On Their Level

July 22nd

Tena, Ecuador

Sometimes you just have to quit being a Gringo and start being an Ecuadorian. Or even quit being an adult for that matter, and start being a kid again. This was the overwhelming lesson that I learned today through working with the kids during my ‘basketball’ camp. I put apostrophizes around the word basketball because it was anything but a basketball camp. I tried my hardest teaching them different basketball drills and stretches in an upbeat and fun manner, but as I mentioned the day before, the kids were anything but attentive. It even got to the point where I started to get a bit frustrated.

I stood there thinking to myself for about a minute or two at the maximum of my frustration, staring out into the outstretching jungle that never seemed to end. It came to me then. I needed to stop acting like a Gringo and start getting down on their level. We had tried to play futbol on the muddy field next to the basketball courts, but the kids didn’t really want to organize themselves at all. After failing with two sports (including the one that all kids here in Ecuador always want to play), I checked my resources (note the muddy field), and fired a huge mud ball at one of the kids.

There it started, the mud fight of the century. About twenty grade school kids against Dennis and I. The fight lasted for a little more than a half hour and the kids got the upper hand at the end, stuffing mud balls down my shorts and pelting Dennis with a large mud ball in the eye. More importantly though, I was able to get their attention by being a kid again and getting down on their level.

Soaked with mud from head to toe, we only got dirtier as the day went on. In the afternoon, we had an adventure race down to the river and back with our respective teams, hurdling muddy and wet objects on the way. Before dinner time, David led a large group of staffers to a waterfall only about five minutes from camp. The trail to get to the waterfall is actually a path to a series of waterfalls, but we only had time to visit the first huge waterfall on the path. It was a steep, forty-five minute hike to our final destination, but like the many other places I’ve been too this summer, it was well worth the trip.

Today marked the last full day of camp and our time in Tena. After our final night celebration service, we headed to Porto Napo, a fifteen minute drive from camp to grab ice cream and enjoy each other’s company before a few of our staffers returned back to the states. On the dark jungle road on the way back to camp, we pulled over just to observe the sky. I’ve never been in a planetarium, but I have to say, I’ve never seen stars so bright and numerous. When we turned off our truck lights, it was almost as if we were in outer space. What a beautiful reminder of how small we are.