Founder of Hospital Vozandes visits us!

Dr. Roberts greeting Blanca and Pastor Gustavo Molina

Dr. Paul Roberts, Graham, Hermann Schirmacher

Last Thursday we had Dr. Paul Roberts, founder of HCJB Global's hospital in Quito come back for a visit. He was invited to give some lectures here in Quito and in Guayaquil. We had a lunch to honour his presence, and enjoyed getting to know him a bit. In case you didn't know, he is Canadian, currently living in Toronto :-).

He has just written a book telling some of the stories of his life. If you are interested in getting a copy let us know - I'm not sure yet how they are being distributed, but I'm certain we can find out.

A few years ago Dr. Roberts was honoured by the Ecuadorian government for his work in improving health care in the country. He was made an honorary citizen and given passport #1. He now serves Ecuador as a Consul in Canada.

Graham meets the Mayor

As you saw in our previous post, the rains have created a huge sinkhole in Quito. On Saturday Graham went down to take some pictures. While touring the site he and Hermann Schirmacher ran into the Mayor of Quito! (The young lady with Graham is Tamara, Hermann's daughter.) Our flickr site has a series of pictures showing the work being done. The mayor told us they expect it to be a year long project to get traffic flowing normally again.

Huge hole in Quito

We have had a lot of rain this winter, and up until now the most affected areas were on the coast. But yesterday the rains caused the collapse of a road and several landslides. The damage has been severe enough the Minister of Education cancelled classes today and tomorrow for all schools in metropolitan Quito.

Cuenca - the city of churches.

Mass in progress.
Originally uploaded by EyeMax

This week is our "March Break" at the Alliance Academy, so the kids have headed off to camp, and we decided to visit Cuenca for three days. Our flickr site has a bunch more photos. Cuenca is famous for its historic center (named a World Heritage Site), pottery and ceramic and jewelry. We saw the churches but didn't buy any jewelry.



We stayed at the Hosteria Duran in a little town of Banos (not to be confused with the famous Banos near Shell). We had a great time and enjoyed the break, but are now eager for the girls to come home from camp tomorrow!

Flood video

Our team in Babahoya has put together a video of their work. The rains are expected to continue until the end of April. Last night we loaded another truck with 500 "packs" of food (rice, sugar, salt, oil, beans, noodles, etc.) plus some medicine and clothes. We are working in areas were no one else (because there is sooo much need, and so few resources) has visited yet.

Not as much fun as it appears!

So much water.
Originally uploaded by EyeMax

While she appears to be enjoying the water, she probably doesn't understand the seriousness of the situation. It is now estimated over 300,000 are affected with the flood. It continues to rain. There are villages that have not received any assistance yet. We sent another truck of food, clothes and medicine down this week. Pray that those who are working in the relief effort would have the resources they need to complete the task!

The food pile - escaping out the door!

The food pile - escaping out the door!
Originally uploaded by EyeMax

The relief efforts for the victims of the flooding continues. We have a medical team on the ground now. All week we have been collecting food and cash (to purchase food) and today we started to package it up. There is already over a 1000 pounds bundled and in a truck ready to go that isn't in this picture. HCJB Global is working closely with Pan de Vida, Samaritan's Purse, Compassion, Extreme Response and other organizations to get the biggest bang out of our relief effort bucks.