Dear sisters

I have been asked to write some lines about my experience in the Quinindé community in Ecuador and since I love sharing, that is what I will do.

I arrived to Quinindé on September 16^th, 2020, after my lockdown in Quito for six months.

I came searching for a bigger commitment with the impoverished faces of Ecuador and I have found it here in the “Nuevos Horizontes” neighborhood among afro-Ecuadorian people. With them I make a journey that starts from very small actions, which however their size is, they are really meaningful for those of us who participate in them: visiting sick people; buying food to a woman who through it can pay her bills; celebrating three kings’ day with children; accompanying people in their faith, etc.

In Holy Week, I was given the gift of being present in two rural communities in the Paschal Triduum. It meant a lot to me -since I was scared due to the pandemic- because I could join the Passion and Resurrection of Christ in the suffering faces of these brothers and sisters, who with a lot of strength and faith they keep on fighting in the fields to carry out worthy family projects.

I am making my own road. I am meeting new brothers and sisters who contribute different perspectives to my faith. In the middle of this beautiful landscape, with a boundless heat and and open heart, I follow Christ from this deep Charisma left by our Founding Father.

Edit Ponce Castro

Dominican Missionary of the Rosary.