Ecuadorian Team Serves in Cross-Cultural Ministry in Isolated Andean Community
(June 15, 2012 - by Vozandes Community Development staff)
An Ecuadorian team of 12 HCJB Global staff and volunteers spent months preparing for a week of cross-cultural ministry in the Quichua community of Capulispungo, perched on a remote windswept, 12,400-foot-high Andean mountain ridge.
The team raised about US$4,000 for the project, selling cake, cookies and soup during coffee breaks and accepting contributions. Although team members serve in full-time ministry, the multicultural nature of Ecuador cannot be fully appreciated in the modern city of Quito.
“We did not go as rescuers but rather to serve the Quichua people,” related Beatriz Alban, an Ecuadorian mother of two and office manager of Vozandes Community Development, after digging pipe trenches each day.
Bruce Rydbeck, director of clean water projects, said Alban’s humble attitude reflects a changing mindset in Ecuador. “The indigenous people of Ecuador were liberated from servitude a century later than slaves in the U.S.,” he explained. “Some aspects of racial prejudice still persist in Ecuador. Jesus sends us to conquer those social and language barriers with His compassion.”
The HCJB Community Development team works full-time helping Ecuadorian communities build their water system. Rural Ecuadorian communities build their own water system, often with limited success.
(June 15, 2012 - by Vozandes Community Development staff)
An Ecuadorian team of 12 HCJB Global staff and volunteers spent months preparing for a week of cross-cultural ministry in the Quichua community of Capulispungo, perched on a remote windswept, 12,400-foot-high Andean mountain ridge.
The team raised about US$4,000 for the project, selling cake, cookies and soup during coffee breaks and accepting contributions. Although team members serve in full-time ministry, the multicultural nature of Ecuador cannot be fully appreciated in the modern city of Quito.
“We did not go as rescuers but rather to serve the Quichua people,” related Beatriz Alban, an Ecuadorian mother of two and office manager of Vozandes Community Development, after digging pipe trenches each day.
Bruce Rydbeck, director of clean water projects, said Alban’s humble attitude reflects a changing mindset in Ecuador. “The indigenous people of Ecuador were liberated from servitude a century later than slaves in the U.S.,” he explained. “Some aspects of racial prejudice still persist in Ecuador. Jesus sends us to conquer those social and language barriers with His compassion.”
The HCJB Community Development team works full-time helping Ecuadorian communities build their water system. Rural Ecuadorian communities build their own water system, often with limited success.
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