"Currently I am lucky enough to be exploring South America. Prior to leaving I was given the opportunity by Sammy and Kirsty to bring with me Baby Teresa outfits to donate to an orphanage in Ecuador. Quito, the capital of Ecuador has a large population of underprivileged and abandoned children due to its underemployment rate of 43.8%. (census 2001). The poverty in this town is hard to miss as beggers frequently approach tourists, many holding infants or young children.
My friend Victor, a dutch medical student who speaks far better spanish than I offered to help me to find a suitable orphanage. After two hours of fruitless searching on the internet for an address we decided to just walk into a church and ask. Four churches later we were on the way to an orphanage call “San Vincent de Paul”. Located in a poor neighbourhood one hour out of the city centre San Vincent de Paul is currently home to 65 infants aged 2 months to two years.
Initially we were greeted with some suspicion by the head nun at the orphanage but after we showed her the Baby Teresa outfits and managed to explain why we were visiting she was quite happy to show us around. Each bedroom held about twenty cots, infants and small children were everywhere. I saw six very hardworking volunteers feeding, changing and playing with infants and trying to maintain the peace.
The play area had few toys which the children were all sharing. An excited volunteer offered to dress some of the children in their new clothes for some photos. The other children crowed around wanting to be part of the action. After a few photos we left the workers alone who were busily dressing the infants in their new clothes.
It was a great experience to deliver this donation to such a worthy place. I found it immensely rewarding when I left to see a room full of little green and orange “tiggers” sporting their new jump suits."
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