Tobby Fried

September 14, 2007 (Travel Volunteer 2007)
Tobby Fried

“There but for the Grace of God, go I…” I care so much about the people in Ecuador because I have met them face to face and I can see their humanity and their great need. I am so grateful to be lucky enough to be born in “the land of plenty”. Sure, I might complain from time to time, and then I count my blessings. It seems to me, the people I have met in Ecuador are do thankful and appreciative for anything we can do for them. Their lives seem simplier in some respects and so much harder in others. Just to have clean drinking water over there is a triumph. Then, you see people washing their clothes and bathing in unthinkably brownish murky waters and you pray that they’re not drinking that water as well. You see things over there that don’t seem to happen over here: children with scabbies, almost every child has parasites, diarreah, unimaginable tooth decay, even in infants. There are children with hearing impairments, vision problems that are easily correctable. Sadly, for lack of money, can’t get hearing aids or eyeglasses and therefore cannot learn to read and write. What future can they hope for? When you see these things, how can you not want to do something about it?