My heart is breaking

So, I know I continually write about all the fun I have and how exciting Ecuador is, but today my heart breaks for the families that work with us. I spend a great deal of time talking with our director of operations about the families that work for us here at El Refugio. There are 5 families that are employed by the camp and they are the main ministry of the Director and his wife. Yes, we host Ecuadorean church groups and give them training and rest and recreation. And yes, we host North American groups who come to work on the facilities of the camp. But, day in and day out we have the workers who live in Calacali in total poverty that will likely never find a way out.

Holger (pronounced Ol-hair) and his wife Anjelica are two of these workers. Holger works with the Director of Operations maintaining thing around the camp. He helps the work teams when they come to work on projects and let's face it, he's fixed almost everything I have managed to break in my casita. Anjelica, his wife is the head Chef here at camp. She speaks little English and I speak little Spanish, but somehow she manages to communicate to me what needs to be done to fill our guests bellies. She is amazingly patient and extremely kind. They have twin 9 year old boys who want to come to the States some day and an 18 month old little girl. About a year ago, they started building a house down the street from the camp. It is not completed, but they couldn't keep paying rent for the house they were living in, so they moved into the house as it was. They have no back door and no windows. The windows are covered by sheets of plastic. I am not sure what else needs to be done on the house, but the cost to finish it is about $1000. To North Americans, this may seem like a lot but not an unattainable amount, but when you consider that the family makes around $300-$400 a month, $1000 is pretty much unfathomable. I literally sat and wept as I heard this today.

How Much Do You Spend at Starbucks a Month?

Someone asked me this question the other day and the answer has changed the way I view my life and priorities. The reality is that at $5 a day for an average drink at Starbucks, I spend more money on coffee than the contracted cooks make in a month working at Hacienda El Refugio. Minimum wage in Ecuador is $1 an hour… that’s US dollars folks. At 40 hour a week, that means $2080 a year. Most of us make that in a month; some of us make that in a week. Granted our cooks make more than the minimum wage, but at 80 hours a month (their contracted hours), I still spend more on coffee than they take home. So, I guess my question is: is my coffee worth more than a family consisting of a mom and dad, twin 9 year-old boys and an adorable 16 month-old little girl? I find it hard to believe that I can go back to the states, go to Starbucks everyday and not think of what that $5 a day can do for them.