Giving Thanks

I have decided to write this blog in order to focus on giving thanks to the people, places, and experiences that Ecuador has given me. The stories I will tell occur during different time periods, but these are the memories that stick with me as I try to bring closure to the past two years in Ecuador. I am forever changed by having lived here, and I don´t quite honestly know how I will live without this simplistic yet rich country I now call ¨home.¨


Meet Doña Rosita- a simple woman, living on the coast of Ecuador, originally from the sierra. She has a husband, and lots of kids. Every day Doña Rosita sits on a bench outside of the hotel that her and her husband now own, watching the neighbors pass by. Owning her own hotel was no simple feat. Doña Rosita worked for 20 years selling ice cream cones on the street, saving up enough money to one day fulfill her dream. Everyone in town knows and greets her, just as they do with everyone else in town. Everyone knows and greets everyone, that is the way of life. Despite the town´s reputation for being slummy and dangerous, the is an underlying respect that residents have for one another. Doña Rosita and her husband are no exception- they treat everyone with respect, love, and honesty. I fell into this experience on accident, and have had the privilege of greeting Doña Rosita from time to time. As a guest in her hotel, Doña Rosita has taken it upon herself to not only give me fresh towels and collect my money at the end of my stay, but to treat me as though I was her own daughter, regardless of how little we actually know one another. Doña Rosita refers to me as ¨mija,¨ meaning ¨my little daughter,¨ and has never asked me my actual name. Doña Rosita knows how much I love coffee, and in a town like this one finding coffee can be rather difficult. Because of this, Doña Rosita knocks on my hotel room door every morning with a fresh cup of Nescafe coffee (comparible to Folgers Instant Coffee in the USA.) She serves it to me in a big glass mug, with a napkin and spoon on the side. When she doesn´t climb the 4 flights of stairs to bring me coffee, she send her husband to get me. ¨Bajense mija! Ya esta la agua hervida!¨ (Go downstairs dear! Your hot water is ready!¨) Upon arrival to the kitchen, Doña Rosita serves me up a plate of hot plaintains mixed with onion and garlic, the local breakfast in this town. When I try to resist, or offer to pay her for the food and coffee, the response is usually ¨Don´t be crazy...you are too skinny, you need to eat.¨ Far from skinny, I know that Doña Rosita is just being polite. I share this example with you because, to me, it is a representation of what this country is all about. There is a genuine desire to be generous and kind with all people, regardless of how much money you may have. This style of living is one of the aspects of Ecuador I will miss most.


The next experience that sticks in my memory occured a couple of weeks ago, in Santo Domingo (my home) with a bunch of kids I now call family. Unfortunately, this experience will have to forever be remembered only by memory, as all my photos from this day were lost when my camera was stolen not long ago. Saying goodbye to the children of Laura Flores was one of the hardest things I have had to do as of yet in the Peace Corps. After two years of spending time with them, they have become to feel like my little children. I worry, care, and love them as if they were my own. I will miss them, almost, more than anything else here. My despedida (goodbye) with the kids occured at the local movie theater. From reading previous blogs, you will know that kids + movie theater = DISASTER, so you may be wondering why I decided to put myself in this situation once again. Well, I just did. We used the leftover money from the Scholarship Project in order to take roughly 60 children from barrios Laura Flores and Cristo Vive to the movies. The event took lots of coordination, time, and love. Each child got a hamburger, french fries, and a soda after the movie (yes, very healthy.) Most important for me, I was able to say goodbye to all 60 kids who I love so dearly. The saddest part about this was to see the innocence on each of their faces. ¨Where are you going? When will you be back?¨ Some of the kids recognized that I was actually leaving, and started to cry. Some gave me little letters or bracelets to remember them by. They each personally hugged me and said their goodbyes. I will never forget this experience, because each of these children, despite their poverty and family hardships, showed me genuine love and respect. Each child was grateful and sincerely happy from only recieving something as little as a hamburger. I gave each of them my email address, and told them that I will always be around for them whenever they need me. I hope one day, we they are older, they will write to me and tell me how they are doing.

My last memory, or example, (or whatever these are,) is a way for me to express my view that living simply is better. Having less rather than more is really the way to happiness. People say that people who are poorer are happier, I now know that to be true. Here is an example of why simplicity works: It is custom for Ecuadorian´s to take atleast one, if not two, hours for lunch. Ecuadorian people, in general, put less importance on working long hours and more importance on family, food, and happiness. Lunchtime in Ecuador is a wonderful sight. Each town has restaurant, after restaurant, after restaurant all serving the same thing - almuerzos (lunch.) There may be some slight variation to what lunch entails at any given restaurant, but you can always depend on: soup to start the meal, meat or fish with rice for the second course, a small desert, and a big glass of fresh juice. Almuerzos are the best thing that has happened to me in Ecuador. Just walk into any restaurant, sit down, and ask for lunch. Two seconds later, lunch is served. Everyone eats the same thing, no one complains or asks for anything different, and it always costs 2 dollars. It is the best deal, the best food, and it is a really easy way to live. Last week, my fellow Peace Corps volunteers and I had our Close Of Service conference in Quito. We spent a lot of time talking about what we will miss most about Ecuador, and what we would like to share with Americans upon our return to the United States. Across the board, PC volunteers talked about their love for almuerzos (lunches.) In the United States, as we all know, there are 50 things to chose from when sitting down for lunch. Some people are vegetarian, others don´t like cooked vegetables, some like their meat red, others well cooked. None of these things are bad, and I would be hypocritical to judge others for simply having likes or dislikes, but it has been interesting for me to see that people are happier when things are kept simple. A fellow Peace Corps volunteer shared a personal story at the conference that went something like this: An Ecuadorian son walked into his house at lunchtime, sat down at the kitchen table, and waited for his mom to serve him lunch. ¨What do you want for lunch today, son?¨ the mom asked. ¨Whatever you serve me is exactly what I want.¨ People here are sincerely grateful for having food on their plate, a house to live in, and parents that love them. They don´t complicate things, and certainly don´t complain. My goal in sharing this is not to criticize or judge the country I was born in, but to learn from my experiences here and try to live a happier life than I did in the past.


Thanks to everyone for reading my blogs over the past two years. It has been wonderful having this outlet to share some of my thoughts and experiences. If anyone has any questions about the Peace Corps or further questions about my experience, I am happy to share with anyone and everyone!

First Day of School

I know some of you don't have Facebook so here are some photos from today...


Jenifer Mendieta

Marena Loor and Jose Rodolfo

Justin Holguin

Angie Manzaba

classroom

Project Dreaming For A Change Begins

After a late start to the school year here in Santo Domingo de los Tsachilas, we are proud to announce that, finally, our project of giving scholarships to more than 25 children in el barrio Laura Flores is off to a great start.

For those who have not checked out the video, my friend Megan and I spent two months creating a short documentary which portrays the lives of 25 kids living in extreme poverty in one of Santo Domingo's most impoverished and at-risk neighborhoods, Laura Flores. Below is the link to our Facebook page, where you will find the short movie and info about the project. Take a look!

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Dreaming-for-a-Change/262619603816610

Thanks to our wonderful sponsors from Seattle, Florida, New Jersey, and California, yesterday we were able to take 25 children and their families on our first round of "back to school shopping." Sponsors donated their time and resources to provide children access to education, for some it will be the first time they have ever been to school. Donations covered general schooling costs: uniforms (which are required for study in Ecuador), backpacks, shoes, notebooks, pencils, pens, etc. Yesterday's events can be described in two simple words- absolute chaos. Heres how it went down:

The day started off with an early bus ride to the neighborhood Laura Flores. Kids and families were found in the local school, where the majority of sponsored kids will be studying this upcoming year, cleaning up and getting ready for the Monday morning school inauguration. Broken desks and books were scattered around the play yard. Kids kicked soccer balls and played as mothers and fathers re-painted cracked walls, swept out classrooms, and picked up trash. Laura Flores is situated on an old citywide garbage dumpyard so, as you can imagine, trash is endless. The mission of the day was to take the 25 kids and their mothers on an all-day shopping spree in Santo Domingo's mercado. While this may sound like an easy task, it isn't. Weaving 25children through rows and rows of fruit, vegetables, clothing, dead cows and chickens, and robbers awaiting us on every corner, somehow we managed to make it out alive. The most difficult part of it all was the fact that we had to bring along $1500 dollars, in a mercado notriously known for theft. Money was shoved under our shirts and pants, and only removed when purchasing materials.

Negtiating fair prices for 25 kids' uniforms was a chaotic event in itself. The dialogue went something like this:

Give me a size 36!
We don't have 36!
Not white, we need blue!
How many?
25!
How much for each?
$13!
Are you crazy?!...we will pay 10.
No way!
Alex, stop hitting your sister.
Justin, don't steal those pants!
Mia, Mia, Mia, Mia, Mia, Mia, Mia, Mia, what time are we leaving?!

It took us 9 hours total to purchase backpacks, uniforms, shoes and socks for our 25 kids. This dialogue proceeded in every single shop we went into. Sweating, feet aching, and an even worse headache, we accomplished our mission. Kids went home smiling, each with their new backpack on their back and shoes in hand. Photos to come tomorrow! Check out our Facebook page for photo updates and videos.

Thank you sponsors!