Joy in Lumbisi
Lumbisi is a small and rural town 30-60 minutes drive away from the Quito airport.
I came to visit my daughter, Joy, who is studying abroad with the University of San Francisco in Ecuador. I stayed with her host family for the last 7 days. Joy asked me to write a post for her blog. Here I am doing my homework while flying back to Chicago. Warning: long reading to follow...sorry the flights were very long.
Can you see Lumbisi in your imagination?
I was first impressed by the beauty of Ecuadorian mountains I saw while riding buses. Each mountain seems to be embracing and nurturing her people and their homes in the hills. The snow covered volcano Joy can see through her window is a quiet spiritual symbol for the highlanders. Lumbisi is surrounded by high mountains all around. A hike with the family allowed me to overlook the beautiful village with a landmark of a Catholic church steeple. While main streets were paved with bricks, there were many dirt roads traveled by residents, cars, dogs, sheep, and chicken. The hilly streets, tall corn in the backyards of the colorful houses, and children of all ages playing soccer formed the foreground of the grand mountain views.
The indigenous and the authentic encounter
Most residents of Lumbisi are indigenous Ecuadorians who are very humble, friendly, expressive, and hard working. Their family closeness, content, and kindness and the seemingly hardship they endure in their everyday living gave me a portrait of courage, the title of a book I published last year. I cannot help but to compare such outlook to the high stress, depression, and anxiety we see in the American society and the social problems that come along. Joy's host sibling told me that he was not aware of any parental divorce among his peers. Lumbisi is only one only bus away from the affluent communities yet it appears unconcerned about the worldly interest. I appreciated the community pride I saw in the parade that 60 uniformed soccer teams of all ages from Lumbisi marched around the stadium where traditional music was shared generously with the whole valley. While for a international traveler like me, the world is outside of me to get to, the world is in the heart of these people who may never travel outside of Ecuador! For some reason, the image of lily in the valley comes to mind as I write now.
Lumbisi people are the blessed ones who know the richness of living simple.
I met the exchange program director, Maria, who is also a local community advocate for Lumbisi. Many U.S. college students have been placed in Lumbisi over time and participated in many community, preschool, and gardening projects. I met two young individuals who returned to Equador after their study abroad program. I asked them, why? Their response was identical: the people. Lumbisi reminded me much of how I grew up in Taiwan. It felt at home to me: temperature, people, and the plentiful buses that take you anywhere you need to go. Last night, Joy's host family gave me a beautiful hand carved wooden tea box. As we said farewell, the boys and the father began to cry. I cried more when my husband phoned me from Chicago. I am indeed speechless about this authentic encounter...
The joy of Joy
I must stop writing soon as Joy always would apologize for a long post. This post cannot be complete without me saying something about Joy. I thought I knew my daughter well all the time. It is not so! I marvel at her ability to navigate in a totally foreign system: language, foods, transportation, relationships, etc. Her adjustment from the carpeted floor to the cement floor, driving to walking, some make up to no make up are all impressive. Most importantly, the Ecuadorian experience brings her majors to life: Global Studies and Spanish. It looks like she has worked hard to keep her straight A record here while she joined several tours to see the many faces of the country. I cherished every moment we had together in these 7 days. Joy by definition means pleasant surprises--what my Joy has brought me all the time. I grow as she continues to develop. Joy, also means the longing that something nice is going to happen. I cannot explain but this is what I walked away with from visiting Joy. I hope by this time I have shared with you enough about my true Joy in Lumbisi.
Blessings,
Mama Joy
P.S. For the record, the following is a log of what we did together during this visit.
3/10 Arrived in Quito, long custom wait, met Joy's host parents, Rosa and Juan Carlos.
3/11 Greeted by a snow covered volcano in the window view, many chicken and two
sheep in the morning. Dozed off in Joy's class. Met the host siblings, Josue (15),
Carlos (12),and Genesis (5). Met Joy's program director, Maria. MANY street
dogs.
3/12 Took a 2.5-hour plus bus ride to Otavalo, the "must go" market of crafts by the
indigenous people.
3/13 Enjoyed the annual Lumbisi Parade of 60 soccer teams in the stadium
surrounded by beautiful cloud topped mountains. Had crabs Rosa bought from
Quito one hour bus ride each way.
3/14. Toured Quito. Coffee and brownie with Joy. Climbed to the top of the cathedral. Hit
the bells three times. Showed pictures of the young Joy to the host family.
3/15 Visited a church in the deep mountains with Rosa and Gensis. The statue of Jesus
was brown that reminded me of in 1999, I encountered a black Jesus in Mexico
City. Edited the video and pictures and put them in a jump drive for the family.
3/16 Departed. Due to the delay of luggage in Huston, had to go through security,
check in, and run through 2 terminals to catch the connecting flight all in 8 minutes
[I'm blessed to have a mother who writes this well. She is a published author, and I must say if you liked this post you should check out her book: The Psychology of Courage: An Adlerian Handbook for Healthy Social Living. I don't know how to italicize the "Joy" in the title of the post, but that's the real title.]
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