Life on the road, with sixteen teenage girls, throughout Ecuador with a backpack... is setting in. I know where my hand sanitizer and bugspray live, I have a flow for lesson plans and implementations, sinking into our leadership roles, shifting from chief who is the main voice for the day all the way down to our diva days when we get to hang back and divert questions. We are teaching the girls how to wash their own clothes, encouraging them constantly to converse in spanish, "take off thier blinders" when we are in towns and cities, and to think critically about the world and apply what happens in "class" with what takes place "outside class".
Class is a very loose term in these contexts, yesterday we had our Math Applications class around an outdoor firepit next to some American travelers in hammocks with beers in hand chatting about the bedouin lifestyle they live on the tourist curcuit. Earlier today all the spanish classes took place in the market place, meeting with vendors, asking about the production and place of origin of the textiles and paintings drawing them in. PE this morning got us out of bed at 6:30 with a run to the central square where we did step ups and calf raises on the side of the rose beds while school girls and businessmen passed. Sometimes I wish I could be on the other side, listening to the comments and looking through the perspectives of those who encounter our braids, wide-eyes and sing-song voices. Mostly a smile helps to ease the glare or questioning body language, and sometimes it doesnt. The fear of wrestling with others personal bubbles and controled lifestyle plagues me at times, although it is a fact we leap through daily in order to run this program, hoping our girls will venture with respect for those they encounter, and those on the other side will open their hearts to us. If not at this present moment, maybe they can in their own time.
There are moments in a group (and in life) when we are forced to recognize how fortunate we are for the opportunity at hand, and the people we are with. Moments that stop your momentum and allow you to reflect. All to often we dont have these moments as we live to prevent mistakes and unfortunate events, although if we can see such mistakes in a positive and trusting light we may just get through the hardest times of all. Several days ago, one of our bubbly and personable young girls jumped over a hammock in the dark and triped, we snapped into our Wilderness First Responder care in hopes of controlling the pain and aftermath, then taxied to Quito's pediatric and plastic surgery wing.. our dear friend had twelve stiches sewn into her chin and came back with x-rays of a fractured jaw. Since then our world has been transformed and we count our blessings our company has a structure and intention in place to triage such emergencies. There has been an abundance of communication and risk management consultation. Our team has contacted and been in constant review with several doctors in Ecuador and in the states, professionals and specialists and it is to all of our dismay that we will be sending our lovely and inspiring young girl home this weekend to heal with her family, the nature of our program has too many variables for us to proceed together. With the tears and the emotion, this collision with reality has been an unthinkable feat for our group of girls, although they have risen to meet the occasion and speak from their hearts, affirming our lovely member who will have to fly back home. We are holding positive and healing thoughts for her, trusting this is situation in which there is a reason for this event. Her journey to get here has not been easy, and to be sent back is heartbreaking, there is a chance she can return after healing. It is lovely to see our group come together and witness their already new found connection! It never ceases to amaze me the way humans can explore themselves in radical experiences such as these, especially when they are with people who hold space for one another growth.
Thank you for following and holding safe and healthy thoughts!
Much love to you and your loved ones,
We are off to the Cloud Forest.