First, I want to apologise for the delay in updates and blog post! A lot has happened, so let me bring you up to date with what’s going on. Well, I arrived to Quito, Ecuador about 4 weeks ago and I have been taking spanish, Ecuadorian culture, and politics classes. Currently, I am in a small community called Salinas where I will be living and working with the people here. This community is mostly inhabited by Afro-Ecuadorians, who are the MOST outgoing people I have ever met! The best part is being one of them. The first day when I was introduced to where I will be working (empowering afro-ecuadorian youth communities through sports) I was invited with loud music and dancing! Yeah, that’s how they say “hola” to new inhabitants of this community. It didn’t matter whether we are from the same or different descendants; it really didn’t matter whether we spoke different tongues; what mattered is that we were connected by things that are universal being human, like music and dance. I actually am excited for the next 7 months. Even though I’ll be living in a hot, mosquito infested area, I am excited to experience and to be a part of something that is bigger than me! It doesn’t matter whether my family can only afford to buy milk once a week because it cost $1, which is expensive to them. What matters is they have love existing in this house. We do not go to bed without talking for at least two hours.
And for this, I want to thank everybody for making my travel to Ecuador possible. Also, please keep up as I will be sending updates every now and then, whenever I get internet access.
I am incredibly lucky to be a part of this initiative.
