Fordham Preparatory School - Ramview Ramview Spring 2019 | Page 12

Identity
Reflection on my 2002 Ecuador
Service Immersion Trip
by Ed Humen ‘03
Shrieks at 4 am from the backyard roosters, cramped
bedrooms jammed with bunk beds. Traveling in a dusty
red pickup truck, we dodge free roaming cattle on our
odyssey to the market in the center of town. In the
shantytown village on the outskirts of town, a water truck
fills a 55-gallon drum outside each home. This is a family’s
water supply for the week.
Brian Carney
Vice President for Mission & Identity
As I wrote in the previous Ramview, 2019 marks the 25th
anniversary of our Christian Service Immersion Program
(formerly known as Appalachia). After serving in
Appalachia since 1994, the program had its first
international trip in the summer of 2003 to work with an
organization named Rostro de Cristo in Duran, Ecuador.
I am pleased to share the following reflection from Ed
Humen ’03, who participated in this inaugural trip to
Ecuador. We look forward to sharing additional
reflections from Service Immersion alumni throughout
the year.
All of us at the Prep share a profound sense of gratitude
for the alumni who have contributed so generously to this
program during the past 25 years.
The weekly water truck
In the fall of 2001, the typical Prep student had no idea
what life was like in South America. There were other
things on our minds: the aftermath of September 11th,
our hometown Yankees’ crushing loss in the World Series,
the anxiety of applying to colleges. Yet our fearless leader,
Mr. Brian Carney, pieced together a motley crew of nine
juniors alongside faculty members, Dr. Martin Carney and
Mr. Shawn Ahern. The mission at hand was the Prep’s
inaugural immersion trip to Duran, Ecuador. We spent the
next six months learning Spanish and the value of service,
particularly in an area of need such as Duran, an
impoverished barrio outside the coastal city of Guayaquil.
There would be funds to raise, visas to process and
vaccinations to get. This was a daunting administrative
task at the time, venturing to another country without any
prior experience or connections to build on, but our
group gladly embraced the challenge.
Rostro de Cristo was our home in Duran. An organization
led by four volunteers who committed to serving for one
year, immersed themselves in the community. We were
welcomed into the homes of neighbors, taking off our
shoes and sharing stories with strangers. We helped the
local children with afterschool homework at the rec.
center, and then played soccer on long afternoons and
into the night. By the third day, our competitive spirit led
to a quickly-formed soccer team, Los Perros Locos,
complete with homemade jerseys. As the sun set and the
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