Sue and I sponsor a young boy through the Children International program. His name is Edwin and he lives in Quito. We had the opportunity to visit with Edwin and his family one afternoon. We arranged the visit through the CI office here and were met at Graciela's house by the case worker that works with Edwin and his family. We drove across Quito and then up into an area that had streets that were basically large holes connected to another large hole, and were some of the steepest streets we had encountered.
Their home was on the side of the mountain and was mostly cinder block covered with corrugated steel. The steps from the street up to the front yard and then up to the house were cut into the dirt and were rather steep. There were some leaks in the roof and we offered to provide the money needed to make repairs for that and perhaps with making safer steps using concrete. They do have electricity and a phone, albeit the phone is on a line that goes into a relatives house so that they share the same number. Running water is available in their area where in some places it is not. They store water in a large barrel because some days the running water does not run.
Bathroom and laundry functions are done outside the house in a small shed-like building. The toilet has running water and the room it's in is also the shower room - no hot water though, only cold water. Outside the bathroom is the laundry room consisting of a scrubbing stone and a basin for the water. The case worker was looking it over and was explaining the "spin cycle" to Sue.
We had an enjoyable visit with Edwin and his family. The case worker translated for us and we were able to communicate how much we enjoyed this opportunity to share with them and they replied in kind. We had some gifts for Edwin that included a KC Chiefs hat, a soccer outfit, some books, and a little telescope, magnifying lens, compass, McGiver kind of thing. "A boy thing" as Sue put it.
He was scoping us out from the steps as we left walking to the car.