VISIT TO BARRAGANETE

In October 2022, I went to the remote communities of Portoviejo in the north of Ecuador….. Wow! What a journey. We came away from the poverty of the Guayaquil shanty town to the poverty of the mountainous region of Ecuador affected by the earthquake six years ago. The poverty here is totally different: communities are totally cut off. Because of the terrain, we were bumped back and forward for two hours before getting to the village of Barraganete. The priest there, Padre Josi, and around 40 villagers were there to meet us. What I noticed was that, unlike all other Ecuadorians I had met before, they were very timid and less forward. A lot of them I noticed were barefoot; they had travelled barefoot for an hour before getting to the chapel where we met them. The reason they were there was to say thanks to Scotland for the food parcels they had received. I couldn’t believe it – they were saying thanks to us! I was totally humbled that night with tears in my eyes. We should be saying thanks to them! In their poverty, they show US the true values of life!!

Fr Martin and Padre Josi handing over food parcels