Don Braulio Catches A Toad.

Don Braulio has emerged as a leader in the garden project. He is among the handful of people who have demonstrated their dedication to the garden by showing up every morning that we come to work, be it building beds, building fence, or coming for the workshops led by the Prefectura (city government officials who have experience in organic gardening techniques and agreed to lead workshops with us over a period of six weeks).

Don Braulio arrives early to the workshops to water the plants, and he stays late to tidy up the garden and chat. (One afternoon in particular stands out, as he "chatted" at length about how he left a privileged home at age 16, trekked across the country, swam the Guayas River, and had many adventures and misadventures along the way.) There is no task we ask of him - and sometimes we don't even have to ask - that he refuses to do.

Case in point: the toads that were hopping along in our garden one morning before the workshops began. They were causing quite a stir among the women.

They're harmless but admittedly not the most attractive of creatures.

While the women were squealing in disgust, Don Braulio valiantly reached down...

...and scooped up the toad.

Simple.

And now Monsieur LeFrog has a lovely home on the other side of the health center.

À bientôt!