Hog Heaven: Michigan Family Overwhelmed by Ecuadorian Family’s Generosity

In 2006, Don and Kim Clapham and their daughter Stephanie traveled from their home in Lake Angelus, MI, to Quito, Ecuador. Their goal was to help a team of Extreme Response volunteers rebuild a home for a struggling family that worked in the Zambiza Dump.

When the Claphams left Michigan, they viewed their trip as a one-sided affair. They would serve an Ecuadorian family by helping provide safe housing.

They did not expect the family to serve them.

“Unfortunately, the family had lost their home when the roof had collapsed earlier that spring” Don Clapham said. “We learned the family worked six to seven days a week at the Zambiza Dump, digging through the garbage to sort out plastic, metal and cardboard, which they sold for a very small amount of money.

“Because they did not have the time or the resources to rebuild their house, they were forced to live in a home with a leaky, dilapidated roof, exposed to the elements.

“We worked on the home from Monday through Friday, mostly mixing mortar and laying cinder blocks. The work was long and hard, but very gratifying because we knew how appreciative the family members were of our efforts from the looks on their faces.

“As we worked, we noticed that the family had three large pigs in their possession. Upon inquiring, we learned that the pigs made up the majority of the family’s life savings. The pigs were, therefore, of great importance to them.

“When the house was nearly finished, the family invited us to have lunch with them. While we were putting the final changes on the home, we noticed that one of the pigs was missing.

“We then realized the family, out of their extreme appreciation, had butchered one of their three pigs to feed us lunch. Knowing how important that pig was to them moved us all very deeply. We will never forget the heartfelt gratitude the family showed us that day.

“This experience with Extreme Response stirred my heart to serve people in extreme situations, Clapham added. “The appreciation and love shown by the Ecuadorian people made the effort very fulfilling. My family returned to Quito with Extreme Response in 2007 and 2008 and we hope to collaborate with them again in the near future.”

by Tim Fausch

Laurenne McDougall: “A Part of My Heart Will Always Belong to Ecuador”

Laurenne McDougall is a serial “Ecuadork”. So taken with the people and culture of Ecuador, Laurenne joined work teams from Woodside Bible Church three years in a row. In 2008, she and her team traveled to Quito to help add two stories, a roof, bathroom, and classrooms to the Good Shepherd community center.

“A few hours into the first day, a truck rolled in with at least 1,000 cinder blocks. The blocks needed to be moved from one end of the yard to another, so we started a block relay. My arms felt like they were going to fall off. I never wanted to see another cinder block again. However, as part of the construction crew, we needed to lift all the blocks up the stairs to the second floor. Amazingly, we were able to finish all the projects we hoped to that week.”

“We also led the kids in crafts. We made notebooks, bracelets, totes, and t-shirts. At one point, we had 400 kids. The kids loved playing with us and we loved the kids. Little Ecuadorian girls would randomly pet my hair and tell me that my curls are very beautiful.”

“On this trip, we made dinner for 300 people who work the night-shift at Quito’s Zambiza Dump. The very young children of the dump workers go to the nursery everyday, and all of their meals come from programs run by Extreme Response. The older children attend kids camp. As they leave, each takes a vitamin and a snack.”

“From a catwalk, we watched dump workers digging in mountains of trash looking for items they can sell. One woman found a cup of yogurt and ate what remained. Another woman pulled out a blackened sweater to give to her child. My eyes have been opened and my heart softened to the horrible conditions in which much of the world lives.”

“Near the end of our trip, my friend Hannah and I volunteered to serve fruit snacks as the kids were leaving. We were both weeping. We received hundreds of hugs. It broke my heart when the kids would say, ‘Thank you for everything’ in English.

“The people of Ecuador captured my heart. They really know how to make you feel loved. The generosity of the Ecuadorians will never cease to amaze me. A part of my heart will always belong to Ecuador.”

by Tim Fausch

A team of 7 traveled to India and Nepal - flying 49 hours, through six different countries and drove 54 hours on bad roads to put on 6 different Christmas celebrations.

Party #1 in Nepal was with 500 children from a local community and the outlaying slums. The kids had a great time watching the drama, the cultural dances and listening to the Christmas story.

Party #2 (Nepal) took place at a Hindu school high in the mountains and Party #3 was for a group of young Hindu mothers and their small children. The young mothers had a great time laughing and playing together.

Party #4 (Nepal) was for street boys who enjoyed the food immensely! We were able to give each one of them a warm wool hat.

Party #5 took place in India for a group of 100+ orphans ranging from 2-23 years old. They all enjoyed the Christmas story and loved the food and gifts.

Party #6 (India) was for girls who live in the slums. They put on their best dresses and came to get their faces painted and enjoy the food and fun.

Thank you for helping make these parties possible!

Yesterday we stuffed 1112 gift bags with a beanie baby, toothbrush & tooth paste, hotwheels car, 12 crayons & two coloring books. We worked together with the Youth Mobilization (YM) staff. It was a great day and our team worked efficiently and hard to complete this task. We were singing Christmas carols and rejoicing knowing where these gifts will be given and received. We have been training and waiting for this day for many months. It was time for our first Christmas party for 200 of the cutest kids in the Manila area. There were little ones still nursing to upper elementary school age. They were so excited and 80% dressed in red, which is a very good choice of colors! Our team helped with 11 Filipino games and the kids had an absolute ball! They were running around giving “high fives” to all of us and placing the back of our hand to their foreheads, to give them a blessing. They love getting their pictures taken while making their little hand signs to frame their faces and then seeing the result immediately. We were saying Maligayang Pasko (Tagalog for Merry Christmas) and they were repeating Merry Christmas in English. I wish you could have observed our team loving on these beautiful children, with their parents close by smiling with approval. We were being asked to pose for pictures with their children and to autograph their balloons!

We passed out the gift bags to the children and food to the parents. Some of the food was spaghetti with a hot dog on top. The kids went outside and devoured the spaghetti and then decided to open their gift bags…interesting! They seem to really love the beanie babies - both boys & girls hugging and holding them. They really liked the crayons & coloring books too!

Our last party was yesterday with the Kanawan Tribe in the mountains. We had a 30-45 minute hike up the mountain on Sunday evening in the dark, using our flash ights under a beautiful sky replete with millions of twinkling stars! The Kanawan children carried our backpacks, bedrolls, pillows, mosquito nets, food, Filipino games and two large boxes with 50 gift bags each. These heavy boxes were carried by some of the teenage boys. The children in the village were elated to see us. We remembered some of the children from our last party in 2008. The kids were climbing all over us, playing hand slap games with our younger team members, piggy back rides, tag, tons of “high fives” and one happy reunion! The children sang and danced for us and as usual asked some of us to join them…it wasn’t pretty! We slept on mats on the floor of their beautifully remodeled, expanded church building, under 15 mosquito nets hung expertly on twine, with our bodies plastered with mosquito repellent with a high concentration of deet.

The party the next day was a big success. The kids were so happy and full of food. They played one game where a 25 ft. pole is greased and they have to TRY to climb it to the top to retrieve a flag. Only one kid in the whole village succeeded.

Today we drove to Cavite City to share a party for 100 very poor children who usually get one meal per day! We had a two-hour drive in three vans to accommodate the YM team, us and the supplies for the party.

The children were really excited to see us!. They heard the Christmas Story through our Illusionist. We met five senior citizen men who were playing checkers on the perimeter. They told us Christmas is never for them because they never get anything! Joanie wanted to do something for these men so we bought them ice cream cones from a local vendor and we sang We Wish You a Merry Christmas and then gave them their cones. They beamed!

Today is our final day in the Philippines and we leave with mixed emotions. Last Thursday we also had a party at Jollibee’s Restaurant in a mall for 210 street kids. These children had never been inside a mall before and had never eaten inside a Jollibee as they always ate the leftovers from the dumpster behind the restaurant. What a celebration we had! The kids were so excited with the program for them, eating a delicious spaghetti, rice, juice and ice cream sundae, dancing, magic show, our team singing two Christmas carols for them and then the gift giving and balloons shaped in animal forms. Wow this party was the best for so many of us! The parents prepared weeks in advance for this party, sacrificing and saving their money to buy their children some party clothes. The children arrived sparkling clean, neatly dressed, hair fixed a full of energy!

Yesterday we traveled three hours to a remote area, Tiaong (pronounced Chi-ong) where the primary employment for the parents & children is rice farming. There were 110 children at this party. They were more subdued than the street children from the previous parties, but still energetic, smiling, high fives, excited and thankful for the games, gift bags and food. This party was later then the rest, 4-7:30 pm. We arrived home late!

Thank you ER Philippines Team – you’ve helped change many little lives!!

An Extreme Response team of  12 Americans, 3 South Africans and one Canadian living in Sudan are currently in South Africa celebrating Christmas with over 2000 people.  They are working with ER partners ATAIM, New Beginnings and Living Hope, putting on parties in 4 townships, a healthcare center, daycare center for underprivileged children, a city known for child trafficking and a training center for women. It has been an amazing week.  Updates to follow from our Ecuador, Philippines and India/Nepal teams.

The following is a report from Extreme Response Partner  Living Hope’s Chairman, John Thomas…

A total of 18,702 patients, clients and children were served by Living Hope during the last year.In the last year 186 patients where cared for in our Health Care Centre. 139 of them were nursed back into health. The Health Care Centre is a very challenging environment and it is wonderful to see very sick people come back into significant health.

Our Home-Based Carers in Masiphumelele carried out 11,432 visits, in Capricorn area they carried out 12,761 visits and in Ocean View they did 11,922 visits.

Our Health Counsellors tested and counselled 5,259 clients for HIV. 1,306 of those clients tested positive, which is the highest percentage ratio in recent years. The HIV positive rate that we have seen in our testing has increased from 13% last year to 25% this year. This is very disturbing.

Our Life Skills Education Department in afternoon clubs reached out to 4,404 children, in our holiday clubs to 1,755 and in schools to 3,242 children. This year we have started teen clubs programs which are going very well.

Our Chronic Diseases Lifestyle Support Groups and HIV Support Groups have 1,318 folk attending regularly.

We are grateful that despite a difficult financial year we were able to end in a surplus from a financial perceptive.  Living Grace served 15,489 meals to the needy and homeless people of Muizenberg.

Those stats only show by numbers what was done. So much more was achieved in changed lives who have hope and a purpose to live.

Since January 12, when a 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit Haiti, Extreme Response has been involved in assisting our two projects there to help those around them effected by the quake.

After the quake, aid began to pour into Haiti.  Both ER projects, Lemual and House of Hope, were receiving sufficient food.  This allowed ER to look for other ways of helping those effected by the disaster.  One of our first moves was the purchase of a 2010 dump truck to be used at our Lemuel project.  This truck was initially used to clear rubble, repair roads and haul water.  Large cisterns were dug by hand by local Haitians on a work-for-food program.  The truck was used to haul away the fill. The truck has been a vital part of our efforts in Haiti,but it will also be able to provide a source of income to the project long after the rebuilding is finished.

Extreme Response was also involved in the shipment of three containers to Haiti.  Each container carried supplies vital to the rebuilding process. They contained much needed medical supplies, water filtration units, tarps, tents, wheelbarrows,picks, shovels and batteries.  With the shipment of the filtration units, the local community had access to clean drinking water.

Along with the items mentioned above, ER has used donated funds to:

ER will continue to work with our partners in Haiti.  You can still give to these efforts by helping to sponsor the reconstruction of a home for a Haitian family.

For more information, contact us at info@extremeresponse.org or infocanada@extremeresponse.org

submitted by Paul Cripps, Extreme Response Canada

The Kindle Orphan Outreach Katawi Clinic in Salima, Malawi is taking action to battle the recent measles epidemic. Kindle Directory Marilyn Barr writes: Malawi is in the midst of a widespread measles epidemic. The community around us is also affected, and we are seeing many new patients with measles, both children and adults, each day at the Katawa Clinic. There have been several deaths in the community because of measles. The government has launched a huge vaccination campaign this week, August 16-20, for every child aged 9 months to 15 years. Kindle is a part of this through our clinic and the health officers who work there. Every day they will be working long hours in the villages to make sure everyone is covered.

Summer is work team season for Extreme Response. One of the ways we can best help our partners is to provide them with teams willing to help out for a week or two and bring the funds needed to get the work done. The teams really get to know our people and projects personally. We have 16 teams scheduled for Ecuador during the summer months (June, July and August). Although we do work teams in other locations, Ecuador is the number one destination this summer. Here’s a list of who they are and who they are working with.

• Avery Coonly School 8th grade Class - Quito dump project
• Fair Lawn Church - For His Children Orphanage
• Kensington Community Church - Por Amor Foundation and Montañita Children’s Home
• Woodside Bible Church - Buen Pastor School
• Wellesley Village Church- For His Children Orphanage
• North Point Community Church - Haven of Love & Por Amor
• St. Paul’s - Por Amor Foundation
• Good Shepherd Lutheran Church - For His Children Orphanage
• Providence Christian Academy - Quito Dump daycare center
• University South Carolina - nursing students helping at various Ecuador projects
• Calvary Church in Souderton - New Friends (Nuevos Amigos)
• Fountain of Life Lutheran Church - Bread of Life (Pan de Vida)
• Water’s Edge Bible Church - building a home for a dump family
• Westside Church of Omaha - building a home for a dump family
• Glenkirk Presbyterian Church - For His Children Orphanage
• Lifetree Adventures - Quito Dump project

Thank you, teams, for all your hard work and encouragement!

making friends with one of the children from the dump daycare center

North Point Community Church Team

painting the dump daycare walls

fixing the steps to the playground at the dump

Providence Christian Academy Team

handing out food to the night workers at the dump

Today, July 7, Extreme Response partner Pierre Roux will return to the dump in Beaufort West, South Africa to continue to develop relationships and strategize in helping those that live there. In June he helped feed over 80 people hot chicken and bread while they sifted through the trash in the 33 degree F (or 1 degree C) temperatures.