Today was deconstructing poverty, and aid and development day. We had a packed day starting with waking up at 6:30am. We traveled to Doña Charito’s house, but because of a mix up we met Doña Charito at her sister’s house. We ate a lovely breakfast and had smoothies made from Charito’s blackberries. Then, she told us her experience losing everything and slowly getting back on her feet. Doña Charito used to live near the volcano, Tungurahua, where she was running her own business. The volcano became active and she lost everything. She had to help carry her mom, dad, and disabled brother out to escape the volcano. Since she had taken out loans for her business, she was in debt and had to work odd jobs to get by. Eventually, her son had to immigrate to Switzerland because of the lack of work here. Her warm heart, open arms, and touching story moving many of us to tears. Even though she still struggles with getting a steady income, she loves her country and the land she got from a foreign NGO, Esquel. Her appreciation of life and her willpower are things that we can adapt into our own lives. “Sigue luchando” or keep fighting is the motto that we learned from her today.
After that we went back to the hotel and heard from Roberto. He is a speaker for the group Utopia. Utopia is an organization that believes in bringing together urban and rural communities, organic farming, and local markets. Roberto made us think about what a developed country means and how aid can affect a country in both negative and positive ways. He had us get into two groups, one developed countries and the other underdeveloped countries. We cut out pictures from magazines and newspapers and categorized them within our groups. Roberto questioned us after about our choices, especially about the indigenous people in the underdeveloped category. He opened our eyes to the knowledge indigenous people know especially about agriculture. Apparently, one group in the Amazon knows how to grow crops on rocks! Then he told us about how Ecuador used to be able to grow enough wheat to supply the whole country, but after getting foreign aid from big companies donating their excess breads, cookies, and processed carbs, the demand for processed food rose immensely. Now if Ecuador wants to meet the demands for wheat, all of their farmland would have to be for exclusively wheat. He challenged our basic assumptions of the world and opened our minds to a new perspective.
After the enlightenment of this activity, we fueled our hungered minds with lunch at Nativa. Promptly after (no kidding, today’s schedule was TIGHT), we prepared to share our service idea for La Escuela de Carlos Garbay. In our nicest clothes, and everyone speaking in Spanish, we presented our plans to build a Glorieta for the students at the school’s farm, to escape the harsh weather conditions. This will mean a safe place for everyone to rest and escape the heat or rain after a long day’s work. With a bountiful heart filled with the idea of the project, we made our way over to teach our first English lessons!
When we arrived, we were directed to the school’s gathering room, where eager parents and children waited to learn. Sam was our brave example, and she spoke both in English and Spanish for the entire congregation, who giggled and chatted with excitement after she spoke. There was a lightness in the air that carried into the classrooms after we received each of our students. In the classroom, many smiles and laughter were shared between the students and each of us teaching, as we all mutually helped each other learn (mostly the expert Spanish speakers correcting our errors). The people here have an obvious desire to learn how to speak English that made it easy to be in front of them. All of us were actually quite impressed with how much English they had come in knowing. When asked to say their name (in Spanish), every single person responded in English. It was hard to tell if the majority of the excitement in the air was from them or from us! By the end of class we were all extremely happy and proud of the progress each individual had made. Before leaving, some of the students came and shook our hands or hugged us, kissing our cheeks. They made tomorrow seem so far away.
After this we had a special meal at Frida’s, a Mexican restaurant. The food was pure bliss, I can’t even describe it (though I did find it funny that a Mexican restaurant was in this part of Ecuador). After an extremely long and busy day, it’s hard to think of a better way to conclude. Except of course, planning for tomorrow’s English lesson. 🙂