Seeing Ecuador through Colm’s lens

SINCE Fr John Molloy left Ennis to work with the poor in Ecuador, local parishioners have been kept up-to-date with how he has been doing with regular emails, updates on the parish website and newsletter and of course by reading The Clare Champion.
A picture paints a thousands words and this weekend, the people of Ennis will have their chance to see first hand the valuable work that Fr John has been doing in South America.
On Saturday at 8pm in the Old Ground Hotel, a documentary about Fr John and his work in Ecuador will be launched by a local filmmaker. People are being invited to come along to the launch and see how local generosity has helped Fr John’s mission in Mount Sinai.
Filmmaker Colm Flynn from Drumcliff went out to Ecuador where he spent time with Fr John, filming his every move for the documentary.
“I kept having to pinch myself, it was amazing to think that one day I was at home in Ireland and the next I was on the other side of the planet in the slums of the city with Fr John. It was amazing, I loved meeting the people even though they didn’t understand anything I was saying and I couldn’t understand anything they were saying. We would be standing there for half an hour, talking in the universal language of nods and smiles. It was an amazing experience,” he told us.
Twenty-three-year-old Colm has known Fr John for a number of years, having been a student of Rice College where Fr John was chaplain. While working for Clare FM, Colm spent five days in France with Fr John working on a religious programme. Colm is now based in Dublin and has his own production company Moon TV productions, and does work for RTÉ.
Being asked to make a documentary of Fr John’s life in Ecuador came as a total surprise to Colm.
“I knew he was over in Ecuador and then one day out of the blue, he just emailed me and said will you come over and make a documentary,” he recalled.
The time leading up to leaving for Ecuador went by in a blur, with Colm admitting that he wasn’t exactly fully prepared for the trip.
“I just packed a few hours before I went over, I didn’t know what to bring. I knew nothing about the county, I didn’t even really know what language they spoke or what currency they used. John just told me to grab some dollars, bring my passport and jump on the plane. I was really excited going over, I hadn’t a clue what it would be like. I even packed jumpers thinking it might be cold sometimes, what a waste of space that was,” he smiled.
Colm explained that he was very excited to be going to South America, having just returned from his first trip to the US just weeks before. “It was a great adventure,” he says.
After a 16-hour plane journey, Fr John was there to meet him at the airport. “He embarrassed me in front of loads of people, taking my photograph in front of a big sign.”
He added, “When I got off the plane, the heat just hit me, the minute the plane opened, it was like stepping into an oven.”
The pair headed off in Fr John’s jeep to his home, “We were just chatting away and we were both really excited about the documentary. It was about half an hour in the jeep but it only seemed like a few minutes because we were catching up. He was asking all about home and he was telling me all of the plans he had in mind for the documentary.”
While in Ecuador, Colm lived in Fr John’s house, shadowing him as he went about his day-to-day life. Colm explained, “He continued on as normal with his day to day. I was there in the middle of Holy Week so he had a lot of work to do and I just shadowed him and filmed everything he was doing.”
When asked what it is like over there he said, “I’ve never been anywhere like it so I couldn’t really compare it to anywhere. Where we were staying was in the suburbs of the city and that’s like slums. The closest I would have seen to it would have been the slums of Calcutta. There are little wooden huts with tin roofs, no running water and mud outside the door. They are tiny little places, with families of five, six or seven living in. The church is in the middle of this area and Fr John has a house that’s built next door and the conditions are a bit better to what the ordinary people there are living in.
“I’ve never seen poverty like it. The electricity kept going off. We’d be watching the old TV and it would turn on and off again and you’d look out the window and see all the little huts. There are half a million people living in the area and the tiny little lights there would go on and off. No one pays for electricity, there are power lines and they just go out and throw a bit of cable up and attach it. There are always fires breaking out and people getting electrocuted.”
Amenities were so bad that Colm didn’t get to talk to his family for a few days. “I know some people might find it difficult being away from their comforts but because I was with John, it was ok and when you’re in work mode you’re just so focused. I had my gear with me and I knew what I had to get to get the job done. The one thing I did miss was my phone, there was no hope of mobile phone coverage or anything like that. I didn’t get to talk to my parents for two days, so a few of them were worried back home. But I got through to them eventually and it was great, it felt like I hadn’t talked to them in weeks.”
Colm was particularly interested to see the enthusiasm the young people in the area had for the church.
“They liked to get up early and come to the church, they loved their role there. Because I was there during Holy Week, there was a lot to prepare and they were involved in all of that, singing, playing music, doing the readings. They would arrive at John’s house at seven or eight in the morning ready to go and I would film them preparing for mass.”
He also interviewed some of the locals in their own homes. “Their houses were so small and even though they had very, very little, they were so appreciative of us coming that they would take out the best of everything that they had. The Coca Cola would come out, which is very expensive over there and only given to guests and whatever rice they had, they would give us.”
While interviewing the young people, Colm noticed that although they come from a very different world to Irish teenagers, there are still lots of similarities.
“Young people across the world, at some level, they are all the same, with the music they’re into and having fun with their friends. They still have their dreams and hopes for the future, the same as young people in Ireland would have.”
According to Colm, the local people are very appreciative of the work Fr John is doing. “They are very humble people, even though they have very little, next to nothing, they appreciate every little thing you give them. They love the Church, I suppose maybe it’s a break from their lives. Many of the young people may come from homes where there is violence and different types of abuse”
Fr John has been working to help provide education to young people, working with nuns from Columbia who have set up a school in the area. “Education is free there but the uniforms and books are extremely expensive, especially for the half a million people living in the slums. The first thing people cut back on is education for the kids,” Colm explained. Funds donated to Fr John have gone towards creating a better life for the people, including building onto the school and a playground. There are also hopes to provide better medication for the people there as well as a social worker.
Although Colm was glad to be heading back to his family after his time in Ecuador, he explained that it was very emotional to say goodbye.
“It was very sad leaving there and knowing that the young people who had their dreams, that the likelihood of them ever achieving that will probably never happen. The night before I left, we were all in the church and there was a mass and afterwards, I was saying goodbye to the locals and I felt kind of guilty. I was going home to my privileged life and they knew that I was going to a place where we have wealth beyond their wildest dreams.
“You feel kind of guilty that you’re walking away and you’re saying the things you should be saying, like we’ll see each other again or I might come back but you know at the back of your mind that you never will.
“The only thing I was consoled with was the fact that Fr John is doing the work there and that over time, hopefully with the money that is being sent out, the education, improved medication and the social worker,  that somehow this will transform things.”