Out of Egypt

I started hallucinating for the first time in my life. Sleep deprivation proved to be a formidable foe while trying to run a comprehensive 1-month training for 23 new volunteers. It seemed the 5am mornings at the Ecuadorian National Police Headquarters, the long nights at the office preparing for training sessions or prepping visa folders, the midnight phone calls on the Emergency line from sick volunteers, the 12-hour days and having to work weekends merely not to fall woefully behind on financial and administrative tasks…had finally caught up to me. One night I was scouring the office in the middle of the night trying to find my Indian volunteer’s passport. I specifically “remembered” him giving it to me to make copies of it, and to my great dismay, I could not find it anywhere. Frantically searching, I couldn’t believe my recklessness and dared to think of the consequences of losing a volunteer’s passport in the first week. Feeling demoralized at already showing signs of being an incompetent Field Director, I slept for a few hours before emerging into the chaos of another day of volunteer orientation.

My assistant had the foresight to nonchalantly ask my volunteer if he had his passport, so she could make a copy for his file. In my frenzied state, I didn’t stop to contemplate the role sleep deprivation was taking on my brain, as my volunteer lightheartedly responded that of course he had his passport. I had imagined that entire scenario in my mind and convinced myself it actually happened.

As their one-month intensive training was coming to a close, I thought I could see light at the end of the tunnel, a glimpse into normalcy and a return to my coveted 8:30am-4:30pm schedule. Little did I know that a foe far more formidable than sleep deprivation lay at my doorstep. A foe, that to me, seemed as indomitable as the ancient Egyptian army itself… the Ecuadorian government.

To draw this parallel I remind my readers of a little history lesson dating back to Biblical times when the Israelites were living in slavery in Egypt. Moses faced seemingly insurmountable challenges in his quest to free his people from slavery. Pharaoh eventually released the Israelites from captivity and allowed them to leave Egypt. And while I do not pretend to equate even a shred of my experience with that of the great Hebrew leader, I can surmise the joy he felt when he was leaving Egypt, having nearly accomplished his purpose and that feeling of relief that the worst was behind him. I can also surmise the fear, terror and disbelief he felt when he suddenly realized the impossible circumstance that lay before him: the impenetrable Red Sea in front, and the unforgiving Egyptian army behind.

I confronted my own modern-day microcosm of Moses’ predicament when, after 15 years of partnering with Ecuadorian institutions and promoting English education across the country, the government suddenly denied all my volunteers’ visas. Weeks and weeks of work poured into making sure their visa folders had every imaginable certified, notarized, apostilled document to prove they were volunteering in Ecuador for 1 year to teach English, for nothing. The very country we came to help callously rejected our request for volunteer visas due to a new legislative regulation, of which we were never informed, that requires all American citizens to have background checks from the FBI (instead of the nationally-recognized company we’ve been using for 15 years). Our problematic situation, however, was not only indicative of a much larger trend in Ecuador, but was a small reflection of a much larger problem. (What I like to call a “God-sized problem.”)

Venezuela is experiencing a humanitarian crisis without precedent on the continent. This crisis in Venezuela has spilled over into the small, peaceful country of Ecuador, and it is affecting the daily life of nearly every person in the country. Venezuelans are starving, lack reliable access to water, electricity, supplies, and basic medicine. Inflation has reached 14,000% and the once illustrious Caracas has become a terrifying zone of lawlessness, with some of the highest murder rates on Earth. The oppressive dictator Nicolas Maduro has run Venezuela into the ground and people are fleeing the country at the rate of 5,000 per day, producing the largest flow of refugees in the Western Hemisphere’s history. Ecuador is the primary recipient of this refugee flow, which has saturated the Ecuadorian government to the breaking point. With thousands of immigrants and refugees pouring into Ecuador on a daily basis, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (the branch in charge of the visa process) has turned into a feckless and incompetent black hole; bitter, overworked, and resentful of ALL immigrants, including myself and my volunteers. The officials at the Ministry are so inundated with work that they can no longer distinguish visa applicants who are here to help (ie WorldTeach and other NGOs promoting education), and the applicants who (by no fault of their own) are here to escape a dire and unlivable situation in their home country.

I had no idea when I finished the most busy, stressful, and sleep-deprived time of my life, that the light at the end of the tunnel was much farther away than it appeared. With the Red Sea in front, and the Egyptian army behind, everything depended on my ability to navigate this situation. If my volunteers couldn’t get visas, they would be sent back home, and the Ecuador program would collapse, all on my watch. Not to mention I’d be out of a job. So I prayed for a miracle. The Red Sea was parted once before, it can happen again. The weapons I took into this battle were diplomacy, gratitude, cultural and political awareness and a proactive resolve. After about a week of meetings with top Ministry lawyers, the judiciary, and one high-profile meeting with the top official in charge, whose signature on any document was equivalent to the Midas Touch, we were able to find a loophole in the provision that allowed my volunteers to obtain their one-year visa while still in compliance with the new regulation. My 23 volunteers now had that magical signature of approval from the top Ministry official on each of their visa folders…And we crossed the sea on dry ground. WorldTeach could continue its mission to provide quality English education to hundreds of students in Ecuador.

After my volunteers obtained their visa, I truly thought the worst was behind me. What could be worse than going up against the Ecuadorian bureaucracy? Alas, an equally onerous encumbrance…the state education system. You may remember from one of my August blog post “The Power of Seeds” how I was gushing over this new project that had been in the works for the better part of the year. When I came on in July, I took over the project, and it was my “baby.” Universidad Estatal Bolivar (Bolivar State University). A poor, state-funded school in desperate need of quality teachers. I would send 5 of my best and brightest volunteers to teach English there and give them a chance to make a true impact in this community. Then, out of nowhere, one week before the project began, it hopelessly collapsed. The finance director of the university was fired for surreptitious activity (potentially money-laundering) and they had no one to certify the funds needed to support the project. Her signature was needed to guarantee the small monthly stipend my volunteers receive, and it would be a long, arduous, bureaucratic process before anyone could fill that vacant position and the contract was void unless there was proof there was enough money to pay for the project.

Breaking the news to my 5 volunteers was like something out of a bad dream. They were devastated. They had spent months in preparation for this incredible opportunity to make a tangible difference in a school with a dire need, just to have the rug swept from under their feet only a week before they were set to depart. They blamed me, of course. I became the scapegoat for a situation that was completely out of my control. I understood their frustration and I did my best to help them transition to a totally different vision for their lives the next 11 months. Some of them are still struggling to adjust to a life in Quito they neither prepared for nor wanted.

The final stretch of desert, continuing with the parallel of the Israelites post Red-Sea, was when I tore the meniscus in my knee and had to have 2 separate knee surgeries. Being alone in an operating room, far away from family and friends, in the most excruciating pain I’ve ever experienced in my life was the ultimate test of my resolve. After all the tumult of my first 6 months, I felt that I was finally out of Egypt, but just how far does this desert go?

I’ve discovered that the more passion you feel towards your calling or purpose, the more roadblocks you will encounter in your pursuit of it. I consistently tell my volunteers that nothing worthwhile is ever easy, and that if it were easy, everyone would do it. Leading this organization on the ground in Ecuador has proven to be anything but smooth. But I am determined to meet these challenges with the same fervor and steadfastness that seek to derail me. God didn’t deliver the Israelites out of Egypt just to have them starve in the desert. God didn’t call me to Ecuador just to watch me fail. I don’t know what deserts or storms lie in wait for me in 2019, but my response will be the same: “Do your worst. For I shall do mine.”

Until next time my faithful readers,

Stephanie