By Ron Rubin

It’s been quite an experience.  Ecuador is considered the third most corrupt country in the Western Hemisphere.  Until a few years ago, it was legal to beat your wife.  The tradition that goes back centuries is that a woman had to prove that she was fertile before marriage.  If she was, the man was obligated to marry her.  What has changed in the last few decades is that the man has forgotten his obligation.  Consequently, there are thousands of orphans.

The orphanages fall into mostly two categories.  One type takes in any child who comes to their door, generally abandoned children and abused children.  Some infants were found in dumpsters and others were found on train tracks. When the police find them, they take them to an orphanage.  The State typically pays nothing for their care.

The problem with this first type of orphanage is that they live in conditions that we would call horrible.  However, it’s better than leaving them to die on the streets.  There might be 10 children sleeping in a small room. Often their beds and mattresses are decrepit, but the children are required to make their beds every day.  The floors are kept immaculate; however, since cleaning solutions are expensive and scarce, they clean the floors with gasoline which is about $1.50/ gal.  The fumes are terrible.

Their food staples are rice and potatoes.  We went to one of these these types of orphanages and found out that they were almost out of food.  Dando Amor bought them 1,500 pounds of rice and potatoes plus dozens of chickens so that they would have protein.

The other type of orphanage is quite nice.  The children are divided into casas, similar to small apartments, with one “mother” and usually about 6-8 children.  They lead a cleaner, more normal life in these relatively nice apartments.  The problem here is that some children are turned away when they reach capacity.

In all orphanages, the children are schooled, sometimes in a one-room school with a single electric bulb hanging in the middle.  The volunteers are mostly teenage girls from the US coordinated by the Orphanage Support Service Organization (OSSO) who assist local women.  Rex Head, the man who founded OSSO, is a doctor who gave up most of his practice (and life) in Idaho to be here with the kids about 60% of his time. He is close to a saint. He has saved hundreds of lives.

The little girl in the picture above adopted me for a morning. She was totally rambunctious and never stopped laughing.  She lived in Nancy’s house.  Nancy is a seventy year old woman who dresses very properly and loves the kids, about 30 of them.  Years ago she opened her house to any child that needed a home.  The conditions are quite poor but there is no lack of love.  Nancy is as close to a Saint as Rex.

By Laurie Wright

Back from my Ecuador trip and trying to make sense of what I experienced in my travels to all the orphanages, but most importantly WHY. I think back onto what I most desire to achieve for my clients with my photography; it is to demonstrate the connection between who you are as a family and deliver a finished product that is a visual reinforcement of your family’s connection, the sense of your family – to admire, enjoy and cherish that particular time in your lives.

Then, when I fast forward to my time spent with not only these wonderful children and the people that volunteer their time to create this sense of family – I realize that these children will never have these images or hear the story of how their mum realized they were pregnant for the very first time or have maternity images anticipating their arrival, or see in an album that amazing growth of their first year, or hear about their two-year-old tantrums with them being so fiercely independent.  These children would not hear the story of their birth at every birthday (as my Mum recounts each year).  Or have those monumental pictures: first day of school, vacations, goofy sibling images, dressing up in Halloween costumes, blowing out candles on birthday cakes, those fabulous missing front teeth. HOW could I NOT want to go to Ecuador and give these children images to have so they remember who they were and how beautiful and perfect they were right then?!!!

It saddens me to think that not only are these children growing up with out a mother and/or father – but how they will also not have any physical or tangible documentation of who they were – how precious they looked, how beautiful their smiles, or pensive their looks were.

Their spirit of fun, sense of community, and respect for each other was awe inspiring.  When lining up for food, trying on the shoes that were donated to them, and enjoying their treats and graciously accepting, there was  none of the pushing, grabbing or tears of frustration that are present in my day-to-day life with my three children. In short, these precious children were strong and resilient. But they need love, they need help, and your assistance. Caleb Allred, said it best, “We can’t change their past, but we can certainly change their future.”

I have donated my services to many charities: Near and Far Aid, Circle of Care, A Better Chance, NILMDTS (Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep), as well as local preschools and elementary schools, all with hopes that the funds raised will assist families and their children.  Please take a moment to reflect on your lives and the lives of your children. We can all be guilty at some point of taking things for granted. Please go that one step beyond gratitude for you life and family, and reach out to help these beautiful children.  For the price of one Starbucks coffee a month you can help change their lives.

By John Allred

One of my favorite chapters in all of scripture is 3 Nephi 17. The Savior has instructed the surviving Nephites to ponder His teachings and that they must prepare themselves to learn more. Then, he says that He must leave them for a time. “When Jesus had thus spoken, he cast his eyes round about again on the multitude, and beheld they were in tears, and did look steadfastly upon Him as if they would ask Him to tarry a little longer with them. And he said unto them: Behold my bowels are filled with compassion towards you.” The Savior then demonstrates such compassion and mercy to all by healing their sick and afflicted. The crowning moment of His visit comes when He commands that their little children be brought before Him. And this is where my Ecuador experience, being with the children, has enhanced my understanding of the word compassion and why the Savior of us all loves children so much.

I love my comfort zone. All of us have different lengths and degrees our comfort zones will allow us to wander. This trip was definitely outside my comfort zone. Yet, I believe only when we explore outside the regions of our comfort zone do we truly understand ourselves and grow as individuals. As our first stop at one of the orphanages began, I held the thought in my head, “What would the Savior do in my place?”

I will never be the same, the comfort zone protecting my heart has been penetrated and I have learned to love more as the Savior loves by allowing these children into my life. My defenses were immediately penetrated as a beautiful 4-year-old girl pulled on the back of my shirt and smiled. Her eyes drew me in and as she rushed into my arms, I felt a new kind of peace. As we continued to interact with children from several orphanages, I realized how easy loving Gods children can be. They have no parents; they come from truly tragic situations; many of them have nothing when they arrive at these orphanages and what they seem to want most of all is time, love and attention. I could do that. I enjoyed playing soccer with the older boys, reading books with younger children, and even holding some of these children and just being with them. Children can change us if we allow them to do so. We can also help change their situation by extending ourselves and donating what we can both in time and resources. All of us can do that.

One of the greatest blessings for me this trip came from watching my own child. Caleb came to Ecuador to complete his Eagle Scout project. I’ve never seen an Eagle Scout project induce more smiles than this one. The shoes given by so many in our hometown of Rexburg, Idaho, were cherished by each of these little ones. Those who gave money should know that several of these children will now sleep warmer at night with their new sweat tops and bottoms. We thank you for your efforts. Caleb seemed to integrate so naturally with these children. They loved being around him and he them. He developed a strong bond with a young man his age and several others during our week. I stood back several times this week in awe of my son and the man he is coming to be. As he has extended himself in service to others, he has demonstrated to me how Christ-like love can truly make a difference. His sisters Hannah and Grace and my beautiful wife Nanette have also been with me in my heart all week. I have felt their love and compassionate hearts reach out to me this week and feel a greater bond with them.

I want to remember this experience and the feelings I have had…a spirit of peace and a greater desire to love my neighbor. Going back to the Saviors experience with the surviving Nephite people, after he had called their little children to Him and blessed them, he then institutes the sacrament that they may do it in remembrance of Him and have His spirit to be with them. As I partake of the sacrament each week I can remember Him and through remembrance of Him feel the peace this trip has brought me and my family.

All of us no matter our background, religion or belief system can love our neighbor. Thank you Dando Amor for helping me love my neighbor.

This all started with my Eagle Scout project. I wanted to get my Eagle, yes… but I wanted to do something special, something that would mean a lot to me and the people I was serving. The opportunity presented itself when I saw all of the pictures of Dando Amor helping in the orphanages in Ecuador. I called Travis Gugelman to see what was needed, and if there was any possible way I could help the orphaned children. I found out that one of the BIG needs was shoes. Many of the orphans have a pair, but they are worn and literally falling off of their feet. So, for my project I decided to use my talents, and I ran a soccer camp organized to get many donations of shoes and also money to buy more shoes and other things needed in Ecuador!

Little did I know, I would have a life changing experience by getting to go deliver the donated shoes I had gathered to the children themselves! I started off thinking that I was just going to send the shoes with Dando Amor, and that they would deliver them for me and take some pictures. However, I was told that I really needed to come and deliver them myself. Well, I had no objections, and I am lucky enough to have an amazing father who brought me down to Ecuador to deliver the shoes!

Well, the soccer camps were a success. I ran two different camps called Kicks For Ecuador Soccer Camps, and the entrance fee was a pair of shoes or 10 dollars. We worked with a total of around 75 kids, and through this and other donations we raised 250 plus pairs of shoes and over 500 dollars for further help! It was a great feeling to have collected all of them! Well, the day came near to leaving… and finally… we were off!

We landed in Ecuador tired from the flights, but we were all ready to go the next morning! We went to three different orphanages that day, all of them were life changing and some were shocking! It was a real eye-opener for me to see their living conditions and their life style in general. Some of these children have gone through abuse and were abandoned by their parents. Before I came, I had no idea that even something as small as bringing shoes could make a difference. We can’t change their past and we can’t make their future perfect, but we can always make it better!

A few days went by with many unforgettable experiences, but I was greatly anticipating the day where I would get to drop off some shoes. And that day finally came! We drove up to one of the orphanages, and we decided that we would give shoes to this one. We also bought some soccer balls for them to play with. While we were playing soccer one of the boys shoes were falling off, the sole was falling off the bottom and it was in terrible condition. My dad pulled him aside and gave him the first pair of shoes. When he came back on to the soccer field he had the biggest smile on his face and a skip in his step! We lined all of the children up and set out the shoes. We sized them and gave them all a new pair of shoes. After they all had a pair, the translator in our group gathered them together and told them about the project I did to get the shoes. After she was done, I had the most life changing moment of my life. Thirty kids were hugging me, and thanking me for bringing them shoes! What made it worth it to me was to see the joy expressed in all of their bright faces! A group of three girls hugged me tighter than I thought possible–for a minute straight! I can’t express in words how amazing this experience was for me, and hopefully it was a good ones for the orphans as well! The trip was an amazing opportunity to serve and to donate, but what these kids needed most was love. Simple, understanding love. These kids have been abandoned and abused, and you could see how happy they were to have someone sit down and put an arm around them or give them a piggy back ride. All of the simple things helped.

This is how a simple idea of helping out orphanages can turn into an experience that would change my life and help theirs, even if it was just for a bit!

–Caleb Allred

As I sit in the airport and reflect on this past week, browsing through the images I’ve captured, I fall upon one that was perhaps one of the more comical moments of the trip, but symbolically, tells it all.  I got up close and personal, more than I realized, as I tried to get a shot of this sheep. Little did I know I was almost nose to nose before I pulled the camera away.  This first experience with Dando Amor has been about taking a closer look at how people treat each other in this world, as well as taking a deeper look at myself as a person.

We have learned of the most tragic stories, from children being abandoned in dumpsters to unthinkable abuse in their young years with parents ending up in prison.  We have also seen individuals that have dedicated their whole selves to service and these children.  Day in and day out, they change, bathe, feed, love, and cry for those much less fortunate. I have never seen such patience and kindness in the world as I witnessed this past week. I have never seen such selfless acts.  For many, it doesn’t matter how little they have, they give to those that have even less.

Even if it means they go without a meal themselves.

This week has made me also take a deeper look at who I am and how I treat those in need.  Do I make eye contact with the homeless people on the street that come up to my car every day in Chicago? Do I give them a smile, leave them some food, or say a prayer for them? Sometimes…but I could do more.  What am I thankful for in my life? Do I count my blessings every day for two beautiful children, a husband that loves me, and a house with warm beds and food? Barely missing a life in a Colombian orphanage myself, how fortunate am I to have been loved, cared for, and educated by my family.  Going home, I think about how I can raise more money and awareness for these beautiful orphans, but also how I can change my everyday acts and thoughts.

There’s always more to do and that can be overwhelming, but I’ve learned that it’s the little things that can make the biggest difference to a child: holding a child’s hand and singing to them, helping a handicapped child play a musical instrument for the first time, the warmth of a sweatshirt during chilly nights, or a hot plate of chicken and rice for a stomach that has been aching with hunger.

Dando Amor is truly making a difference and every individual can too.

—Tiia Norsym

Thank you for donating, we put your money to really good use! We were able to buy SEVERAL shopping carts of supplies. We got…

• A stove for an orphanage that had no oven, but they are getting dough from a bakery and wanted to cook it into bread for the kids to eat.
• Two pressure cookers, a commercial grade blender, and some food storage containers for an orphanage that has several kids to feed, but not enough resources to cook and store the food.
• 20 boxes of feminine products for an orphanage that had several girls that were using only toilet paper.
• Several large bags of laundry detergent for orphanages that were almost out.
• Boxes of lice shampoo. The kids heads looked a hundred times better than last time (you could actually see the lice crawling in their hair and on their clothes before we brought them lice shampoo previously), so we purchased some for them to have on hand as a preventative measure.
• A new cassette/CD player for the handicapped orphanage whose current player was broken. One of the kids’ favorite activities is to play music and dance with the volunteers.
• Several small, inexpensive musical instruments (tambourines, maracas, castanets, bell shakers, wood scrapers, and small bongo drums) to use when we visit the kids in the orphanages and for the volunteers to do activities with them (I have to say I was really excited about these, I think the kids will LOVE them!).

We get to deliver everything tomorrow. That is the best part!

This little girl loved her new pair of shoes! It is so rare for these kids to get anything new. It made me think of how my mom took us all school shopping every year, and how excited I was to get new clothes and feel like I had something special to wear for the first day. It is sad most of these children will never get that experience. There are so many little things beyond the basic needs that help build our confidence and self-esteem as we grow to adulthood. Far too many of these precious souls will never realize their worth or potential. They have no one cheering them on and helping them dare to dream of a life that is anything more than poverty.

And in the end, it isn’t just them who lose, it is also us. Who knows how many medical breakthroughs, social reforms, technological advances, and breath-taking music, literature, and art have been lost as a result of these children never realizing their worth. I truly believe that when you help a child, you help not just one person but future of the world.

Henri Landwirth is a Holocaust survivor and the founder of the nonprofits Give Kids the World and Dignity U Wear. In his book, Gift of Love, he asks who is more guilty—the Nazis who dragged people off to the concentration camps or the neighbor who stood by and watched it happen. This question really struck me. How many times have I been a guilty bystander, seeing evil or problems in the world but doing nothing? Coming to Ecuador has been a life-changing experience. Not only have I seen so many needs, but I have also seen the power of one bystander who stands up for their neighbor. Never think your small donations don’t make a difference. We can fill a bucket with a series of tiny drops.

Last week we delivered food to this orphanage. It was so wonderful to see these kids being well fed because your donations.

We delivered:
1000 lbs rice
5 gallons of oil
50 pounds of pasta
5 pounds of onions
60 mandarin oranges
60 plums
50 bananas
75 lbs of tuna
500 eggs
chocolate candy

There is still time to donate and we still need your donations! These orphanage needs an oven to bake dough that will be donated to them and a freezer.

We went to one of the saddest orphanages we visit and they had just gotten some new kids. They were older, probably between 8 to 14. These are the kids whose parents are in prison. We started asking the kids basic questions like “Como te llamas?” (What is your name?) “Cuantos anos?” (How old are you?) One girl was swinging as we tried to communicate.

She had just come to the orphanage the previous day. Her birthday was the next day. We wished her “Feliz Cumpleanos” (Happy Birthday). She said she would be 12 years old.
How sad to be dropped off at the orphanage one day before your 12th birthday.

Do you think anybody cared to wish her a happy birthday?

Do you think anyone baked her a cake or let her blow out the candles?

I’m sure she wasn’t expecting much being in an orphanage on her birthday. But how sad to have no one to care about her or document the next year of her life, or even care about her in her next year of life.