Down (but looking up) in the Dump

One of the components of our experience here at NILI is to be able to volunteer at one of three ministry sites on a weekly basis. The three that we currently know about are: a daycare at the city dump for children of people who work in the dump itself; a home for senior citizens that is organized and run by Ecuadoran women at no cost to residents who are often the poor and forgotten; an orphanage.

Today we toured/visited the first two of these three. Both were moving experiences. Both are Christian ministries led by committed people who operate the ministries on a shoestring budget.

Helping children of refuse/dump workers (the workers actually get in the dump and go thru the refuse by hand to look for recyclable material and/or food for their families) is done by providing clean, healthy on site day care, medical treatment for the families, good food for the infants and youngsters, education, a playground, and spiritual and emotional support for families, parent training.....to try to put all this in a nutshell, the goal of this ministry is to help break the cycle of generations working in the dump....some of these children are now able to enroll in public school.

So, today we visited and played with the children at the "dump daycare", then toured the senior citizens' ministry and visited with dear residents, and will next go to the orphanage in a few days....then we'll divide ourselves among these ministries and offer service and presence on a weekly basis.