Summer 2020 Trip

Everyone knows the story of 2020: the year of ‘It had to be canceled’. That is what happened to the June 2020 Cotinga Foundation Trip. There were 11 teachers and one support person that had tickets purchased, supplies gathered, curriculum written, seminars planned, and THEN . . . . . CANCELLED.

But for the story before that: On March 12, 2020, Terry Lancaster (accompanied by Nancy Nesselhauf) arrived in Cayambe. There was some rumbling about a virus at home, but the idea was so far-fetched, that Terry was sure it wouldn’t affect them. The March trip was to set up the logistics, meet with leaders, meet with teachers and finalize all of the plans for the team to come in June. After arriving late Thursday night, Terry and David met with the leadership from UDAI Ministry of Education. They discussed the audience and talking points for the day-long seminar in June. We also discussed sending counselors and teachers to learn about the changes that have taken place at our original special education school in Cayambe. The UDAI leaders were very appreciative of Cotinga’s previous work and our ongoing partnership. Our time together allowed us to continue to plan for the expansion of our work. Our goal is to teach teachers that will then teach teachers.

The next day (Saturday) we went to the marketplace in Otavalo to purchase items for the Cotinga auction. While we were there, we learned that the country of Ecuador was closing its borders due to COVID. They also closed the schools and shut down all gatherings. We still didn’t think that it would affect us, since we had return tickets with Delta airlines for later in the week. The next morning, church had to be canceled due to the closure. Because of that, we were at the Meyers house and received the email that Delta canceled our tickets. We spent the day calling and searching for a flight out of the country. We had to get out before midnight that night. At first, we thought that we would have to go to Bogota or Lima or Dominican Republic and then try to get into the U.S. Dave was able to find a local airlines that would fly us to another city in Ecuador, then change planes and go on to Florida. The Meyers dropped us at the airport with a lot of prayers. We had to sit around many hours as the flight was delayed. They moved us to multiple gates, but no one complained. The midnight deadline passed, but they loaded us and we landed in Guayaquil. By then it was about 3 a.m. and we weren’t sure that they would let us out of the country. As we were going through customs, they pulled Nancy out to check her bags. I saw that they were starting to load the plane, when they pulled me out to check my bags. I ran through the airport and was the last person on the plane. There were many prayers as we left Ecuador and landed in Florida. In Florida, it took us an entire day to get through all of the crowded gates and find a flight to St. Louis. God watched over us as we arrived home just as United States airports were closing.

Not long after we arrived home, both Dave and Brenda Meyer and the Cotinga Board canceled the 2020 trip. Obviously, no one was able to travel in or out of Ecuador, plus the schools were closed. Everything that we planned was put on hold.

It is with great sadness, that we have also had to cancel the upcoming Cotinga Foundation 2021 trip. The schools in Ecuador are still closed, no one is able to meet in large groups, and we are still not sure that we would be able to enter the country. We are working on some plans to help the teachers in Ecuador through the next year, even though we won’t be there.