Jill Ball has been working in Ecuador since 2002. She started by helping at an orphanage begun by an English couple and then, in 2004, started working with the disabled. Today, she works in Santo Domingo de los Tsachilas, a three hour drive from the capital, Quito. She runs a registered charity, “Life in Abundance Trust” with the help of friends in the UK. The sister charity, “Vida en Abundancia” registered in Ecuador, is the operative end and delivers compassion to the needy, especially disabled and marginalised people in Ecuador.
Jill has two sons and two grandchildren who all live in England, and who she visits every year.
The first ministry she started was a weekly clinic where people of meagre means can get help with medicines, wheelchairs, prosthetic limbs, doctor’s appointments and medical tests, and so on.
In 2006 she opened a class for disabled children. It started with two children. The last academic year finished with two classes, two teachers, two teachers’ assistants and 17 children.
Alongside this is a physiotherapy service, giving treatments at a reduced cost to needy children.
In addition Jill has organised workshops for women with disabled children so they can learn a skill and earn some money. She takes the goods produced to the UK to sell.
She has worked in a very poor neighbourhood, Laura Flores, built on a rubbish dump. There she started giving Bible studies and classes on hygiene and nutrition to women. This work has now expanded and is run by the local Baptist Church, who also manages the pre-school set up last year by a volunteer from England working with Jill.
Jill works with other organisations, such as Latin Link and the charity “Hope for the Future”. The latter helps her with the costs of a teacher and assistant, and also gives educational grants through the charity to underprivileged individuals.
Jill is beginning a new project to help abused and vulnerable women in Ecuador. The project involves building a women’s refuge, and working with professionals in other fields to bring wholeness to abused women and their children.
Jill works with the local Baptist Church and is working with them to develop a counselling service. She also runs a weekly house group.