World Vision's "Spirit of Christmas" tour arrives in Quito, Ecuador

Since November 19, World Vision and thousands of people around the world have been traveling the globe in search of the Christmas spirit as part of the Christian humanitarian agency's "Spirit of Christmas" tour.

The month-long tour features interviews and stories with children and families in the United States, Ecuador, Cambodia, Zambia and Ethiopia. World Vision's team will be highlighting both the heartbreaking circumstances of the poor and the inspiring impact even small donations of a few dollars through World Vision's Gift Catalog can make in helping families around the world care for their children.

Here is the team's story from the second stop in Quito, Ecuador.

Tour Stop #2: Quito, Ecuador

Alpacas are best known for their wool, which is soft and warm and can be used to knit blankets, sweaters, hats, scarves and gloves among other things. This is a very important characteristic and use of this cuddly, almost teddy-bear looking, animal. But, it is not their only one.

Yesterday, we had the privilege of visiting one of World Vision's programs high in the Andes mountains-about 11,000 feet above sea level.

Up, up, and further up we go. We are at about 11,000 feet above sea level.

When we got to where the community is, after a couple hours of steady uphill driving, we were greeted by Luis Bravo, one of World Vision's program directors in the area. He took us to where the road ended and then pointed to the mountain in the distance. "See those white specks up on the hill? Those are the alpacas," he told us.

We grabbed our gear and started ‘heading for the hills'. Needless to say, it was a bit harder to walk and breathe at this elevation, especially as we trekked even further up. We went slowly, much more slowly than the people from the community, who were gracious enough to wait and take breaks with us, and eventually made it up to where the alpacas were.

Although alpacas are part of the cultural heritage of the people of this ethnicity, they were not something they had, even just a few years ago. Jose Guishca, the president of the community group, explained the tradition of keeping alpacas had been lost through the years and that these animals had been replaced with other livestock-mainly sheep and cows-that were doing more harm than good.
Because of this decision the community was facing some difficult situations.

Jose Guishca, President of the local Community Development Group, tells us how alpacas have helped his community.

"Seventy-five percent of the children in our community have malnutrition [problems]," he told us. Although this sounds astonishingly high-and it is-it is better than it was just a couple of years ago.

"Thanks to the support of World Vision, we have been attacking the cause of malnutrition, little-by-little. We were at almost 90 percent," he told us.

The alpacas that the people in this community received just a couple of years ago thanks to the gift catalog are playing a key role in reducing malnutrition and helping make sure the kids stay healthy and stay in school.

For more information about how you can give a family in a country like Ecuador the gift of an alpaca this Christmas, visit www.worldvisiongifts.org/alpaca.