About how we met Chio

photo by Zac Steimle Chio on the bus with Brisa and Sequoia in 4/2023 while working on a documentary.

This blog is about our friend Chio Castillo and the work she is doing in a remote area in the Province of Esmeraldas, Ecuador. To tell you about Chio we have to go back further and tell you a little about our story.
When we moved to Cuenca Ecuador in 2001, Melody and I embarked on an adventure that changed our lives.

While we lived in South America we had two children (Sequoia and Brisa), we went from our 20’s to our 30’s. We thought we were going to impact Ecuadorians with the love of Jesus, help with healthcare, etc. etc. Instead our lives became helplessly intertwined with many people who have impacted who we are today. We found the people of Ecuador to be stronger and more resilient than we ever imagined. In a way, I feel like Ecuador chewed us up and spat us out, but forgot to floss. It still has a hold on us all these years later (we left in 2009). We met so many people and have maintained many dear relationships now all across the globe.

We met Chio in 2002 when our daughter Sequoia was 3 months old. Chio did not immediately earn the place that she holds today. She is one of those gentle people who does not barge into your life but seems to slowly emerge as a major character and influence. Early on we would cross paths with Chio regularly and we knew her as a hard working diligent young lady. She was working full time as a maid and studying full time at the university. Over time we began to piece together the incredible story of her tragic past and escape from an extremely dysfunctional family and tightknit rural community. We also observed the difficulties she suffered as a young black woman in a very racist society. She navigated all of these difficulties with a level of grace and dignity that is rarely found in one individual. She would be the first to tell you how she did not always handled her trials in this manner. Initially, like anyone, she was angry and bitter at her offenders, but when Jesus Christ came into her life and she began to learned to walk in obedience to his ways, she learned how to forgive and love even those who caused her the most pain.

During our last year in Ecuador, Chio lived with us while she was finishing her degree in early child education at the university. It was during this time that we really got to know her well. She told us how her prayers had changed from asking God to bring down fire from heaven on her community, to asking God to send somebody to share the good news with them. Then she told us how she was contemplating returning to work there full-time. We advised her against it. We had seen her return from visits there physically and emotionally exhausted and listened to many sordid stories that emphasized the levels of depravity of her family and community. We carefully explained that she had escaped and now had the opportunity to make a good life for herself and affect change where people wanted it. Thankfully she did not take our advice. That very year she began what turned into her full-time work with the children and adults of her community.

She named her organization Sequoias Grupo Misioneros. She said that she saw Sequoia as a well-loved young child living with a level of boldness and freedom and she wanted that for the kids of her community.

You can imagine the difficulty Chio experienced when working with the very people who had hurt her and caused her so much physical and emotional pain. I have been amazed watching her walk out the teachings of Jesus Christ in her personal life as she has returned to the place of her trauma and pain. I’ve also been amazed to watch her cobble together funds and resources from all sorts of different people and organizations. She has broken through so many barriers and united many people as she endeavors to help the children and adults of Las Delicias and its surrounding villages.

This blog is my translation of her communications and reports that she sends us in Spanish. We have been communicating with her regularly for many years. I have decided to start with her most recent updates. As a blog I will bring you up to speed on some of the history of her work. I am open to your questions and comments. If there is a particular piece of history you’d like to know about please ask and I will do my best to fill you in. Enjoy!