Santa Came Eearly to Chumillos

On the Saturday morning of December 10th, a bunch of Canadian expats and/or their spouses drove to the mountain village of Chumillos in a convoy of four cars packed to the brim. We were on a mission to deliver Christmas gifts to the villagers and the gathering point was at an elementary school called Carlos Iguamba Andrango. Sharing during Christmas brings tremendous joy to many and makes the celebrations all the more special, and this is why these Canadians have done this every year since they've been here. The Canadians had collected cash and our Ecuadorian friend and secretary Susana Gallardo had organized the buying and packaging; of clothes, food baskets, toys upon loads of children toys and lots of candy and biscuits. I was really excited. This was going to be a fun day.

Road sign to the school

We had been warned to dress warm as it got quite cold up in the mountains and the weather could change drastically.But the heavy jackets and boots turned out to be unnecessary. The heavens were smiling down on us and it turned out to be a beautiful sunny day. Driving up those picturesque mountains was as it is often here, a relaxing photographic, joy ride. All the way up were homes scattered here and there, cows, sheep, donkeys and an ocassional horse grazed everywhere and chickens ran around. And as is typical of Latin America, there were dogs of every size and species everywhere. Men, women and some children worked in farms of corn, potatoes, peas and beans. Being in Ecuador’s farming communities always makes me nostalgically think of Kinangop or Nyandarua, places in Kenya with similar climate and crops.

Offloading the gifts

Along the narrow and winding road that chilly morning, we met groups of children whom we stopped to give some candy to. On arrival at the school, we found our contact guy waiting and within minutes people started trickling in from all sides of the mountains. They must have seen the cars drive through the mountains, as well as the power of cell phone. In about half an hour, it seemed the entire village was in attendance. After a short general introduction, we began distributing presents starting with the children, bags of clothing, and finally on to the food baskets, one basket per household.  

Chatting up some shy kids and   
sharing candy as we await others.

The joy of giving for us was tremendous. The boys particularly were overjoyed with the soccer balls. The women too smiled shyly as they quietly chatted amongst themselves, huddled together against the morning chill. But all in all, it was a rather quiet affair. If you’ve been to any part of Africa, you know what I’m talking about. I’ve observed that Ecuadorians though very open with their emotions are rather quiet on gratitude and appear to be reluctant receivers.  Observing them, it appeared to be just another day for them and I couldn’t help but think of the song, dance and clapping that would have come with such an occasion anywhere in Africa. But then again, we’re different peoples with different cultures. We went back home fulfilled, hoping we had given someone a reason to smile this Christmas.