Dear Cofan Sponsors,

We hope this finds you well.

We’ve had a lot going on this year!  Let me start by providing a few updates from Ecuador.  Carlos, our healthcare navigator, shares the following:

• He continues to work with a child who has juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. The child is doing well – she is walking and running and seems to be pain-free!
• An infant was born with cleft palate, and the family traveled to Quito to begin preparatory treatment that precedes cleft palate surgery.
• An elder was treated for an eye infection; ultimately the eye had to be removed. He is now being fitted for a prosthetic eye.
• Several adult men were treated for various conditions, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and a suspected tumor in a knee.
• Carlos arranged a medical brigade for Zabalo, one of the most remote communities, during our March visit, and another for three smaller communities in mid-April.

Thank you so much – it is your support that enables this good work!

We’ve been busy here at home as well:

• Danica and I presented at our UUA General Assembly about our work with the Cofan; we think that about 90 people viewed our presentation.
• We led a Sunday service at All Peoples in late July. This service was focused on all that we accomplished during our March trip to Ecuador.  If you didn’t get to see it, you can access it through this link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BjtHbarDxAJyXxiXgRiBxklfwm6EDKr4/view?usp=drive_link or find it on the All Peoples website under Worship (recorded sermons – July 26).
• We held the first ever Rainforest Festival on August 29. Thank you so much to all who volunteered and who attended!  We have approximately $7500 in proceeds from the festival that we can use to fund the Seguro Campesino health program as needed, to use for other health-related projects, and to use for seed money for next year’s festival!
• Vernon Cook and Debby Sublett raised organic vegetables this summer and made them available at church; they raised over $1,000 for Seguro Campesino!
• We continue work to get vision care to the Cofan. Imagine if you’d never had your eyes checked!  I know I got my first pair of glasses when I was 10 years old and wore them for the next 55 years (not the same ones of course), until I had cataract surgery.  We’ve done initial screening and are learning that as many as half of those we’ve screened need follow-up care from an eye doctor.  Our next step (we hope!) is to have a vision “Brigade” go to Zabalo.  Ultimately, we’d like to get glasses for those who need them.  We’re grateful that the Rainforest Festival was successful because we’ll be able to use some of this money for the vision project.

We hope to send money to Ecuador soon.  If you haven’t contributed this year, please consider doing so.  We’re grateful for your support for our “Save the Cofan, Save the Rainforest” project.  And it was clear during our trip to Ecuador this year that the Cofan are grateful too – for the access to quality healthcare and for our consistent support over these 5 years.

We will have Holiday cards available again this year.  Consider giving a donation to the Cofan as a present to someone who has plenty of stuff!

Gratefully,

Deborah Novgorodoff, for the International Justice Committee