La Siembra

Last week, I began working with the community of Lupaxi Bajo and Alberto, an agronomist from CEMOPLAF in effort to create several types of community garden spaces. It was nice to actually begin the process after having met several times with the community throughout the past month. Lupaxi Bajo is a small agricultural community residing on the side of the Panamerican Highway (la pana). Most everything in the region is planted on the steep inclines of the Andes, giving the horizon the appearance of a neverending quilt consisting of shades of green, yellow, orange, and red. Because of the uneveness of the terrain, certain families have very small amounts of land to grow enough produce to sell in the markets (primary source of income) let alone to feed their families. To address this problem, one family has donated a bit of their extra land in effort to create a community garden where everyone would be responsible for its maintenance and benefit from its produce. The garden fence will be comprised of native plants and trees.

In addition to the community garden, another plot of land was prepared for being a semillera, or a plot of land that would solely be used as a self-sustaining seed supply. This would prevent the community from having to purchase expensive seeds at the end of the agricultural cycle. I couldn't believe how quickly the soil was transformed from a 10 m x 15 m uneven plot of weeds to a terraced seed supply. We planted cilantro, parsley, beets, onion, zanahoria blanca ("white carrot,"I think it's dicon), and mashua (a tuber not grown in the US). I learned a pretty sweet relatively natural method that helps preventing pests from eating seeds and contaminating the soil. Apparently, if you scatter ash from the kitchen (usually from burnt wood or paper) onto the soil before and after planting the seeds, the little plants will grow healthily.

I've been learning a great deal about the local agricultural practices here. Plants within each garden have a special place and energy balance, called a Chakra (it's Kichwa, not New Agey). Each community has a locally specific Chakra and secrets for planting seeds. Sometimes crops are planted together, for example: quinoa and potatoes, raddish and zanahoria blanco, habas (I guess the equivalent is cassava beans) and potatoes. In this chakra, medicinal plants (mostly native) will also be grown, ordered into categories of illness.

The project in Lupaxi Bajo is a sort of pilot project for one we will be working on in Esperanza later this summer. I've been working with teachers in Esperanza to work towards integrating a school garden into the curriculum. The school system in the sector is based on a bilingual model called Yachaypak Kukayu Pedagógico (KUPEDs) or the Senderito de Saber (SENSAB), which roughly translated from Kichwa is "sharing the hunger of knowledge". This model is especially designed for Kichwa communities, with the understanding that they are living in a plurinational country (not to be confused with the term "multicultural," which holds the negative connotation here of "separate but anything indigenous is primitive and backwards"). As a side note, indigenous activists all around the country are fighting for official governmental recognition of Ecuador as a plurinational country in the constitution that is in the process of being rewritten. The KUPED model places equal importance on learning both Spanish and Kichwa, with learning experiences occuring both inside and outside the classroom. Additionally, the source of knowledge is not supposed to originate solely from the teachers, but from students themselves and their families (a "self-evaluative process").

Most theoretical models, as well-intentioned as they may be, often lose their value in practice. Unfortunately, many teachers do not place equal weight on the inside/outside bilingual model so ideally set forth in the KUPEDS. This occurs for various reasons. Because corruption is high, many schools do not receive adequate funding for books and educational supplies. Additionally, many of the teachers live in urban centers and are of mestizo ethnicity and so do not place as much emphasis on learning Kichwa (racism is just as bad here as it is at home). I've talked with many people in the communities and even teachers who have expressed their frustration with the problems of the system, and it seems pretty terrible. Only within the past few weeks working with teachers amidst trying to plan a summer camp and navegating the ludicrous Ecuadorian bureaucracy have I too become frustrated with the prejudiced system. Some teachers are totally on board with the KUPEDs, but are limited by their educational superiors from fully implementing them. If the director of a school doesn't support the importance of learning Kichwa in the classroom, anyone (teacher, parent, student) is bound to have difficulty changing the system. But I guess this is usually the case when one has the power over many. I am seeing a growing intolerance for this type of behavior, and slowly but surely, people are beginning to stand up for themselves.

This is where the gardens project comes in. I was surprised to find that the idea already existed within the curiculum, it just needs to be brought into reality and treated with importance. The first week of being in Esperanza earlier in the month, I found that one teacher had already planted a small garden. So what's being done now is to actually kick start this project and to continue motivating teachers and students. Most things are understood in the communities in terms of cycles. Using this idea within the curriculum, each community will create a calendario agrofestivo, which consists of a circle divided into pie sections, codifying the schedule of planting particular vegetables, the locally-specific knowledge for doing so, and secrets that have been used by los viejitos (older community members).

I think I've written enough for the time being. Things are awesomely busy here.

Desde Ecuador con mucho amor!