Fotos y Novedades

For most of you, these pictures are old news (from last summer). I cannot figure out how to connect my flickr photo set directly to the blog so you don't have to follow the link, but oh well.
I've spent the last couple days catching up with people here at Ayuda Directa and doing some website translations (the site is in four languages, so it's quite a bit of work keeping things updated once news of projects and communities rolls in).

Since I left Ecuador in late August, Ayuda Directa, Cemoplaf (Medical Center for Orientation and Family Planning), and DINEIB (National Direction of Intercultural and Bilingual Education in Chimborazo) have collaborated to extend the gardens project into 13 schools in the region (we have yet to make everything final, so it could be more or less, depending on the individual school). I want to make a semantic correction to my past posts. Before, I referred to the gardens as 'huertos', which only refer to the physical plants that are grown in a space. They are actually called Chakras (as mentioned briefly in another post). The chakra is a Kichwa concept that refers to an energy space where different organisms coexist (plants, animals, humans), all bound together by spiritual and sacred energy forces. The chakra is a place of great biodiversity, as it is divided into various sections. The chakras that have been created so far in Esperanza, Lupaxi Bajo, and Gahuijon include a natural fence made of native trees (with a temporary man-made fence), a section for tubers, medicinal plants, seed germination, greens, and a small green house area (for trying out new varieties).

The organizations and teachers met in September and December to start the process. When I head out to Esperanza in the next several days, I'll be looking forward to seeing the fruits of everyone's efforts (and maybe eat some fruit too). I'll also get to see who was elected to be on the cabildo (local government) in Esperanza. The elections were yesterday. Most of the men running are good friends of mine and a bunch of us at AD. They sent one of the AD coordinators a text announcing the elections, and invited him to come vote in the election. A very smart political strategy and a nice gesture; a way of letting this individual know that he is considered a part of the community.

The Joys of Airtravel

As long as there is a good chunk of time and enough resources to get there (thank you Reed College), I seem to keep finding my way back to Ecuador. This will be the fourth trip in three years and I fell pretty lucky to have had at least three of them paid for by grant money.

I got on a plane at 12:45 am Saturday, Miami-bound, only to arrive to a canceled flight to Quito. My heart sank as the indifferent American Airlines receptionist casually waived me off with a "looks like your flight's canceled, hon. Go talk to the ladies upstairs." I actually managed to get the very last seat in an earlier flight, reducing my 11 hour layover to a manageable 8. Since then, I've kept myself entertained watching the droves of missionary groups undoubtedly headed for Latin America. You can spot 'em wearing vibrantly colored t-shirts (neon blue, green, and yellow are haute couture these days) with some sort of crafty, group-bondy slogan like "Missionary:Possible" or "Jesus in Peru" with _insert bible passage here_:XX. For some reason, they always look confused. Maybe it's the group mentality of being in an airport; I think it's the shirts.

I'm headed back to Esperanza to do some more thesis fieldwork and to see how the community and school gardens are doing. Apparently, the school district of Chimborazo liked the project idea so much, that they have since been working with Ayuda Directa to get the program started in 15 other schools in the province. A lot of exciting things await.

If any of you actually do read this, I think I'll keep it updated for the next several weeks.

Now for that flight to catch!