{Originally posted January 9th, 2014}
Everything that happens in this world happens at the time God chooses.
Ecclesiastes 3:1
Dear Friends,
From all of us at FEDICE, we wish you and yours a very meaningful Christmas and a prosperous New Year.
This was a year of changes that brought a variety of new situations for us. In February, our co-founder and executive director of FEDICE, Victor Hugo Vaca, passed away. Victor left a big hole in our hearts, but our firm decision was to continue on with the vision that he and his wife, Violet Groth Vaca, had…."helping the indigenous and farming rural communities find equality and better their conditions of life in the country."
The executive committee of FEDICE appointed Blanca Puma Martinez as Executive Director in Victor´s place. Blanca went to the United States in April, and was able to visit with many of our good friends and co-laborers in Oregon, Texas, Illinois and Minnesota. Blanca also visited the office of Global Ministries in Indianapolis. Thanks to God, she received much backing from our brothers and sisters in the USA. The principle message we received was, "Blanca, you are not alone. FEDICE is not alone. "Thanks to God for all the people who have kept faith in our work and keep supporting the labor of FEDICE".
In March, FEDICE began working with Bridging Cultures (BC), a non-profit organization in Texas which is helping the community of Pusir located north of the province of Imbabura. In May and August, two groups of volunteers from BC came to work in Pusir while FEDICE provided "on the ground" help in organization for their work, and in addition, FEDICE began the process to initiate an income producing project with a group of women in Pusir. The group of women, with the help and support and continuous follow-up of the technicians of FEDICE, has up to now done a good job.
The 3rd of August was the inauguration of the new building of the Children's Center of San Francisco, which was started by the group from Plano, Texas, and helped by other groups from Fort Worth, Texas, and Illinois. This pre-school center will have the name of "Our Little Angels of Victor Vaca" in honor of our deceased director, who helped so much in this area and with the poor people of the communities.
In August, a group from Plano, Texas, arrived to work in Pijal, in the province of Imbabura. This group brought doctors, nurses, ophthalmologists, a construction group, and a team for Christian Education. Thanks to a donation from the father of one of the group, the community was able to start a "special" project constructing a house for Cecilia Fonte, a single mother with some health problems and a member of the community. Her family had given her a little space to live in with her four children under a staircase in her cousin's house, but the space was terribly inadequate. Now the people of Pijal are constructing a little house for her, with two rooms and a kitchen. FEDICE has helped with organizing and the community of Pijal has responded in an extraordinary manner with community workdays (Mingas) in order to give Cecilia a respectable place to live. Nevertheless, there are still some things lacking in order to make this dream a reality.
One of the fundamental changes begun by the FEDICE team this year was the Long Range Plan for 2013 through 2018. FEDICE maintains its philosophy of helping the poor communities, and therefore has started this process based on five main focuses: technological, psychological-social, administrative, legal, and economic-productive. With these focuses, we look to better the conditions of life for the people in the communities by invigorating the local economy and fortifying their social structures.
These are only some of the projects in which FEDICE has worked this year. In 2013 we have also helped 11 communities with various income producing projects in communities such as: Pijal, Pusir, Pupana, Santa Rosa, El Chaupi, Luz de America, Romerillos, San Francisco, Cochapamba, Jatun Juigua, and Maca Atapulo by offering technical training, organizational orientation, and reimbursable funds for the development of projects.
At this time, FEDICE is also supporting four Infant Centers: "Little Sprouts of Violeta Groth Vaca" in Caluquí, "My Little Angels of Victor Hugo Vaca" in San Francisco, "Sweet Angels of Lisa Franke" in Romerillos, and "Sumak Wasi" (Good Home) in the community of Pijal.
In April 2013, Glenn Hebert, one of our volunteers, finished the design of our FEDICE Website, and we are very proud of Glenn´s work, which in spite of his disability, has been able to painstakingly help us and be such an example of an overcoming spirit for the rest of us. In the same way, Marilyn, his wife, has continued with her English classes in the Children´s Centers.
In addition, this year we have been visited by Alee Sable from Fort Worth and Isabelle Tyrasa from Germany.
Alee came to find out more about the work of FEDICE and to help with activities in the Children's Centers. In the same way, we still count on the presence and support of our other volunteers, Lisa Renz, Isabelle Tyrasa (Germany), Glenn Hebert, Marilyn Cooper, and Luis Jara. We thank them all for their part in the work of FEDICE.
Next year, we look forward to visits from various people and groups from the USA. The technical, administrative, and operational FEDICE team, the Executive Committee, and the people from the communities all give thanks to God for all the activities carried out during this year, and we put in God´s hands all the unfilled requests and the planning for the future. We are completely confident in our Lord Jesus Christ, our Creator, and we are equally confident that we can count on your support.
For more information, go to our Website: www.fedice.org. Also visit our blog where we are constantly putting up news about our work. If you would like to make a donation for our work, you can send a check to: FEDICE USA, P.O. Box 302, Ogilvie, MN 56538. If you wish to give through Global Ministries, look at their website and designate FEDICE as the destination of your gift: http://globalministries.org/get-involved/special-giving-opportunities/.
With Christmas Greetings from,
The FEDICE team