAYERS AND MASSES. WE HAVE 90 SCHOLARSHIP CHILDREN AT THE MOMENT. THE SCHOOL IS ON HOLIDAY FEBRUARY AND MARCH .WE WILL BEGIN OUR NEW SCHOOL YEAR 2009-2010 ON APRIL 1ST .WE MAY HAVE A DROP IN NUMBERS THIS YEAR BECAUSE ALL STATE EDUCATION IS NOW FREE.. CATHOLIC PARENTS CAN CHOOSE CATHOLIC EDUCATION BUT IT IS NOT FREE.. CELEBRATING THE SCHOOL MASS IS QUITE AN EXPERIENCE WITH A CONGREGATION CLOSE TO 750. THIS WOULD BE THE ENVY OF MANY PARISHES - WE EDUCATE FOR LIFE,HUMAN LIFE AND ETERNAL LIFE. WE TEACH THE CATHOLIC FAITH AND WE PREPARE THE CHILDREN AND THEIR PARENTS TO BE WITNESSES TO JESUS.

WE HAVE A WONDERFUL SCHOOL BAND AND A WONDERFUL MUSIC TEACHER CALLED BYRON. THE NUMBER OF CHILDREN IN THE BAND IS 70.MOST ARE CHEERLEADERS. SOME 30 CHILDREN PLAY THE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.WE PARTAKE IN MANY EVENTS BY INVITATION. WE ARE ALL VERY PROUD OF THE BAND- MANY THANKS TO OUR BENEFACTORS.

I AM EXTREMELY GRATEFUL FOR THE EXCELLENT EDUCATION I RECEIVED MYSELF IN MY LIFE RIGHT FROM THE VERY BEGINNING. THE EDUCATION I RECEIVED FROM MY PARENTS WHO WERE THE BEST TEACHERS OF ALL. THEY SOWED THE SEED OF MY MISSIONARY VOCATION.I AM ALSO VERY GRATEFUL TO THE TEACHERS OF ST TERESA,S CATHOLIC SCHOOL FIRSWOOD,SALFORD DIOCESE.UK AND THE TEACHERS OF ST ANNE,S CATHOLIC SCHOOL, ST ANNES CHURCH, CRUMPSALL, MANCHESTER,UK- THESE TEACHERS, BEACONS OF LIGHT, FOSTERED MY VOCATION TO THE MISSIONARY PRIESTHOOD. MANY MANY THANKS. I AM ALSO VERY GRATEFUL TO MY MANY GREAT TEACHERS IN THE MILL HILL MISSIONARIES SEMINARIES,FRESHFIELD, BURN HALL. ROOSENDAAL. AND MILL HILL. MANY THANKS. MANY ARE DEAD .MAY THEY REST IN PEACE.

HERE I AM NOW STILL IN GUAYAQUIL,ECUADOR, MARCH 2009. I AM 74 YEARS OF AGE. I HAVE BEEN A MILL HILL MISSIONARY 49 YEARS. NEXT YEAR IS THE BIG YEAR FOR MY 75TH BIRTHDAY AND 50 YEARS JUBILEE AS A MILL HILL MISSIONARY.. AT 75 ONE SHOULD RETIRE BECAUSE THIS IS THE AGE FOR RETIRING.. WILL I STILL BE ALIVE THEN? I SIMPLY DON’T KNOW. I HAVE JUST RENEWED MY TWO YEAR VISA BECAUSE IT EXPIRED FEB 28TH.2009. THE VISA IS GRANTED FOR TWO YEARS RENEWABLE. THERE WAS A DELAY. THE IMMIGRATION WANTED EACH MISSIONARY TO WRITE A RESUMEN OF HIS OR HER WORK FOR THE PAST TWO YEARS AND FOR THE NEXT TWO YEARS, TO JUSTIFY THEIR PRESENCE IN ECUADOR.I WROTE A RESUMEN..I HAVE NO COMPLAINTS BECAUSE MANY MISSIONARIES WAIT MONTHS,EVEN YEARS FOR THE GRANTING OF THEIR VISA.THE MILL HILL MISSIONARIES ACCEPT MISSION TO THE MOST ABANDONED AREAS IN THE WORLD WHERE THE POOREST OF THE POOR LIVE. THEY SERVE THE LOCAL ARCHBISHOP OR BISHOP. ONCE THE DIOCESE HAS SUFFICIENT PRIESTS THE MISSIONARIES CAN CONTEMPLATE TAKING THEIR MISSION ELSEWHERE. DIOCESAN CLERGY WILL EVENTUALLY REPLACE THE MISSIONARIES. EVERYBODY KNOWS THAT SOME DIOCESAN CLERGY ARE VERY HIGHHANDED THEY TEND TO IMPOSE THEIR WILL ON THE PEOPLE OF THE PARISH. IN BRIEF, THEY SOMETIMES BREAK UP THE PARISH ALTOGETHER. THIS IS VERY SAD FOR THE `PEOPLE AND FOR THE MISSIONARY WHO IS LEAVING.. WHEN THE BISHOP DOESN’T SEEM TO HAVE ANYONE TO CONTINUE THE PARISH, THIS IS EVEN HARDER FOR THE MISSIONARY TO QUIT.. THE MISSIONARY FEELS HE IS ABANDONING HIS PEOPLE.

THIS IS HOW I FEEL RIGHT NOW. SOME DIOCESES ARE ASKING THEIR PRIESTS TO STAY ON A LITTLE AFTER 75 BECAUSE OF THE GREAT SHORTAGE OF PRIESTS. THE HOLY FATHER BENEDICT 16TH IS IN HIS 80,s.

I DID TELL MILL HILL MISSIONARIES I WOULD RETIRE IN 2010 BUT THE THOUGHT OF ABANDONING THE POOR HERE IS GNAWING MY GUTS.YOU HAVE SEEN THE PEOPLE AND THIS VERY POOR SLUM ON THE PHOTOS.

ALSO THE THOUGHT OF TRYING TO ENJOY MY JUBILEE AND AT THE SAME TIME SAYING HUNDREDS OF GOODBYES IS NOT A COMFORTABLE ONE. IN FACT IT WOULD BE TRAUMATIC TO SAY THE LEAST. THE BEST ADVICE I HAVE RECEIVED FROM A GREAT FRIEND OF MINE FATHER BART DALY MHM WHO IS THE REGIONAL SUPERIOR IN THE NORTH AMERICAN REGION…..…FIRST CELEBRATE WITH JOY AND HAPPINESS YOUR BIRTHDAY AND YOUR JUBILEE. THEN AND ONLY THEN SIT DOWN TO DECIDE YOUR FUTURE. THIS IS VERY GOOD AND VERY SOUND ADVICE.

5th september 2010

the latest news is that Father Frank Smith will retire to Liverpool early december. 2010..DUE TO OSTEOPOROSIS OF THE SPINE WHICH HAS CURTAILED HIS ENERGY THERE IS A FRACTURE IN OF THE VERTEBRA AND A HERNIATED DISC. IT WILL BE VERY SAD TO LEAVE BUT THE WRITING IS ON THE WALL. THE ARCHBISHOP HAS APPOINTED AN YOUNG ECUADOREAN PRIEST FATHER JOSE MANUEL DELGADO AGED 31 WHO WILL TAKE OVER AS FROM NOVEMBER 30TH. . THIS WILL BE THE END OF THE ERA OF THE MILL HILL MISSIONARIES IN GUAYAQUIL ECUADOR.IT COVERS A PERIOD OF 30 YEARS. WE WISH FATHER JOSE MANUEL EVERY BLESSING, EVERY SUCCESS AND EVERY HAPPINESS. HE HAS ALREADY BEEN TO SEE THE PARISH AND HE IS ENTHUSIASTIC TO TAKE OVER VERY SOON.

FOR ALL THE FOLLOWERS OF THIS BLOG I GIVE YOU ALL A VERY SPECIAL BLESSING FOR YOUR PATIENCE AND PERSEVERANCE. FR.FRANK SMITH MHM

SEPTEMBER 5TH 2010

THE TEACHERS OF ST ROSE OF LIMA SCHOOL.

The Teachers celebrate the parish priest ,s 48th anniversary

The school band at practice.

the school band

Teaching the children to play the instruments

The school band

Alexandra Alman in the Day Care Centre

THE KINDERGARDEN

The School

Party time in the school

Folklore dancing in the school

School Graduation Day Mass

Father Smith and Susy Castillo the English teacher 2008

Diploma Day

Sports Day

The School Mass

Some children in the playground

Father,s Birthday

National feastday

A DANCER

The spectators

MORE SPECTATORS

Our teachers

National Flag Day

Graduation Day

The seventh grade finishing the Primary school.

The School Cheerleaders

A School Mass

A Recolllection Day

A school celebration

The School children at Mass

The National Flag Day

Celebrating the Founding of Guayaquil 1534 by the Spanish

Flag Day

First Communion Day

The School children identifying themselves

The School Teachers receiving homage

Our Cheerleaders St Rose of Lima

Visiting the sick in the parish

SOME OF OUR TEACHERS

ANITA Y ALEXANDRA ALMAN SCHOOL TEACHERS

School children in folklore dance

school mass

folklore dancing

school spectators

More dancing

The teachers enjoying themselves

Suzy Castillo y Alexandera Alman,school teachers

Some of the teachers

A class photo in church

The teachers pose for a photo

A class Mass

Diploma Day

Maribel,Sabina, y Suzy, our teachers

Diploma Day Mass

The top class in church

One of our school processions

Dolores our Prinicpal Teacher, and Azucena in

charge of our computer room

WAITING FOR THE PROCESSION TO BEGIN

Marching on the motorway

Recreation time in school

the cheerleaders practice.

Folklore Dances

folklore

folklore dancing

folklore dance

folklore dancing

At the interval!

A school Mass

October 2010. our school band marches on the main road 9th of october

to celebrate Independence Day in Guayaquil.. We were very honoured to be invited.

Congratulations to our school band.

THE DISPENSARY SANTA ROSA DE LIMA IN THE ISLA TRINITARIA Third Page

2009-03-07T17:51:00.001-08:00

Bro Jos Boerkamp mhm and frank smith mhm

Bro Jos and Alexandra Acosta the administrator of San Camilo
church in St Rose of Lima parish.

This photo appaers familiar. Bro Jos mhm with Frank Smith mhm
outside the presbytery St Rose of Lima Church

Aracelly Soriano who had her baby when she was 13.

Another Aracelly and her family.

Ruben is one of our discapacitated friends.

Another young mother and baby.

Lupe Bravo and her paralysed son

a young patient.,

Alegria is waiting to see the doctor

Bro Jos mhm the MHM councillor for North and South America

The nurses Dora and Maria Luisa Plaza Vergara

Bro Jos mhm with some of the patients

Tania Murillo, a young mother with neck tumours.

She is under medical care. St Rose of Lima clinic.

The Waiting Room St Rosae of Lima dispensary

Maria Toledo and her seven children, six girls and one boy.

She is extremely poor and gets help from us.

The old days 1998 when the dispensary was the bottom floor of the presbytery

Kerly one of our patients

Obemia Plaza Vergara a nurse attending the patients.

Waiting to see the doctor

Sra Yulima brings her daughters to our clinic. She too is extremely poor.

A Social Worker visits the Caicedo family

with eight children

A lady who was in a motor accident.

The surgeon expected here to go back

but she didnt.

The same lady.,

Señora Olaya with her varicose veins.

Digna visits Brian in his home.

Jomaira one of our delicate patients

The Waiting Room in the clinic

A young mother Karina feeds her baby

One of our patients and her baby

The Waiting Room

The doctor gives a talk to the patients

The house of the Caicedo family. The railings are to keep people out of the house

The Caicedo family near their shack

Bro Jos mhm and some of the staff of the clinic 2007

Bro Jos mhm with Maria Angelica and her family outside the church

With the Caicedo family 2007

An Afro ecuadorean mother and her son

Someof our friends in the barrio

Maria and Katty

THE DISPENSARY SANTA ROSA DE LIMA IN THE ISLA TRINITARIA

2009-03-03T15:01:00.000-08:00

THE DISPENSARY BEGAN IN A BAMBOO HUT IN 1992 NEXT TO THE BAMBOO CHURCH OF STA ROSA DE LIMA..THE MEDICAL TEAM WHO HAD CONTINUED TO WORK IN THE JOSPICE DISPENSARY IN ST VINCENT DE PAUL PARISH IN THE SLUM OF SUBURBIO GUAYAQUIL WHEN I WAS APPOINTED TO ST LOUIS IN 1985,MOVED TO THE ISLA TRINITARIA TO BEGIN THE NEW DISPENSARY. THEY HAD GIVEN OUTSTANDING SERVICE FOR 16 YEARS(1975 – 1992).THIS YEAR 2009 THEY WILL COMPLETE ANOTHER 18 YEARS OF MEDICAL SERVICE THIS TIME TO THE PEOPLE OF THE ISLA TRINITARIA.. A MORE DEDICATED TEAM OF DOCTORS AND NURSES WOULD BE VERY HARD TO FIND.FATHER FRANK SMITH MHM WAS SECONDED TO JOSPICE INTERNATIONAL IN 1973 FOUNDED BY FATHER FRANK OLEARY MHM OF CROSBY LIVERPOOL. FATHER SMITH WAS FIRST SENT TO PERU TO A TOWN ON THE FAMOUS RIVER APURIMAC CALLLED SAN FRANCISCO.THERE WAS A SMALL JOSPICE HOSPITAL AND A SMALL CHAPEL IN THE TOWN. THIS WAS AN AREA LATER TO BE UNDER THE CONTROL OF THE SENDEROS LUMINOSOS. ON COMPLETING A YEAR THERE, FATHER SMITH WAS ASKED TO GO TO ECUADOR TO BEGIN A NEW CLINIC FROM SCRATCH. HE CHOSE THE BIG SLUM OF SUBURBIO GUAYAQUIL AS THE RIGHT PLACE TO SERVE THE POOR.HE WAS APPOINTED PARISH PRIEST OF ST VINCENT DE PAUL AND HE FOUNDED THE JOSPICE CLINIC. HE WORKED THERE UNTIL 1985 WHEN THE SUPERIOR GENERAL OF THE MILL HILL MISSIONARIES ,BISHOP CORNELIUS DE WIT MHM APPOINTED HIM TO BE ADMINISTRATOR OF THE MILL HILL MISSIONARIES HOUSE IN ST LOUIS MISSOURI USA .THIS TERMINATED HIS WORK FOR JOSPICE .

AFTER SPENDING SIX YEARS IN ADMINISTRATION IN ST LOUIS USA, FATHER SMITH WAS APPOINTED BACK TO GUAYAQUIL BY THE NEW SUPERIOR GENERAL FATHER MAURICE McGILL MHM. THIS WAS IN 1991. THIS IS WHEN THE PRESENT HISTORY OF THE MILL HILL MISSIONARIES IN ECUADOR BEGAN.THE HISTORY OF THE YEARS 1974 – 1985 HAVE ALREADY BEEN WRITTEN IN TWO VOLUMES WHICH ARE HOPEFULLY STILL IN THE ARCHIVES OF THE MILL HILL MISSIONARIES IN FRESHFIELD LIVERPOOL UK.FATHER FRANK OLEARY MHM WAS AN OUTSTANDING MILL HILLMISSIONARY WHO GRADUATED FROM GLASGOW UNIVERSITY IN 1960 AND WAS APPOINTED BY THE SUPERIOR GENERAL BISHOP GERRY MAHON MHM TO RAWALPINDI PAKISTAN TO TEACH IN SCHOOLS. HE WAS VERY UPSET BY THE POVERTY AND SICKNESS HE OBSERVED IN PAKISTAN AND DECIDED TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. HE GOT THE APPROVAL OF BISHOP GERRY MAHON MHM. WITH THE FANTASTIC HELP OF MANY FRIENDS HE FOUNDED ST JOSEPH,S HOSPICE ASSOCIATION TO CARE FOR THE POOR, THE SICK AND THE ABANDONED FIRST IN PAKISTAN WHERE HIS FIRST PATIENT WAS MRS JACOBS WHO HAD BEEN ABANDONED. AND THEN THROUGHOUT THE WORLD. HIS WORK INSPIRED MANY PEOPLE. HE OPENED THE CASA DE SAN JOSE IN THORNTON LIVERPOOL, AND HETTINGA HOUSE IN ORMSKIRK. HE FOUNDED CLINICS IN COLOMBIA, SAN BERNARDO DEL VIENTO, IN PERU, CALLAO, NEGRITOS, TAMBO, AND SAN FRANCISCO THE APURIMAC RIVER. FATHER OLEARY MHM WROTE HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY IN A BOOK CALLLED JOSPICE. IT WAS PUBLISHED IN 2004..HE WENT THROUGH SOME VERY DIFFICULT AND STRESSFUL TIMES WITH DEBTS. BUT HE HAD A TREMENDOUS FAITH IN OUR LADY AND ST JOSEPH WHO HELPED HIM MIRACULOUSLY-HE ALSO HAD VERY LOYAL AND COURAGEOUS HELPERS. THE NAME OF ST JOSEPH,S HOSPICE ASSOCIATION WAS CHANGED TO THE SIMPLE WORD JOSPICE. FATHER OLEARY MHM DIED OCTOBER 4TH 2000.MAY HE REST IN PEACE., JOSPICE CONTINUES TO DO GREAT WORK IN THE UK AND OVERSEAS IN PAKISTAN, COLOMBIA, PERU ,ECUADOR AND P ÀKISTANFATHER FRANK SMITH MHM HELPED FATHER FRANK OLEARY MHM FROM 1974 -1985..FATHER OLEARY,S WONDERFUL DEDICATION TO THE SICK, THE POOR AND THE ABANDONED, INSPIRED THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE INCLUDING MYSELF, AND HAD ALL THE MAKINGS OF A SAINT. NOT EVERYONE WOULD AGREE WITH THIS. HIS BOLD BUT COURAGEOUS PURCHASE OF BIG PROPERTIES ALARMED MANY PEOPLE INCLUDING SOME OF HIS FELLOW MHM MISSIONARIES. SOME THOUGHT HE WAS TOO BIG FOR HIS BOOTS BUT HE SUCCEEDED AND GOT THE WORK DONE WHERE OTHERS MIGHT HAVE FAILED. FATHER OLEARY MHM CERTAINLY LIT A CANDLE. THE NEW ARCHBISHOP OF WESTMINSTER VINCENT NICHOLS IS FATHER OLEARY,S COUSIN. THEY GREW UP AS BOYS TOGETHER IN CROSBY.THE PRESENT ST ROSE OF LIMA CLINIC IN THE ISLA TRINITARIA WAS BUILT THROUGH THE TREMENDOUS GENEROSITY OF A CATHOLIC COUPLE FROM BOSTON. THEY ALSO BUILT THE SCHOOL AND THE DAY CARE CENTRE.. WE HAVE TWO DOCTORS, FIVE NURSES AND TWO HEALTH PROMOTERS. DOCTORA LORENA IS A GENERAL MEDICAL PRACTICTIONER BUT SHE IS SPECIALISED IN AIDS AND TROPICAL MEDICINE. DOCTOR JORGE GAIBOR IS A PEDIATRICIAN WHO IS HEAD OF THE EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT IN THE CHILDRENS HOSPITAL IN GUAYAQUIL. THE NURSES ARE MARIA LUISA, OBEMIA, CARMEN, TRINIDAD AND DORA, AND THE ASSISTANTS ARE MARTHA, ARACELLY AND AZUCENA. JOSPICE SENDS 1000 POUNDS STERLING EVERY MONTH TO ENABLE US TO RUN THE CLINIC- WE HAVE A SPECIAL PROGRAMME FOR MALNOURISHED BABIES AND CHILDREN WHICH IS FUNDED BY MEDICINES FOR HUMANITY FOUNDED BY TIM BILODEAU OF BOSTON. WE HAVE OUR CLOSE FRIENDS IN THE POR CRISTO INC FOUNDED BY DR MARTIN DUNN AND HIS SISTER ROSEMARY BYRNE RN OF BOSTON. FOR MANY YEARS THEY BROUGHT DOWN MEDICAL TEAMS TO HELP HANDICAPPPED CHILDREN IN NEED OF DELICATE SURGERY. THEY ACHIEVED MIRACLES..EVENTUALLY POR CRISTO BUILT A NUTRITION CENTRE IN THE ISLA TRINITARIA IN ST TERESA,S PARISH WHICH HAD BEEN BRILLIANTLY PREPARED AND ORGANISED BY ROSEANNE OBRIEN RN AND JOSEPH REARDON WHO IS NOW THE DIRECTOR OF POR CRISTO..DEBORAH CLARK RN IS HIS MEDICAL ADVISER AND NUTRITION EXPERT WHO SUCCEEDED ELIZABETH BROWN RN. THE POR CRISTO COORDINATOR IN GUAYAQUIL IS TERESA ARCE DE TERAN BMA. SHE HAS HELPED US A GREAT DEAL OVER MANY YEARS.. OUR ST ROSE OF LIMA CLINIC BELONGS TO THE CHAIN OF 62 CLINICS ORGANISED AND COORDINATED BY THE ARCHBISHOP OF GUAYAQUIL MONSEÑOR ANTONIO ARREGUI YARZA, THE NAME GIVEN TO THE CHAIN OF CLINICS IS REDIMA.WE ALSO BECAME FRIENDS WITH RONNA KROZY A TUTOR IN THE BOSTON COLLEGE OF NURSING. SHE BROUGHT TEAMS OF NURSES DOWN FROM BOSTON TO THE ISLA TRINITARIA TO HELP US OUT AND TO HELP OUT MANY VERY POOR FAMILIES WITH ADVICE AND PRACTICAL MEASURES.HERE ARE SOME PHOTOS OF SOME OF OUR PATIENTS AND THE DISPENSARY.THE COMMON SICKNESSES WHICH WE ENCOUNTER ARE AS FOLLOWS:RESPIRATORY INFECTIONS AND COMPLICATIONS.

ASTHMA.TUBERCULOSIS-DIABETES GASTROINTESTINAL INFECTIONS BECAUSE OF CONTAMINATED WATER AND FOOD.. TYPHOID AND SALMONELLOSIS-DENGUE FEVER AND MALARIA. HEPATITIS AND CIRRHOSIS.AIDS WHICH IS INCREASING ALARMINGLY.CANCERS OF THE BREAST, CERVIX, UTERUS, ETCPARASITES. AMOEBA, ASCARIS, SCHISTOSOMIASIS, LEISHMANIASIS, ETC CISTICERCOSIS. SYPHILIS AND STDS. SKIN DISEASES. ALLERGIES, RHEUMATIC FEVER, SCABIES, PSORIASIS, SKIN CANCERS.WE HAVE A FULL VACCINATION PROGRAMME.WE DO MINOR SURGERY. WE HAVE AN EXCELLENT SYSTEM OF REFERRALS TO LOCAL HOSPITALS ESPECIALLY THE CHILDRENS HOSPITALS, THE TUBERCULOSIS HOSPITAL,THE BURNS UNITS, AND THE PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL CALLLED LORENZO PONCE.

Doctor Lorena.St Rose of Lima clinic. 2005

The Doctor has served the poor for many many years

and won the hearts of the people in the Isla Trinitaria.

Her husband is a doctor too.

Jose Luis with his leg stump. He is 17 years old.

Visiting shacks in the parish of St Rose of Lima.

Jose Luis and his stump.He was struck by a car.He neglected his injuries

because he was poor.Gangrene set in.

Arturo Caicedo a gang leader is paralysed after a street fight.He too neglected

his injuries and ended up with huge bed sores. Nobody wants him.

Yomaira has HIV and is receiving help.

Our dispensary St Rose of Lima

Olga Quiñonez.she is paralysed from the waist down and has breast cancer.

Maria Luisa visiting Olga.

Pepita has heart problems.

Najeli with her sister outside her home.

Waiting for an appointment with the doctor.

Lupe Bravo with her son Luber

Doctor Jorge Gaibor making house visits-.

A mother with twins.

A patient with a neck tumour which turned out to be benign.

Waiting to see the doctor.

A young mother Katty with her baby

Juana Quiñonez with her family.
She is a valiant leader among the people.

Tania Murillo with her tumours and her new baby.
We are hoping she will get well eventually.

Tamara Ortiz crying because her child is sick and her little girl of three
has died.

Heidi Salazar lives in terrible poverty. She comes to us for help
almost daily.

A young mother.

Lady Corozo and her children. One of them is hydrocephalic-
A valve was inserted.

Maria Luisa attending to the patients.

Alexandra Alman visits Priscila with cistercercosis.
She has a parasite in her brain from eating uncooked pork.

Brittany one of our malnourished children is getting better.

Aracelly with her baby. She is 13.

A malnourished baby and his mum.

This is Lady Corozo and her hydrocephalic baby

The children cooling off. Temperatures reach 36 degrees.

The twins

Some of the local children

The children go to our school St Rose of Lima

Sandy Ortiz and her daughter who fell off the catwalk
leading from her house to the street.

Juan Rojas Vera born totally paralysed,blind,deaf and dumb.
His father kicked his mother repeatedly in the stomach when she was pregnant.

Juan Rojas Vera 17 years old.

Juan,s bedsores. He was taken to a hospice for the incurables
as was his mother Sandra Vera Burgos. Bothe died there. May
they rest in peace.

Juan,s bedsores. We did everything possible to help him.

Sandra valiantly suffering festering cancer of the breast.
What suffering and what poverty! May she rest in peace.

Sandra carying her cross.

Norma with cervical cancer was taken to the Cancer Hospital
but died a few days after. May she rest in peace. Her sisters
are looking after her three children. May she rest in peace.

Alexandra,s mother was a drug addict,now happily reformed.
Thanks to help from our parish.

The staff of our clinic.

Genesis was badly burned in a fire but here she is
recuperated.

Tania Murillo is being treated for Tuberculosis
and possible lymphomas.

Sandra and Juan,mother and son.

Maria Toledo with her seven children, six girls and one boy.

STATISTICS AND LOGISTICS OF THE ISLA TRINITARIA 2

2009-02-09T07:14:00.000-08:00

The meeting of the Mill Hill Missionaries in Brazil November 2008,
with Father Tony Chantry mhm,Superior General. Others are Father
Eelke Piet Mous, Father Henk Hoogland,Father Tony Amort, Father
Florian Judd, Father Theo Raaijmakers, Father Des McGillicuddy,
Father Ricardo Marcus, and Father Frank Smith.

The Mill Hill Missionaries meet in Brazil with Father Jac Hetsen, Superior General
November 2007. Father Anton Steiner is present.

Rolando one of our parishioners who developed a massive tumour on his foot
which was amputated.Being diabetic he suffered further surgeries.
He died in 2007. May he rest in peace.

The Franciscan Missionaries of St Joseph in El Guasmo slum with
Sister Joan the Superior General, with Sister Moira Geary superior
Sister Josephine,Sister Frances Slater, and Sister Jenny

St Rose of Lima church 2008

Elizabeth Cortez with her delicate children

Cardinal Herbert Vaughan Founder of the Mill Hill Missionaries

Graduation Day. St Rose of Lima school.

Graduation Day

A baby with infected head.

A school Mass

Mass for the children

The beautiful coastline of Ecuador

The Archbishop visits St Teresa,s parish now run by the Somascos Fathers

Father Simon and Father Numael.

The Por Cristo Nutrition Centre. The Isla Trinitaria

Clergy Gathering.Archdiocesis of Guayaquil- 2000

Clergy Gathering. Archbishop Antonio Arregui 2007

Clergy Gathering 2006

Archbishop Antonio Arregui visits San CAMILO

chapel in the parish of St Rose of Lima 2007

The Archbishop visits our dispensary 2007

Our School

Jim Jochum and his wife Renee visiting the Isla Trinitaria 2004

A baptism St Rose of Lima

A Catechism reunion

Father Jac Hetsen mhm Superior General visits
our St Rose of Lima school 2006

ST CAMILO CHURCH with Alexandra Acosta the administrator

and some of the catechists. 2008

STATISTICS AND LOGISTICS OF THE ISLA TRINITARIA

2009-02-09T06:53:00.001-08:00

Robert and Rose Crimmins visiting the building of

St Camillus church Isla Trinitaria 1998

SINCE WE BEGAN IN MAY 1991 THERE ARE REGISTERED OVER 6000 BAPTISMS IN THE PARISH BOOKS.THERE HAVE BEEN 3,800 FIRST CONFESSIONS AND FIRST COMMUNIONS.THERE HAVE BEEN 2,280 CONFIRMATIONS.THE NUMBER OF MARRIAGES IS 79. THIS IS THE NUMBER IN ST ROSE OF LIMA MARRIAGE BOOK IT DOESN’T INCLUDE THE MARRIAGES IN THE OTHER CHURCHES. MANY PEOPLE LIKE TO GET MARRIED IN A CHURCH OF DISTINCTION ,IN THE CATHEDRAL ,FOR EXAMPLE, IN THE FRANCISCAN BASILICA, IN THE SALESIAN CHURCHES, AND IN THE MERCEDARIAN(OUR LADY OF MERCY) CHURCH.PEOPLE HAVE THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE WHERE THEY GET MARRIED. IT IS A VERY PERSONAL CHOICE. SO MANY COUPLES IN THE ISLA TRINITARIA ARE ATTRACTED BY THE BEAUTIFUL CHURCHES IN THE CENTRE OF GUAYAQUIL. OUR CHURCHES IN THE ISLA TRINITARIA ARE ECONOMICALLY BUILT.THERE WAS NO EXTRA MONEY FOR EMBELLISHMENT. BUT THEY ARE PRACTICAL AND THEY BLEND IN WITH THE POOR SURROUNDINGS.WE ARE A CINDERELLA OF THE ARCHDIOCESE.THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO GO TO MASS ON SUNDAY;IN STA ROSA DE LIMA CHURCH WE HAVE TWO SUNDAY MASSES,AT 10.30AM AND 7PMTHE FIRST HAS AN AVERAGE OF 200 PEOPLE, AND THE SECOND THE SAME.IN SAN CAMILO CHURCH WE HAVE ONE MASS SUNDAY.THE AVERAGE NUMBER EACH SUNDAY IS 180. THE PEOPLE ARE FREE TO GO TO SUNDAY MASS IN THE CITY CENTRE OR ELSEWHERE.THEY HAVE THEIR PREFERENCES WHICH MUST BE RESPECTED-.SO IT IS DIFFICULT TO KNOW JUST HOW MANY PEOPLE GO TO MASS ON SUNDAYS FROM THE ISLA TRINITARIA .BUT I WOULD THINK IT IS LESS THAN 2% OF THE TOTAL CATHOLIC POPULATION. IF THIS IS SO THEN THERE IS NO PLACE FOR COMPLACENCY IN OUR MISSIONARY EVALUATION. AS OUR FOUNDER CARDINAL HERBERT VAUGHAN SAID..”I DON’T THINK OF WHAT HAS BEEN DONE BUT OF WHAT STILL REMAINS TO BE DONE.” WHAT HAS BEEN DONE IS JUST A DROP IN THE OCEAN. OTHERS MUST CONTINUE THE EVANGELISATION OF THE ISLA TRINITARIA.

THERE ARE OCCASIONS WHEN OUR CHURCHES ARE JAMMED FULL OF PEOPLE--- CHRISTMAS EVE WHEN EVERY FAMILY BRING THEIR PORCELAIN BABY JESUS TO CHURCH FOR A BLESSING, THE FEAST OF THE MAGI, ASH WEDNESDAY,PALM SUNDAY, GOOD FRIDAY, AND ALL SOULS DAY. THERE WILL BE BETWEEN 400 AND 500 PEOPLE AT THE MASSES ON THESE DAYS.

IN 1998 THE ISLA TRINITARIA WAS DIVIDED INTO FOUR PARISHES. THE SOMASCOS FATHER TOOK THREE OF THEM AND FR FRANK SMITH MHM WAS LEFT WITH ST ROSE OF LIMA WITH SOME 65,000 PARISHIONERS.THE PARISH ALSO INCLUDES THE SAN CAMILO CHAPEL ADMINISTERED BY A LAY PERSON, SEÑORA ALEXANDRA ACOSTA.THE TOWN COUNCIL GIVE THE NUMBER AS MUCH LESS.THE ARCHDIOCESE OF GUAYAQUIL WAS ERECTED IN 1956.IT HAS A CATHOLIC POPULATION OF 3,291,381. COMPARE THIS WITH THE ARCHDIOCESE OF LIVERPOOL UK, 504,000…OR WITH THE DIOCESE OF SALFORD 350,000 OR WESTMINSTER.THERE ARE 237 PARISHES IN THE ARCHDIOCESE OF GUAYAQUIL.THE AREA OF THE ARCHDIOCESE COVERS 20,902 SQ.-KMS.!!!!!!!!THERE ARE 251 DIOCESAN PRIESTSTHERE Are 133 RELIGIOUS PRIESTS.THERE ARE 70 SEMINARISTS IN THE MAJOR SEMINARY.THERE ARE 563 RELIGIOUS NUNS.THERE ARE 89 CONTEMPLATIVE NUNS.SO THERE ARE ALTOGETHER 384 PRIESTS TO LOOK AFTER ,3,291.381 CATHOLICS. HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE IN AN AVERAGE PARISH’YOU DIVIDE 3,291.381 BY 237 AND YOU GET 13,888 PEOPLE per parish.WHAT IS THE RATIO OF PRIEST TO PEOPLE? DIVIDE 3,291.381 BY 384. ACTUALLY NOT ALL PRIESTS ARE INVOLVED IN PARISH WORK.THEY ARE TEACHERS, UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS,CHAPLAINS ETC.LETS SAY 300 PRIESTS. SO THE RATIO OF PRIEST TO PEOPLE WOULD BE 10,971.

THERE IS ONE AFRO ECUADOREAN PRIEST. HIS NAME IS FATHER CARLOS VALENCIA PEREA AND HE WAS ORDAINED IN 2004.. THERE ARE THREE SEMINARIST AFRO ECUADOREAN IN THE MAJOR SEMINARY. ST ROSE OF LIMA PARISH HAS TWO SEMINARIANS WHICH IS A BLESSING. WE HAVE ONE NUN AND TWO ASPIRANTS. WE PRAY FOR MORE VOCATIONS. ON THE PHOTOS OF THE CLERGY GATHERINGS YOU WILL NOTICE THE ABSENCE OF AFROECUADOREAN PRIESTS. BUT WE NOW HAVE A NEW AUXILIARY BISHOP IN GUAYAQUIL.HE IS AFROECUADOREAN AND HIS NAME IS MONSEÑOR IVAN MINDA. CONGRATULATIONS MONSIGNOR.

NUMBER OF CATECHISTS IN THE ISLA TRINITARIA IS 120.
NUMBER OF CATECHISTS IN STA ROSA DE LIMA IS 25
NUMBER OF CATECHISTS IN SAN CAMILO IS 20.

THE MILL HILL MISSIONARIES IN THE UK HAVE SENT TREMENDOUS HELP FOR OUR CATECHIST FORMATION AND FOR GROWTH OF OUR BASIC CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES. THIS MONEY COMES FROM THE APF COLLECTION EVERY YEAR.
WE ARE EXTREMELY GRATEFUL TO ALL THOSE WONDERFUL PEOPLE WHO HAVE A RED APF MISSION BOX IN THEIR HOME FOR THEIR DONATIONS TO THE MISSIONS. THE MISSIONARIES ON THE MISSIONS ARE VERY GRATEFUL FOR THEIR HELP. PLEASE KEEP UP YOUR MARVELLOUS SUPPORT. YOUR HELP IS VITAL TO THE MISSIONS. THE PHOTOS OF THE CATECHISTS SHOW THE WONDERFUL WORK YOU HAVE ACHIEVED BY FILLING UP THE RED BOXES. THE PHOTOS OF THE CHILDREN IN THE SCHOOL SHOW WHAT CAN BE DONE WITH THE COLLECTION FROM THE RED BOXES. THE PHOTOS OF THE BABIES AND THE CHILDREN IN THE CLINIC GETTINMG MEDICAL HELP IS ALL PART OF THE RED BOX COLLECTIONS. MANY MANY THANKS.
THE PEOPLE ARE VERY POOR HERE AND THE SUNDAY COLLECTIONS IN THE MASSES AMOUNT TO $ 30. SO THE MISSIONARIES NEED YOUR HELP URGENTLY. THANK YOU FOR LOYALTY AND DEDICATION TO THE MISSIONS.

WE HAVE 7 CATHOLIC SCHOOLS , ONE CATHOLIC SECONDARY SCHOOL, WITH 1000 STUDENTS, TWO CONVENTS, 7 CATHOLIC CHURCHES, FOUR PRESBYTERIES, FOUR PRIESTS, FOUR DISPENSARIES, THREE DAY CARE CENTRES.
MANY THANKS FOR YOUR FANTASTIC HELP-

THE EVANGELISATION CONTINUES.

Robert and Rose Crimmins visiting our dispensary which they built.

Visiting the Mill Hill Sisters in El Guasmo

Two Colombian Sisters doing a survey of our parish St Rose of Lima.

They reported the Isla Trinitaria was a rough area, many of the people indifferent to

Religion. and very materially minded.

The baby with Syphilis

The Beauty Class

A child with cerebral palsy

St Camillus de Lelis Church

A visit from Cardinal Better of Munich and Archbishop Juan Larrea Holguin
to St Rose of Lima parish 2000

The parish of St Rose of Lima 1991

Saying Mass for the Community while the churches were being built
1993

A boy born disfigured. Dr Martin Dunn of Por Cristo helped him
with plastic surgery

The old days when the parish began 1991. The swamp called the Isla Trinitaria.
The chapel is on the left. During the First Communion Mass the floor boards gave way
and some of the children fell into the water.

Cardinal Better of Munich helped us with the buildings.

Father Bill Tollan mhm councillor for South America

Father Bill gave tremendous support to the Isla Trinitaria
MillHill Mission. What Malcom Muggeridge was to Mother Teresa
of Calcutta. Father Bill Tollan was to the Isla Trinitaria.

Cardinal Bernardino Echeverria of Guayaquil visiting St Rose of Lima parish
2000

A visit from Father Bill Tollan mhm councillor for South America.

St Camillus de Lelis church, Palm Sunday 2008

Father Bill Tollan mhm St Rose of Lima Isla Trinitaria

Baptisms St Rose of Lima church

First Communions in the old days when we had bamboo chapels

Father Bill Tollan mhm councillor for South America

Father Bill Tollan mhm in the bamboo chapel St Rose of Lima 1992

Our Day Care centre

First Communions St Rose of Lima church 1995

PHOTOS ALMOST LOST IN A RECENT FLOOD 2

2009-02-04T07:36:00.001-08:00

Father Maurice McGill Superior General
of the Mill Hill Missionaries visiting
Father Wim van Gastel in the parish of Our LADY OF PEACE.

Cardinal Bernardino Echeverria visiting St Rose of Lima parish
2000

Father Bill Tollan mhm and Father Wim van Gastel mhm

The Mill Hill Lay Associates Mary Kilcoyne mhm and
Anne Harrison mhm with Father Brian Ahern mhm and
Father Wim van Gastel mhm and Father Frank Smith mhm
taking a stroll in the park near the Cathedral Guayaquil

Obemia with a malnourished baby in our clinic

Alexandra Acosta with Father Jac Hetsen MHM and some
Catechists. San Camilo. Isla Trinitaria

The Mill Hill team enjoying a meal together. Father Wim van Gastel mhm
Father Brian Ahern mhm, Mary Kilcoyne mhm and Anne Harrison mhm

A meal out with some of our catechists and Ildi Dunai mhm
Lay Associate and Mary Kilcoyne mhm Lay Associate

Father Maurice McGILL mhm Superior General visiting us with Father Aldo Brendolan
Fidei Donum priest from Italy

The Mill Hill Sisters with Sister Moira FMSJ

Father Maurice McGill mhm with Mary KILCOYNE MHM
and Ildi Dunai mhm. St ROSE OF LIMA presbytery

AN AFRO ECUADOREAN FAMILY

Our Lay Associates Mary Kilcoyne mhm and Ildi Dunai mhm
Our Lay Associates achieved wonders in evangelising the people

Father Bill Tollan mhm Father Wim van Gastel mhm
with Father Frank Smith mhm

Sister Theodora Slot FMSJ the founder of the Guasmo Mission
with our lay associates Mary Kilcoyne and Ildi Dunai mhms

Celebrating the Eucharist with Archbishop Juan Larrea Holguin
and Father Brian Ahern mhm

Ildi Dunai mhm Lay Associate with Obemia Plaza Vergara who works in the clinic.

Mary Kilcoyne mhm and Ildi Dunai mhm with the Archbishop
Isla Trinitaria

A reunion of our Catechists in St Rose of Lima

The Plaza Vergara sisters Carmen, Obemia, Trinidad, Maria Luisa and Dora
They all work in the clinic

Father Jac Hetsen mhm superior general with Piero,s truck

Father Jac Hetsen mhm visiting the slum of El Fortin

Rudi Castro with her paralysed daughter
Elvi

A reunion of Catechists from the Isla Trinitaria

A patient in the clinic

Our playground in the old days 1995

The Catechists meeting 1995 Isla Trinitaria

A survivor from a fire

Children in the playground 1995

Father Jac Hetsen mhm walking the plank!

Our Day Care Centre

St Rose of Lima church 1991. The floorboards gave way during
one of our First Communion Masses and the children fell into the muddy
water.

PHOTOS ALMOST LOST IN A RECENT FLOOD.

2009-02-04T06:57:00.001-08:00

Father Maurice McGill mhm superior general with Father Frank Smith mhm

and two Catechists from Our Lady of Peace parish Guayaquil

HERE ARE SOME PHOTOS WHICH WERE ALMOST LOST IN A RECENT FLOOD.MANY ARE PHOTOS WHICH I HAVE KEPT OVER THE YEARS. SOME ARE OF OUR MILL HILL MISSION TEAM WITH THE LAY ASSOCIATES MARY KILCOYNE MHM, ANNE HARRISON MHM, ILDI DUNAI MHM,.AND FATHER BRIAN AHERN MHM, FR WIM VAN GASTEL FATHER FRANK SMITH MHM, OF FR. BILL TOLLAN MHM, OF FATHER JAC HETSEN MHM ,OF FATHER MAURICE MCGILL MHM. AND OF BROTHER JOS BOERKAMP MHM.
OTHERS ARE OF MALNOURISHED BABIES WHICH IS A SERIOUS PROBLEM IN OUR AREA, OTHERS ARE OF SOME SICK PEOPLE WHOM WE HELPED.THERE IS ONE OF OUR LOCAL BUTCHER,S SHOP-OPEN AIR STYLE. SOME ARE OF THE EARLY YEARS 1993 WITH THE SUNDAY MASSES IN OUR BAMBOO CHAPELS.ONE IS OF DR MARTIN DUNN AND HIS SISTER ROSEMARY BYRNE THE FOUNDERS OF POR CRISTO WHO HAVE HELPED ECUADOR ENORMOUSLY WITH TEAMS OF SKILLED SURGEONS FROM THE USA, AND THEY NOW HAVE A NUTRITION CENTER AND EXCELLENT DISPENSARY ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE PERIMETRAL. JOSEPH REARDON IS NOW THE DIRECTOR OF POR CRISTO OF BOSTON. DEBORAH CLARK IS THEIR EXPERT NUTRITIONIST AND MEDICAL ADVISER. TERESA ARCE DE TERAN IS THE COOORDINATOR IN ECUADOR.

TWO ARE OF OUR DAY CARE CENTER WITH THE SMILING CHILDREN.I HOPE ONE DAY TO PUT A HEADING UNDER EACH PHOTO SO THAT YOU WILL KNOW WHO IS WHO AND WHAT IS WHAT.THIS WILL TAKE TIME BUT IT WILL BE WORTH IT. THE TEXT WILL ALSO BE TRANSLATED INTO SPANISH SO THAT THE PEOPLE HERE IN ECUADOR WILL BE ABLE TO READ IT.

IT IS WORTH MAKING A NOTE HERE THAT FATHER BILL TOLLAN MHM WHO WAS ON THE GENERAL COUNCIL AND WHO DID MAGNIFICENT WORK IN THE CAMEROON MISSION FOR MANY YEARS, WROTE MANY ARTICLES ABOUT THE ISLA TRINITARIA. HE MADE TREMENDOUS EFFORTS TO PROMOTE THE ECUADOREAN MILL HILL MISSION IN GUAYAQUIL.. WHAT MALCOLM MUGGERIDGE WAS TO MOTHER TERESA OF CALCUTTA, FATHER BILL TOLLAN MHM WAS TO THE IMPOVERISHED THOUSANDS IN THE ISLA TRINITARIA.

Father Bill Tollan mhm councillor for South America

and Father Frank Smith mhm. Isla Trinitaria.Guayaquil

The Mill Hill Missionary team Guayaquil

Father Bill Tollan mhm in St Rose of Lima chapel Isla Trinitaria

1992

There was no running water in the old days.

Everyone had a tank like this and bought water from a truck

Visiting the families of the parish during the landfill 1992

First Communions St Rose of Lima.

The children in Catechism class. 1992

The Parents Association meeting

A marasmic child

The children in the Day Care Centre

The Day Care Centre

Father Bill Tollan mhm the coordinator for South America
with Mary Kilcoyne mhm,Maria Luisa, and Obemia, and Father Wim van Gastel

The earliest parish council 1991 St Rose of Lima with Father Bill Tollan mhm

Father Bill Tollan mhm cooordinator for South America 1993

The teachers in St Rose of Lima school 2000

Father Jac Hetsen mhm Superior General
doing a Baptism in St Rose of Lima church

Daniel Briones getting treatment for his infected feet

The slum of the Isla Trinitaria 1991

St Rose of Lima church 1994

The Day Care Centre

A mother with her malnourished baby looks for help
from our clinic

Dr Martin Dunn and his sister Rosemary Byrne founded Por Cristo to help the poor and the sick
of Guayaquil. The achieved miracles bringing teams of skilled surgeons and doctors to take care
of as many children as possible. St Rose of Lima . Isla Trinitaria

Elizabeth Ruiz Plaza and her friends St Rose of Lima church

The local butchers

Maria Luisa adminstrator of our clinic with a malnourished baby

AFROECUADOREANS PHOTOS 2

2009-01-25T18:06:00.000-08:00

A gathering of the clergy. There are no Afroecuadorean priests at this time. 1999

An Afro ecuadorean family mourn the death of one of the children
through sickness. The tiny coffin is on the right.

An Afro family have their photo taken after Mass in St Rose of Lima

Fanny Caicedo with her handicappped daughter Lisette

The Catechists St Rose of Lima parish. Those who have a Missionary Red

Box can take pride from this photo since all the catechists were trained by

the money from the APF. Many thanks.

Laura with her baby.

Jessica with her baby

Agripina,s family in the doorway of their bamboo shack

Elizabeth Cortez and her new baby

Señora Olaya and her varicose veins

The Afro ecuadorean dance group St Rose of Lima

The Afro band St Rose of Lima church

The Afro group before the Mass

More dancers

The AFRO ecuadorean youth meeting with Brother Alberto

Verona Missionaries.Isla Trinitaria 2009

Jose Luis with his amputated leg

The Afro boys

THe Afro ecuadorean Youth

Rose Obrien srn Por Cristo. Isla Trinitaria

OurAfro group 2009

Dora Plaza Vergara .Graduate Nurse. St Rose of Lima clinic.

Mothers waiting in the clinic to see the doctors

AFROECUADOREANS PHOTOS

2009-01-18T17:49:00.001-08:00

A map of Guayaquil

A map of the Isla Trinitaria

Food parcel for a poor family.

Elizabeth Ruiz Plaza Afro style hairdo.

The Plaza Vergara Family 2002

Gabriela in catechism class

Jazmin and Carla Denisse

Alexandra Alman leading the Afro band 2007

Susy Castillo the president of the Afroecuadorean Group

Elizabeth Ruiz Plaza as a nanny!

Some friends of St Rose of Lima

Licenciada Dora Plaza Vergara in the clinic.

Afroecuadorean dance group

Another Afroecuadorean dance group-

The Afroecuadorean liturgy.

Afroecuadorean liturgy

la señora Concepcion Uza

Afroecuadorean group

Sunday liturgy with the Afroecuadorean family

More Afro ecuadorean dancing.

Father Jac Hetsen MHM

Mrs Maria and her twins.

An Afroecuadorean family visiting the presbytery

Friends of St Rose of Lima

First Communions

Afro friends

Thanks for the smile Diana

The twins again.

Father Maurice McGills visit to the Isla Trinitaria

The children in the Catechism class.

Waiting to see the doctor.

Our Afro group visits the Cathedral Guayaquil.

Afro meeting with Tassenia

Jazmin and Carla Denisse

The Godoy family.Isla Trinitaria

Elizabeth and her cousins.

Father Jac Hetsen MHM visiting the Kinder children.

Alexandra,Digna and Elizabeth Timbere,Esmeraldas

Afroecuadorean Liturgy

An Afro reunion

First Communion

Our patient Ruben

An Afroecuadorean family at an anniversary Mass.

AFROECUADOREANS.

2009-01-16T16:19:00.000-08:00

Photo of Guayaquil and its rivers

Maria Nieves and her daughter Noemi.

THERE ARE MORE THAN A MILLION BLACKS IN ECUADOR. THE VAST MAJORITY ARE IN ESMERALDAS ON THE NW COAST OF ECUADOR AND IN THE CITY OF GUAYAQUIL AND IN EL CHOTA ,QUITO.. THE ISLA TRINITARIA HAS A BIG POPULATION OF BLACKS. THEY ARE DESCENDANTS FROM THE AFRICAN SLAVES BROUGHT TO ECUADOR BY THE SPANISH. THE FIRST BLACKS ARRIVED IN MARCH 1553. THEY CAME FROM WEST AFRICA AND ALSO THE CONGO.

SOME ARE VERY TALL AND MAJESTIC SO THEY MAY HAVE BELONGED TO THE MASAI TRIBE. IT IS A SAD PART OF THE HISTORY OF ECUADOR AND SPAIN, AS IS ALSO THE HISTORY OF BRAZIL AND PORTUGAL..IT WAS TOUGH FOR THE BLACKS BUT IT IS GREAT CREDIT TO THEM THAT THEY SURVIVED. THEY EVENTUALLY MIXED WELL WITH THE INDIANS, THE NAMES GIVEN TO THEM THEN STILL ARE USED TODAY, ANGULO,LASTRA,GUAGUA,QUIÑONEZ,QUINTERO,MINA, CORTEZ, ALL THE SLUMS OF GUAYAQUIL HAVE BLACKS,LIKE IN THE SLUMS OF SALVADOR AND RIO DE JANEIRO ,BRAZIL,AND NEW ORLEANS USA..THE SITUATION HAS IMPROVED AND IS IMPROVING. MOST OF ECUADORS WORLD CUP FOOTBALL TEAM ARE BLACKS. TWO AFROECUADOREANS PLAY IN THE ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE,ANTONIO VALENCIA FOR MANCHESTER UNITED AND FELIPE CAICEDO FOR MANCHESTER CITY. SEVERAL POLITICIANS ARE BLACK..MANY TEACHERS ARE BLACK. THEY HAVE THEIR OWN MARIMBA AND DANZA MUSIC WHICH IS FASCINATING..SOME ARE CATHOLIC AND OTHERS ARE EVANGELICALS.OUR PARISHES IN THE ISLA TRINITARIA HAVE A GOOD PROPORTION OF BLACKS,.THEY HAVE FORMED GROUPS AND WE HAVE AFROECUADOREAN LITURGIES AND SOCIAL GATHERINGS. YOU WILL SEE THE GROUPS ON THE PHOTOS. OUR AFRO GROUP HAVE PARTICIPATED IN THE AFRO MASSES IN THE CATHEDRAL OF GUAYAQUIL AND HAVE MET OUR ARCHBISHOP MONSEÑOR ANTONIO ARREGUI. THERE IS A PHOTO OF THE GROUP AT THE ENTRANCE TO THE CATHEDRAL.AT FIRST WE HAD NO SUCCESS WITH THE BOYS WHO PREFERRED TO ROAM THE STREETS,BUT RECENTLY JANUARY 2009- MARIELA TELLO FROM OUR GIRLS GROUP FORMED THREE GROUPS OF AFROECUADOREAN BOYS.YOU CAN SEE THEM IN THE PHOTOS.
WE WILL ALL CAME TOGETHER FOR A CELEBRATION ON FEBRUARY 3RD 2009. SEVERAL KNOW HOW TO PLAY THE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS, THE BONGO, THE KUNUNU, ETC. WE ALSO HAVE A CHILDRENS GROUP AND SOME OF THEM ARE LEARNING TO PLAY THE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. THE VERONA FATHERS(COMBONI) HAVE A AFROECUADOREAN CENTRE IN GUAYAQUIL WHICH CATERS FOR ALL THE AFRO GROUPS FROM ALL THE SLUMS OF GUAYAQUIL. BROTHER ALBERTO(ITALIAN) AND DON FRANCISCO GIVE TALKS ON THE HISTORY OF THE BLACKS IN ECUADOR, THEY GIVE BIBLE COURSES.,AND RETREATS. THEY HAVE HAD GREAT SUCCESS IN BUILDING UP THE SELF ESTEEM OF THE AFROS AND ENCOURAGING THEM TO GET JOBS. THERE ARE THREE AFRO SEMINARIANS TRAINING TO BE PRIESTS. THERE IS ONLY ONE AFRO ECUADOREAN PRIEST FATHER CARLOS VALENCIA PEREA WHO WAS ORDAINED IN 2004. WE WERE DELIGHTED WHEN A NEW AUXILIARY BISHOP OF GUAYAQUIL WAS RECENTLY APPOINTED. HE IS BLACK AND HIS NAME IS MONSEÑOR IVAN MINDA. THE ISLA TRINITARIA IS NOW UNDER HIS JURIDICTION.-
HERE ARE SOME MORE PHOTOS OF THE AFROECUADOREANS.

Catechism children

Catechism children

Kerly Guagua

Catechism children.

Alexandra Alman schoolteacher

Digna Caicedo schoolteacher

Frank Smith and Pachito Parish Council

Britany and Carlitos

A friendly visit.

A poor single mother

Maria born with Syphilis.2007

Elizabeth Cortez and her two sick children.

Saying hello in the street

Maria,s mother comes to us for help.

Some of the children

Gathering of parish community

Afro Mass with Father Jac Hetsen and Father Francisco(South Africa)

Frank Smith mhm with some of the church workers.

San Camilo Sunday Mass with altar girls.

Anniversary Mass for an Afroecuadorean family

Baptisms St.Rose of Lima

St Rose of Lima

First Communions

Afro liturgy

Maria Nieves with Noemi and the parish priest.

Photos 3

2009-01-12T09:06:00.001-08:00

Luber Bravo a boy with cerebral palsy.

Brother Jos Boerkamp mhm visiting St Rose of Lima parish 2007

Father Joseph Cunningham of Liverpool Diocese and a St James Missionaries

of Boston visiting us 2005

Brother Jos Boerkamp MHM and some Afroecuadoreans 2007

Lady Corozo and her hydrocephalic baby Melanie

A shack on the watefront

The main door of the shack.In fact, the only door.

Maria Luisa Plaza Vergara,administrator of our clinic visiting a patient.

Some parishioners pose for a photo.

Visiting the parish.

Some of the boys from the Catechism class.

The railings are a protection against robberies.

Our Day Care Centre 1998

The boy with cerebral palsy

A tumour which was benign.

Visiting a family where a child had died from a mysterious

fever.

Waiting to see the doctor at the clinic.

Our clinic St Rose of Lima 2001

An Afroecuadorean family.

Avisit from Jim Jochum and Renee 2002

Maria Luisa visiting patients 2003

Antonio with Elephantiasis.Guayaquil Cathedral 2000

Señora Castro with Rudi her daughter(cerebral palsy) 2000

Our schoolchildren with their teacher Digna Caicedo Guagua

Some of our teachers at the netrance to the church

Father Joe Cunningham baptising.St Rose of Lima church

Marlene with her malnourished marasmic baby.

Irene in the Day Care Centre

The Baptism of one of our Youth Club.

The Baptism of Yessenia

Our Teachers Azucena,Yolanda,Maribel,Anna,Mariela,Miriam

Nuria,Francisco,Dolores, Clarita,Sabina,Daisy.Martha,Yasmin,

Alexandra, y Maria de Lourdes.

THE SCHOOL CHILDREN 2004

The young ones

A school march along the motorway 2006

The medical team from our clinic St Rose of Lima 2006

Photos 2

2009-01-10T07:11:00.000-08:00

Archbishop Juan Larrea Holguin blessing St.Rose of Lima school

April 3rd 2000. It Began with 300 pupils.

MISSION
THIS IMPLIES THAT SOMEONE HAS BEEN SENT TO DO A SPECIFIC JOB. JESUS SENT HIS DISCIPLES WITH THE MISSION “GO TEACH ALL NATIONS,BAPTISING THEM IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER AND OF THE SON AND OF THE HOLY GHOST”.THIS IS THE BASIS OF ALL CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND MISSIONARY WORK. IN FACT THE SUPERIOR OR THE BISHOP SEND THE MISSIONARIES ON THEIR MISSION. IN THE ISLA TRINITARIA THE MILL HILL MISSIONARIES FOUND FIRST THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE LIVING IN A SWAMP UNDER THE MOST AWFUL HUMAN CONDITIONS.THE FIRST STEP WAS TO BUILD ACCOMMODATION SO THE MISSIONARIES COULD LIVE AMONG THE PEOPLE AND SHARE THEIR SUFFERINGS.,NO RUNNING WATER, NO SEWERAGE, DUSTY DIRT TRACK ROADS, UNRELIABLE ELECTRICITY,LOTS OF FLIES ,MOSQUITOES AND FROGS.AND MANY SICK BABIES,CHILDREN AND ADULTS. THE SECOND STEP WAS TO MEET THE PEOPLE IN THE BAMBOO SHACKS AND INVITE THEM TO THE CHAPELS ON SUNDAYS FOR CELEBRATING THE MASS AND FOR MEETINGS TO DISCUSS THE PROBLEMS AND HOW TO SOLVE THEM. SHOULD WE CALL THIS PRIMARY EVANGELISATION OR SECONDARY EVANGELISATION’’? SINCE THE ISLA TRINITARIA WAS A TOTALLY NEW PLACE, A SWAMP CREATED INTO A SOLID EARTH,A NEW CREATION ,EVERYTHING WAS PRIMARY.THE PEOPLE WERE FROM THE RURAL AREAS AND FROM THE CITY CENTRE WHERE THEY COULDN’T AFFORD TO LIVE ANYMORE. THEIR EVANGELISATION WAS IN STAGES. SOME KNEW NOTHING, SOME KNEW SOMETHING, AND A FEW KNEW A LITTLE MORE.BUT NOT MUCH..WHETHER PRIMARY OR SECONDARY,IT WAS A GREAT CHALLENGE.
CARDINAL VAUGHAN SAID “ WE CARE FOR THEIR BODIES AND THEIR TEMPORAL INTERESTS AS WELL AS THEIR SOULS.
FATHER ARTHUR McCORMACK MHM SAID “ WE SHOULDN’T BE SO HEAVENLY MINDED THAT WE ARE NO EARTHLY USE.”
ST MATTHEW SAYS “JESUS PREACHED THE GOOD NEWS OF THE KINGDOM AND CURED EVERY SICKNESS IN THE REGION.” MATT.21.4.
THIS IS EVANGELISATION AS MISSION,THE CARE OF BODY AND SOUL.
CARDINAL VAUGHANS MOTTO FOR HIS MISSIONARIES IS “AMARE ET SERVIRE”. TO LOVE AND SERVE. THIS IS MISSION.COMPASSION FOR THOSE WHO SUFFER IS AN ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL QUALITY FOR A MISSIONARY.IF THERE IS NO COMPASSION, THERE IS NO LOVE FOR THE POOR,THE SICK AND THE ABANDONED.. THE STORY OF THE GOOD SAMARITAN ANSWERED THE QUESTION OF WHO IS MY NEIGHBOUR. THE STORY OF THE MILL HILL MISSIONARIES IN ECUADOR HAS VERY MUCH BEEN BASED ON THE GOOD SAMARITAN. YOU WILL SEE THIS WHEN THE PHOTOS OF THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN HELPED APPEAR ON THIS PAGE.. THE CHURCHES AND PRESBYTERIES WERE BUILT, THEN THE DISPENSARIES WERE BUILT, THEN THE DAY CARE CENTRES WERE BUILT AND THEN THE SCHOOLS. A GREAT DEAL OF BUILDING WAS ACHIEVED IN THE ISLA TRINITARIA ONCE THE SWAMP HAD BEEN FILLED IN.
.POPE BENEDICT 16TH HAS SAID THAT OPTION FOR THE POOR IS PART AND PARCEL OF OUR FAITH IN CHRIST.. OPTION FOR THE POOR IS THE MAIN THEME OF LIBERATION THEOLOGY. SO LIBERATION THEOLOGY IS STILL VERY MUCH ALIVE. THE CHURCH COMMITS ITSELF TO HELP THE POOR.. IT WAS UNFORTUNATE THAT LIBERATION THEOLOGY GOT SUCH BAD PUBLICITY.
THE FOUNDERS,LEONARDO BOFF AND CLOVIS BOFF(BRAZILIANS),GUSTAVO GUTIERREZ(SPANISH), AND JON SOBRINO(PERUVIAN) ARE ALL GOOD PEOPLE..THEY HAD DIFFERENCES OF OPINION WHICH STILL CONTINUE, RE THE METHODS TO ACHIEVE LIBERATION THEOLOGY.. WORSE STILL,THE MARXISTS HAILED LIBERATION THEOLOGY AS THE PERFECT FRAME FOR THEIR ANALYSIS OF THE WORLDS ECONOMIC WOES..SOON THE VERY VOCABULARY OF LIBERATION THEOLOGY WAS MARXIST. SOME PROMULGATED LIBERATION WITHOUT ANY REFERENCE TO GOD OR THE CHURCH. THIS WAS A TOTAL MISREPRESENTACION AND THE VATICAN BECAME ALARMED. ..THERE FOLLOWED ATTEMPTS TO SILENCE THE FOUNDERS OF LIBERATION THEOLOGY. WHEN SOMEONE ASKED GUSTAVO GUTIERREZ IF LIBERATION THEOLOGY WAS DEAD, HE REPLIED,” WELL IF IT IS,I WASN’T INVITED TO THE FUNERAL.! IT IS VERY MUCH ALIVE IN BRAZIL AND PERU.IT IS INHERENT IN THE OPTION FOR THE POOR PROCLAIMED BY THE PUEBLA,MEDELLIN, AND APARECIDA.MEETINGS OF ALLTHE LATIN AMERICAN BISHOPS.
MISSION IS NOT A ONE WAY AFFAIR .IT IS AN EXCHANGE OF CULTURE.THERE HAS TO BE DIALOGUE AND SHARING.FATHER MATT HAUMANN MHM,ONE OF MILL HILLS OUTSTANDING MISSIONARIES OBSERVED THAT MISSION IS TO SIT WHERE THE PEOPLE SIT AND LET GOD HAPPEN..THIS IS A VERY HUMBLE VERY INSPIRING OBSERVATION BUT BRILLIANT AND VERY HELPFUL TO THOSE MISSIONARIES LIKE MYSELF WHO ARE ALWAYS BUSY,BUSY,BUSY.IT IS A VERY GOOD THEME FOR MEDITATION.
ANOTHER GREAT MILL HILL MISSIONARY WHO HAS SPENT MANY YEARS IN THE FAR EAST, FATHER MATT CARPENTER RECENTLY VERY COURAGEOUSLY TOOK ON A NEW MISSION TO CHINA SAID WHEN HE BEGAN HIS MISSION…”I HAD NO PLANS EXCEPT THE DESIRE TO OBSERVE, TO LISTEN, TO MAKE FRIENDS, AND TO GIVE SERVICE.” ONCE HE BEGAN TEACHING STUDENTS,HE DISCOVERED TRUE DIALOGUE.
MOST MISSIONARIES WILL ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THEIR LIVES HAVE BEEN REALLY ENRICHED BY SERVING AND LOVING THEIR PEOPLE. BOTH THE MISSIONARIES AND THE PEOPLE BENEFIT ENORMOUSLY. IT IS THE MISSIONARIES IN ECUADOR WHO ACCEPT THE POOREST AREAS AND FACE THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES. WHEN BISHOP OLINDO SPAGNUOLO,A COMBONI MISSIONARY(ALSO KNOWN AS VERONA MISSIONARIES) DIED LAST YEAR IN JULY THOUSANDS FLOCKED TO HIS FUNERAL. HE HAD BEEN THE PIONEER EVANGELISER IN PERHAPS THE BIGGEST SLUM IN GUAYAQUIL CALLED EL GUASMO. MAY HE REST IN PEACE.
FATHER PETER WINDRAM MHM WROTE A BOOK CALLLED “PRIEST” ABOUT HIS EXPERIENCES IN WORKING AS A MISSIONARY IN ITAGUAI DIOCESE BRAZIL. HE SAID: THE MISSIONARY LIVES ON IN THE HEARTS OF THE PEOPLE HE HAS SERVED. MAY HE REST IN PEACE.
THE MISSIONARY NOT ONLY MAKES MANY FRIENDS IN PREACHING THE GOSPEL BUT HE ALSO MAKES ENEMIES. FATHER FRANK MCCARTHY MHM WHO DIED VERY RECENTLY(MAY HE REST IN PEACE.) WROTE A BOOKLET ON THE MILL HILL MISSIONARY MARTYRS,OUR GOOD MISSIONARIES WHO WERE KILLED WHILST FULFILLING THEIR MISSION. MAY THEY ALL REST IN PEACE.

The School St Rose of Lima School. Isla Trinitaria.

The Blessing of the School with Digna Caicedo Guagua one of our

Founding teachers reading a passage from the Bible. April. 2000.

Another view of our school

One of our first parishioners. Sandy Godoy is her name.

Father Maurice McGill the Superior General of the Mill Hill Missionaries with Obemia and her daughter Elizabeth .Visit to the Isla Trinitaria 1993

The Kinder Day Care Centre.St Rose of Lima 1994

The Day Care Centre.St Rose of Lima parish

The top floor of the school has two classrooms.

The Archbishop with Maria Luisa Plaza Vergara,Obemia Plaza Vergara

Doctor Lorena at the inauguration of the school April 2000

A view of the classrooms

Another view

The Holy Family Church ,cooperativa Che Guevara
Isla Trinitaria, built by our Mill Hill
Associates Mary Kilcoyne MHM ,
Anne Harrison MHM, and Ildi Dunai MHM.
They used the Logos of the Mill Hill Missionaries
to embellish the Church.1995

Father Jac Hetsen mhm our Superior General visiting
St Rose of Lima parish

Walking the plank with Father Jac Hetsen.!

St Rose of Lima parish.

St Teresa,s church, Palm Sunday, 1998.Isla Trinitaria

The parish in the rainy season .February

StRose of Lima church 2005. Meeting of the Legion of Mary

St Rose of Lima church.Palm Sunday.

Father Jac Hetsen mhm Superior General visiting our school.

Photos

2009-01-04T17:43:00.000-08:00

Announcing the Sunday Masses in St Rose of Lima 1991

THE PARISHIONERS 1991

The Bamboo Chapel Divino Niño 1991 Isla Trinitaria

Bamboo Chapel St Teresa 1991 Isla Trinitaria

St Rose of Lima Chapel June 1991 when the isla trinitaria was a swamp.

St Rose of Lima Chapel 1991

St Rose of Lima 1991. See the swamp in the background.

St Teresa,s Chapel half buried by the landfill.

The swamp 1991. The start of the Mill Hill Mission.

St Rose of Lima Sunday Mass 1991

Beginning St Rose of Lima Church 1992

A bamboo shack about to collapse 1991

St Rose of Lima Curch Hall 1992

The approach to the Divino Niño Chapel 1991

St Rose of Lima Church Hall 1992

Building a new bamboo chapel San Camilo 1993

The children have a good view from St Rose of Lima chapel 1991

The bamboo chapel St Teresa 1993

A street photo after the landfill 1992

St Rose of Lima chapel 1991

St Rose of Lima chapel built in a swamp 1991

The Divine Child Chapel.Sunday Mass 1991.

St Teresa,s chapel half buried by the landfill 1992

Rebuilding St Teresa,s chapel 1993

The Divine Child Chapel 1991

St Teresa,s chapel rebuilt after the landfill. 1993

The main road through the parish after the landfill.

Elizabeth Plaza Vergara posed for the rather dark photo.

The motorway

2008-12-31T14:40:00.002-08:00

A map of the location of the 7 Catholic Churches in the Isla Trinitaria

The motorway which divides the Isla Trinitaria in half.

A few of the photos show the motorway that was built through the original swamp and other views of the slum. There are a few slums in Guayaquil, apart from the Isla Trinitaria, Suburbio,Los Esteros,Las Malvinas, El Guasmo,El Fortin, Bastion Popular, Valerio Estacio, etc.THE FIRST PHOTO IN THIS BLOG IS OF THE SLUM OF SUBURBIO.ALL THE SLUMS LOOK ALIKE BECAUSE OF THE CLOSENESS OF THE SHACKS-. Everyone now seems to want to help to improve the social situation so that every family can enjoy a good quality of life.This is wonderful. Congratulations.
But years ago not many people were interested in improving the life of the poor.There are slums in big cities all over the world. Nairobi,Karachi, Rio de Janeiro,Sao Paolo,Lima, Calcutta,Khartoum,Darfur etc.,How they were formed is interesting and how they were accepted. The world seems to accept the existence of massive slums in which thousands of poor people live ,many surviving on one dollar a day.The Isla Trinitaria was formed by the poor flocking to a swamp which had a motorway built through it,claiming a piece of land,or better put, a piece of swamp, and building a bamboo shack on it. It was an extremely unhealthy place,and dangerous.It was known as the island of the condemned because of the criminals who sought refuge there. Some taxi drivers will not enter the isla trinitaria. for fear of being assaultedThen came the landfill thanks to the brilliance of the President Rodrigo Borja who filled in the six square kilometres making it solid land. Remember the old joke..God created the earth, but the Dutch created Holland.Well the President Rodrigo Borja created the Isla Trinitaria.!!President Leon Febres Cordero built the motorway through the isla trinitaria.May he rest in peace. The Mayor of Guayaquil Jaime Nebot is achieving miracles embellishing the city of Guayaquil and the Isla Trinitaria but not all of it though I am sure he intends to do so eventually.The Missionaries built bamboo chapels at first and then concentrated on looking for help to build the brick churches. .Through the Archbishop Juan IgnacioLarrea Holguin we contacted Cardinal Better of Munich and Monsignor Dieter Spelthahn of Adveniat.Their response was fantastic.
They knew Ecuador.,they knew the poverty of the isla trinitaria. They gave the money to build six Catholic Churches in the isla., and three presbyteries.This was extremely generous. Their money comes from the taxes and contributions of the German Catholics. The Bishops pool the money and then distribute it to pay for worthy projects throughout the world…so the Mill Hill Missionaries are very very grateful to ADVENIAT and MUNICH for their fantastic help..The Churches built were STA ROSA DE LIMA, SAN CAMILO, SAGRADA FAMILIA, DIVINO NIÑO,SANTA EUFRASIA, AND STA TERESA DEL NIÑO JESUS. Three presbyteries were built too.A seventh church was built by the Somascos Fathers of Venice founded by St Jeronimo Emiliani in the 16th century. It is called St Charlos Lwanga the name of one of the Uganda martyrs.The Somascos Fathers came to the isla trinitaria in 1998 to help out.Below you will find several photos of the first chapels and communities of the isla trinitaria BEFORE the landfill and after the landfill.the people on the photos have now grown up ,they have their own families and are still members of our communities. THE IDEA OF THE MILLHILLMISSIONARIES IN ECUADOR HAS BEEN TO FORM BASIC CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES and to train leaders men and women, boys and girls ,to help with the formation of the Catholic Communities. This has been a very slow progress. It is now almost eighteen years since the Mill Hill Missionaries began working in the Isla Trinitaria..Archbishop Juan Ignacio Larrea Holguin had asked the Superior General Maurice McGill mhm to send missionaries for the slum of the Isla Trinitaria in 1991 and Father Maurice had agreed. At first the General sent two priests Father David Murphy and Father Frank Smith . He later sent Father Brian Ahern mhm,from Dundee Scotland, Father Wim van Gastel mhm,from Holland, Mary Kilcoyne mhm,from Southport,England, Anne Harrrison mhm, from Tyne and Wear,England, and Ildi Dunai mhm,from Budapest,Hungary This was a fantastic generous contribution to the evangelisation of the Isla Trinitaria by the Superior of the Mill Mill Missionaries of Mill Hill London England. The Missionaries have now moved their headquarters to Maidenhead near Slough and Windsor. The present Superior General is Father Anthony Chantry, and his councilors,are Father Brendan Mulhall,Father Michael Corcoran, and Bro.Jos Boerkamp.Tremendous work was achieved in this period amongst the youth.by the Mill Hill Lay Associates and Narcisa Medranda. Catechists were formed and also community leaders. We had reunions so that all the communities could get to know one another, and to feel they belonged to one huge community.Our Lay Associates, Mary Kilcoyne mhm,Anne Harrison mhm, and Ildi Dunai mhm achieved wonders. We had visits from Father Maurice McGill mhm,Father Bill Tollan mhm ,Father Jac Hetsen mhm and Brother Jos Boerkamp mhm.Their visits were ones of support and encouragement. We had visits too from the archbishops of Guayaquil, Cardinal Bernardino Echeverria, Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston, Juan Ignacio Larrea Holguin, and Antonio Arregui Yarza who is the present Archbishop.The Mill Hill Missionaries were founded in 1866 by Cardinal Herbert Vaughan of Courtfield,Ross on Wye,on the Welsh Borders.He established St Josephs Missionary Society, and sent missionaries to BALTIMORE USA to look after the Blacks.He sent missionaries to AFGHANISTAN ,MADRAS,KASHMIR AND KAFIRISTAN,to BORNEO ,and to NEW ZEALAND. The Mill Hill Missionaries work in some twenty one countries throughout the world. In order to collect funds for his missionary seminary,Cardinal Vaughan visited SOUTH AMERICA.He visited Guayaquil on July 14th 1864.
He expressed his opinion that Ecuador was too poor a country to beg in. Did he think that his missionaries would eventually evangelize a massive slum in Guayaquil.? Yes I think it was within his vision. The Mill Hill Missionaries did come to South America ,to Chile, Peru,Ecuador, Brazil, Venezuela,Bolivia, to Uruguay and to The Falkland Islands, and the Dutch Antilles.

The Motorway which runs through the isla trinitaria is called the PERIMETRAL. Very heavy traffic pass along it every day and all night long.There are no pedestrian crossings but some traffic lights have been installed.Nevertheless many people are killed attempting to cross the perimetral. The road is notorious for accidents. The people now call it the Perimortal. ..because so many have died on it. May they all rest in peace.
The police are now launching a campaign to teach the Highway Code in all the schools to try to cut down the number of tragedies.

I enclose a photo of one of the bridges crossing the perimetral ,and a couple of photos of the city of Guayaquil,which is becoming a popular tourist attraction.The Mayor Jaime Nebot has achieved miracles in Guayaquil. He has given the city dignity and pride.

May be you would like to visit Guayaquil and see the Isla Trinitaria for yourself.
You will be very welcome and the mission team will show you around.They also act as the bodyguards. I am trying to encourage my sisters to come to Ecuador for a holiday which would also include seeing the isla trinitaria. May be this blog will encourage them.

The Mill Hill Missionaries who work in South America with Father Tony

Chantry the Superior General at the Cluster meeting in Brazil in November

2008.

The Motorway attracted the poor from all areas looking for a piece of land.

This is the first bridge.Underneath is the river.

The beginning of the parish in a swamp called the Isla Trinitaria
The parish priest looks bewildered. July 1991 .

The bridge connnects the Isla Trinitaria with the city of Guayaquil

A view of the city of Guayaquil now a Tourist Attraction 2008

Parts of the Parish are still the same. The catwalks

over the estuary. photo 2008

Another view of Guayaquil. The English pirates raided

the city on several occasions. Henry Morgan was perhaps

the most famous.

Walking around the parish in July 1991 when it was still

a swamp.

Water had to be bought from a Truck and

stored in a barrel. 1991 Isla Trinitaria

The shack and its shadow. St.Rose of Lima

parish 1991 when the Mill Hill Missionaries

began their mission to the poor in Guayaquil.

Our Patron Saint. St Rose of Lima

The Isla Trinitaria slum and the tidal river. November 2000.

Riverview from the second bridge .November 2000.Isla Trinitaria

Guayaquil. Ecuador.

View of the Isla Trinitaria when the tide is out. November 2000

A view of St Rose of Lima parish from the first bridge. November 2000.

The purpose of this blog.

2008-12-15T10:37:00.000-08:00

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

In the grounds of St Rose of Lima Church

Beginning the mill hill mission May 1991.Isla Trinitaria

The pipe is for filling in the land which was a swamp 1992

The children are excited about the landfill. The dredger can be seen.

The slum Isla Trinitaria and its catwalks.

The Isla Trinitaria and its unhealthy swamp.

The landfill in progress. 1992.

An anxious time for all, waiting, and waiting.

The land is beginning to take shape

The bamboo chapel of la Sagrada Familia 1992 Isla Trinitaria

The chapel of St.Teresa. Isla Trinitaria. 1992

Before the landfill. the tidal waters caused havoc.1991

The chapel of St Teresa again, It had to be dug out. 1992

Waiting for the landfill to dry out .Isla Trinitaria.,1992

The landfill in progress. 1992

St Rose of Lima parish. 2009. Some parts are still the same.

2009-. St Rose of Lima parish. Still the same.

Fixing the catwalks in the Isla del Valle.Isla Trinitaria 2009

The Isla Trinitaria. The outskirts of the parish.St Rose of Lima.

View of the Isla Trinitaria. 2008

A view of some of the bamboo shacks. 2008

The shacks built over the estuary 2009

Moving around whilst the tide is out. Isla Trinitaria 2008

Some of the mothers discussing the problems of the Isla Trinitaria