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Family
April 2013
Families transition from poverty to prosperity
Working Boys’ Center transforms
lives for Ecuador’s poor
(Catholic Herald staff member
Maryangela Román traveled to the
Working Boys’ Center in Quito, Ecuador, Jan. 16 to 22, as part of a “spiritual journey” offered through Family
Unity International, Elm Grove.)
Maryangela Layman Román
Catholic Herald Staff
T
Children clamor around Jesuit Fr. John Halligan in the
day care center at the Working Boys’ Center at center two
on Jan. 17. Fr. Halligan, known as Padre Juan, founded the
center in 1964 to address the educational needs of the
“shoeshine boys” in Quito, Ecuador. (Catholic Herald photos by
Maryangela Román)
wo little girls race toward the
towel counter at the Working
Boys’ Center, are handed a
towel and bar of soap and take off
running toward the showers. From
below, mouth watering smells of cinnamon buns, scones, bread and other
pastry made and served in
the bakery are wafting
through the air.
The stylists in the shop
next to the bakery are
setting up their stations
getting ready for a day of
haircuts, manicures and
colorings, while across
the way, the machines in
the carpentry, automotive and welding shops
are buzzing to life, as are
the sewing machines in
the sewing center where
a room full of girls is
sewing neon flags to fill
an order for an Ecuadorian
political party.
So begins another day
at center two of the Working Boys’ Center A Family
of Families in Cotocollao,
Ecuador, in the northwest
part of Quito. A similar day
is unfolding about eight miles
away at center one, located in
downtown Quito.
The sun rises over the
Andes mountains visible just
behind the rooftop of center
two, a gentle breeze is in the
air and the early morning
temperature in the low 60s is
likely to top out close to 70 – as
it does every day of the year. Since
Quito is located just 16 miles south
of the equator, the temperature is
virtually steady year-round.
Likewise, days at the center are
predictable and steady. Six out of
seven days a week, families come
to the center – some on foot, others
in buses – to not only bathe and eat
three meals a day, but to learn how
to be working members of society as
they gain skills that will allow them
to move from poverty to prosperity. They also have the opportunity
to attend daily Mass, celebrated by
Jesuit Fr. John Halligan, founder of
the Working Boys’ Center.
Center gives family new purpose
Among the families arriving is
the Cordova-Cotacachi family who
enrolled in the center in January
2011. Dad, Luis, age 32, was a heavy
drinker when they first enrolled,
according to Sr. Cindy Sullivan, a
member of the Sisters of the Blessed
Virgin Mary and one of the center’s
directors known as Madre Cindy.
The family, who resides in two little
rooms on the rooftop of a building in
Quito, includes Luis’ wife, Graciela
Cotacachi, also 32, and six children:
Karina, 13; Maria, 11; Efrain, 9, Martha, 7; Antonio, 6, and Luis, 3.
Down the road from the family’s
home is their brickmaking business, something in which all family
members are involved. Brickmaking
is a long process which begins with
mixing mud and sawdust, framing
the rectangular bricks and, once
enough are created, firing them in a
large oven. Each brick will bring the
family 13 cents.
The finished pile of bricks is
attractive to thieves, said Graciela, so
family members take turns standing
guard at the brickyard over night to
make sure none are stolen.
Luis, the family’s chief brickmaker, never finished grade school,
according to Madre Cindy, “so the
easiest thing to do while waiting for
the bricks to dry, fire or be purchased
was to drink.”
But the center, she said, has given
him and his family a new purpose in
life.
“He hurries down to the center
See WBC, Page 9
This article originally appeared in the April 2013 issue of Catholic Herald Family. It is reprinted with permission. To subscribe, please call (877) 769-7699.