INSPIRATION

This is my story, in brief, of how Causes for Change International and many of its projects came to be created. While a little girl of two or three growing up in a village in Ecuador, I was stricken with polio, which left me paralyzed on one side and unable to walk. In the course of things I came to the attention of a Catholic missionary priest, Father Joseph Lauro, who on mission in the Catholic Church was building schools for the poor in my part of the country. Father Joe arranged for me to be examined by doctors serving on the Ship Hope that back then, I’m told, sailed about the world, under the auspices of the United Nations, providing medical care to the poor.

The ship doctors prescribed that I receive further treatment, including surgery on my afflicted leg, which was unavailable to me in Ecuador. Father Joe arranged that I, now eight years old, be flown to the United States, and that I receive, at no expense to my family, treatment and surgeries at the Shriners Hospital for Children in Chicago. He also arranged that I be taken in by the family of his brother Frank Lauro, who resided in the city with his wife Jean and two daughters.

The separation from my family and my home was painful to one and all. I myself begged my parents not to send me away, promising them, if only they would let me stay, that I would learn to walk. My parents, however, rightly fearful that the polio left untreated would take my life, were resolute in their determination that I should go, despite their grief over the prospect of my absence for a duration unknown. Their sacrifice, and the suffering it caused them, I would understand and be grateful for, only many years later when, grown up, I threw off the uncomprehending anger and hurt of a little girl being sent away.

As it turned out, I was to make a life for myself in the United States, unable I was to return to and stay in Ecuador except for very short visits: in the climate and difficult conditions there my health, made precarious by the chronic after-effects of polio, invariably failed.

But the life I was able to make for myself in the States, with the love and support and friendship of so many extraordinary people, had been wonderful, and the opportunities available to me far greater than what I might ever have dared hope for had I remained living in Ecuador. And so when Father Joe died in 1971, I resolved, conscious of my good fortune and grateful for all his kindness, to continue the work he had undertaken in Ecuador.

Since then I’ve established a non-profit organization, Causes For Change International, to promote health, education, and economic self-sufficiency in Ecuador and other countries in the underdeveloped world. I’ve a special interest in the welfare of children, women, and the disabled. The organization has made numerous missions to Ecuador, performed by American volunteers traveling at their own expense.  Doctors and dentists, and other health professionals have examined and treated thousands of children, and fitted many others for hearing aids donated by American companies. Educators have provided advanced training to local teachers. Engineers have helped design and establish systems for collecting and disposing of waste and for providing clean drinkable water. Police officers and Firefighters on the force of the City of Chicago have trained volunteer departments throughout Ecuador. All the work is done with the support and participation of local residents, who are encouraged and trained to take on responsibility for the continuation and development of work begun by Causes.

Most recently Causes has established a dental clinic in a small village in Ecuador. Also underway is a project to build a center in Ecuador for the rehabilitation and training of children and youth with disabilities. Land has been acquired for the center, and the government has offered its assistance.  Causes has also undertaken to build a hospital in an area of Ecuador without one. The hospital is planned to be an institution for teaching and research as well.

The work of Causes will soon be expanding into Panama, and thereafter into other countries of South America.

For the success of our efforts to date I’m indebted to many people, too numerous to all be mentioned here. I do however wish to thank my dear friend Marilyn Varn, who served as my “team” of volunteers on the first mission to Ecuador, and who continues to support my efforts, and participate in my undertakings. I also wish to thank my sister Jenny E. Alvarado, who from her home in Ecuador, has devoted much time and effort in helping me to fulfill on my dreams.  She serves as President of Causas para el Cambio – Ecuador.

- Zully JF Alvarado