Ecuador, Ecuador

Hey all,

I know this is way too late - more than a month after our project in Ecuador has ended - to write this, but better late then never, right?! I got back to South Korea at the end of June, and I became so busy unexpectedly due to my senior research that I didn’t have enough time to get myself seated before my desk and write this. Well, I guess I could have, but I seriously did not want to rush through this. I wanted to put in enough time, arrange my thoughts, and look back at the meaning of this summer ‘07 Ecuador project.

Okay, so that was my excuse for posting this so late. Now here goes the Edor story. Our group went to Ecuador to volunteer through FEVI - an Ecuadorian volunteer organization - for the first time. This was because Cielo Azúl, the Swiss organization that I-I has been working with, had told us in the middle of the semester that they could not receive our group this summer due to their own internal circumstances. Two of our members got to Quito a couple of days earlier than everyone else. After flying from O’Hare to Miami in the same plane with everyone else, my flight had an additional stopover in Bogota, Columbia before I could get to Quito. The rest of our group had a pleasant direct flight from Miami to Quito.

During the first week, we were in Lumbisí, and indigenous community near Quito and Cumbayá, where the FEVI office is. Our group of 9 was split into 5 smaller groups which each stayed with a different host family in Lumbisí. I was the only one, who spoke the least Spanish in our group(my total Spanish education: SPAN 101 at U of I), that stayed alone with my host family without having anyone to help me communicate with them. That really improved my Spanish a lot!

To be honest, Lumbisí was a relatively well-off community compared to others in Ecuador. It seemed that it was one of the few middle-class communities in the country that can be roughly divided into two extremes; the wealthy minority and the majority – an estimated 60~70% - living under the poverty line. We spent most of our working time in the schools and kindergartens scattered around Lumbisí. We assisted the teachers, taught the kids songs and English, played with them, or tried to help in one way or another. It was not quite what most of us expected. I thought that hard manual labor would be awaiting us. However, this was not the case except for one day during which we help the local people with the construction of a new school building and dismantlement of a small old playground in the schoolyard. It was physically demanding, we got dirty, but still it was pleasurable since we felt like we were actually helping and could see the teamwork building up among us.

It’s not to say that the time we spent in the classrooms and in general in Lumbisí was useless. Nevertheless, although I loved my host family – they had the most adorable 3-month-old baby in the world! – and the kids at school, I couldn’t help thinking that there must be some other place in this country to which we could be of more help.

On our fourth day in Ecuador, Maria, the founder of FEVI and coordinator of our project, invited our group to her house along with other U of I students who were studying abroad in Ecuador and were about to return to the U.S. To our surprise and to my bewilderment, her house was very, very big and nice, if not luxurious, surrounded by similar houses in a gated community protected by private guards. For me it was hard to reconcile her conspicuous wealth and her seemingly concerned attitude towards Ecuador’s social problems including poverty of the majority. In short, it was a puzzling event.

After a week in Lumbisí, our group, two British medical-school volunteers, and Maria headed together to Tonsupa, a small town at the coast of the Esmeraldas Province. On our way, we made a short visit to a town called Puerto Quito. It was there that I felt quite uncomfortable. Here’s why..

Before our group left for Ecuador we had a drive for school supplies and other items useful for children in front of Walmarts, from which we collected plenty of donations. Of course we all brought them to Ecuador, donated some of them to the schools in Lumbisí, while some of them were reserved for Puerto Quito and most of them for Tonsupa, because Maria told us that it was the place that the donations were most needed. I never had a problem with the idea of donation itself, especially to a school like the one we visited in Puerto Quito which is in such harsh conditions, but it was the way the donations were presented to them that really made me uncomfortable.

Prior to our arrival, everything was arranged so that once we were there, we were greeted by the teachers and kids and a lot of fruits were prepared for us. We went into each classroom, briefly introduced ourselves and so did the kids, asked a couple of questions, then left for another classroom as the kids applauded. In one of the classrooms the kids gave each of us a cute flower made of paper and wire. At last, it was donation time. In the middle of the schoolyard, Maria asked Lauren, as the representative of our group, to hand the bags full of school supplies to one of the teachers while many locals were watching and applauding. And after the ‘conferment ceremony’, Maria expressed her disappointment at the amount of supplies donated, which she expected to be much more.

Throughout the few hours we were in Puerto Quito I felt as if I was suddenly at the forefront of neo-colonialism, being served at the expense of some donations rather than serving. I guess it was the absence of journalists taking pictures of “First World college students being generous to the poor Third World kids” that made the whole situation bearable. Isn’t there a better way to donate?

In Tonsupa it was really hot and humid and the mosquitos were ferocious. Despite the weather our stay there was not bad at all. We stayed at a volunteer house and that’s where we met this American couple(the guy was Taylor, and.. ah I forgot the girls name) that had been volunteering in Ecuador for nine months, having only a couple of more weeks till there flight back home. They had undertaken their own project of building new cement classrooms with electricity and a neat bathroom next them for the school in town that only had bamboo walls and dirt floors with no power. It was amazing and encouraging to see what differences could be made by two passionate volunteers. They were pretty much in charge of everything; from negotiating the whole project with the local government to making contract with workers to supplying the material to urging the mayor to pay the workers their delayed wages.

I knew that corruption of the government is a serious problem in Ecuador before I left, and I could confirm it through the first-hand account of the couple; at the beginning of construction, the local workers refused to work directly under the local government and mayor, only agreeing to work after the couple was allowed by the mayor to be in charge of the whole construction. The workers were convinced that there would be no chance of receiving their full payment had the local government been in charge.

Our group moved construction materials, softened off the plastered walls with sandpaper and after that painted them. Due to the humidity the plaster and paint took a long time to dry, sometimes leaving us with nothing to do while the walls were drying. We also presented a short play that was proposed by the British medical-school volunteers in front of the kids. The moral of it was to wash your hands frequently if you don’t want to get sick. My role was the dirty kid who never washes his hand and eventually falls sick.

After a week in Tonsupa, our project was over, 5 of our members went straigt back home, while others traveled a little before returning. I traveled for three weeks in Ecuador and northern Peru, which is a whole different story, before I set off my 3-day-long journey back to Korea.

So that was an account of what went on in Ecuador. I know that you might you might get the impression that our project was more or less a frustration but this is not the case! I just wanted to express some of the crucial thoughts that occurred to me and share them with you guys. Although no ‘life talks’, we had deep conversations and I could see that a lot of our members, including me, were stimulated to questions things usually not questioned at home, setting plans for further volunteering and meanigful travel.

I personally experienced the importance of the right methodology in volunteering which is vital for maximizing the impact of the right heart, and kept thinking about it during the entire trip. I felt that our group was really awesome and we could have done more. That’s why I found the online discussion on international volunteering introduced by Miriam via email so compelling.

I also thought about what it means to volunteer as a college student when billionaires can make an apparently much greater impact than I can by donating millions of dollars, even if all they may care about is their social reputation, not the people the money purports to benefit. I’m still in the process forming my conclusion. As of now, however, I believe that it is the sincere heart, whether noticed by others or not, that is sustaining this world in the long-run, also that without it the indifferent wealthy people would not feel the need to donate in the first place. And I believe that the best thing I can do in my current position is to follow the so-called ‘small voice within me’ and try to be the best ‘me’ possible. Hopefully someone may be inspired by me, just as I have been and am being by the people I meet. Then that will be a new reason for hope, as a poet once said ‘Inspiration is the true revolution’.

Finally, thank you so much I-I!! I am telling everybody I talk to in Korea that joining I-I was the best thing I ever did during my study-abroad period. I hope, and am sure, that I-I will continue it’s eye-opening activities in the future. I miss you guys so much!!

Take care!
Youdong
Seoul, South Korea
7.14.2007

Another day, another... avacado?

Hola. So here´s another post for all of you living vicariously through the internet. Things have taken several riveting and drastic changes since we last posted, though whether for the better or the worse no judgement can be made.

Our job assignment at the womens shelter turned out to be carry bags of dirt from a hole, over this giant hill, where kids dumped them on the grass and spread them around. It was hard work and pretty tiring. The reasoning behind this was that the dirt would fertilize the soil, though in all actuality it was questionable as the soil buries the grass from the sunlight. Let´s just say our group had some questions about why we were moving dirt and what impact it was truly making. We can see the benefits of an area that is well landscaped and can serve as a tranquil hideway from the stresses of day to day life, but couldn´t our energies be better utilized somewhere else? It´s always an internal struggle.

Before we left the states we collected alot of clothes and brought 8 boxes of nice things with us to donate. Today the mission truck took us to a community where they were building homes for people who had been affected by a landslide that destroyed their previous community. Our assignment was to distribute the clothing and play with the children. It was odd how this seemingly amazing assignment turned into an almost sickening and gut wrenching experience.

We sat on the bed of the truck and began distributing clothing. As soon as people in the community realized what was happening, the fight was on. Women and children rushed the boxes grabbing whatever clothing they could, barely pausing to see what it was that they were grabbing. Women ravaged a box of baby clothing, grabbing armloads - the box was literally empty in 30 seconds. While the poverty and need for clothing was obvious, the way the scene unfolded left one questioning the morality of passing out free clothing. How do we know the people who really needed the resources got them? Granted they need clothing, but wouldn´t there be a better way to help them achieve sustainability than through handouts?

The struggle only multiplied upon really viewing the community. Everywhere are houses made with 4x4s, tin roofs, and plastic donated by USAID - plastic boldly announcing "From the American People". It seemed so arrogant and was disheartening to see that we could donate plastic, but do little in terms of sanitation or any other resources they could have used.

From this point we progressed to playing with the children. They loved our digital cameras and looking at the screen at the pictures we had taken of them. Some members of our group, Born into Brothels style, gave them the cameras and allowed them to take photographs. It was amazing to see the children´s happiness over simple things and their resiliency in the face of utter poverty. On the other hand, I personally couldn´t help feel a slight tinge of guilt at our "touristy" behaviour. It was easy to the see the unamused look on the faces of many adults and older children. I wondered how many times Americans had ran around their village giving handouts, playing with the children, and snapping photos, only to run off to the luxury of the mission and ultimately the luxury of life in the United States.

But while my perspective may sound melancholy or pessimistic, in reality it is far from that. In the words of one group member, our group is finding that "serving in Guatemala is not so much about helping them, as it is about self-help". I feel that our group is really waking up to the reality of life outside of the US and that the internal exploration and realizations will lead us all to make an impact in the lives of those around us.

Adios, I-i.

Josh

What the whatever...

You guys and your silly blog wanting to hear all the adventures from Guatemala. Well, here they are, at least from my perspective.

We arrived at O´hare at 10am for our 1pm flight, checked our luggage, went through security, ate lunch and then when to boarding. There we found out our plane was delayed for maintenance reasons. After an hour and a half we boarded and having gone through the usual ¨fasten your seatbelts¨ business the pilot came on and told us that due to weather we would not be taking off. We sat in the plane for another 3 hours, which caused us to miss our connecting flight from Miami to Guatemala.

In Miami, Beth argued with the lady until we got a free room and food vouchers for the Airport Regency, because our next flight didn´t leave until 12pm the next day. We ate food, watched Contact and went to sleep. Suffice to say the next day went off without a hitch and we arrived in Guatemala and undertook the three hour trek to San Lucas.

Stuff here hasn´t changed much, though I´m happy to say that there is noticable progress on projects we worked on this winter. The house for the family with ten children is painted and almost complete and the women´s shelter has a floor and all. Dr. Sierra is also here, and though he´s noticably thinner due to illness, he´s as kind and helpful as always.

Today we worked carrying dirt from one place to another to enrich the dirt near the women´s shelter. It was hard and hot, but then it began raining which was fun. Not only was it refreshing, but we all turned to mud.

On the agenda for tomorrow is possibly some coffee sorting. Today we saw the process from bean to roast, and all the beans we picked this winter are now shelled and being sorted and roasted for sale.

Things here are fun and well. Our house has a fire pit and we are halfway through life stories and finishing them tonight. The group gets along well, and I feel that we all bring really interesting perspectives to the trip.

Go I-i, I hope that you´re all well and enjoying where life takes you this summer.

Adios,
Josue´

i-i, the next generation

oh my GOO'ness! i am so excited to hear about all the awesome projects this summer!

we got edor, holla!
gmala, holla!
mexico, what what!
and dominican republic, hola!
(yes that's hola, not holla)

post post post!
~miriam :-)

Guatemala Photo Album...

Along with Facebook, here is the album Fumi created for pictures:

http://guatemalanjedis.myphotoalbum.com

Hopefully people will be updating more soon...

A Detailed Version of Guatemala...

I haven't really had time to process and reflect as much as I would like.....but the Ecuador group has requested a more detailed explanation and no one else has posted....so here goes. Everyone else from Gmala, please add to this...contradict things i said with your own opinions and perspectives....and state your views...I'm only doing a very brief overview.

We took off from O'Hare tired but excited at 2am on December 28th, after interviews by the one and only Kelly Hendricks, airport olympics of Warhead races, and numerous count offs "UNO!". After four hours of flying, a jumbled announcement comes on over loudspeaker saying "Due to weather conditions in Guatemala, we will be rerouting to El Salvador". This begins the lovely adventure of seven hours in the El Salvador airport with an amazing view outside, a few failed attempts to escape during power outages, constant confusion, and finding sleep in any possible space. We finally found a flight to Guatemala and arrived at about 3pm (crazy in comparison to our original 6:25 am landing!).

We met our driver and Ruth's father at the Gmala airport, where we were greeted with crazy crowds of people lined up with signs shouting everything possible....found out that the two other volunteers arriving that day, "Dailey and Ryan", were actually "Bailey and Ryan". This began the expansion of our group as we began to adopt other volunteers into I-i, better known as the "Guatemalan Jedis". That's right, everyone became a Star Wars character. There was R2-Kim2, Hayfa-8-sex, Stormtrooper Sarah Elite, and the list goes on.

The ride there was a blur as we tried to absorb culture, catch up on sleep, and gawk at the warm weather and beautiful mountains....we arrived to the welcoming party of Father Greg, Tono, and others, as well as accomodations far greater than we expected, and the beginning of the amazing food that we were served every day. This was the first of many fun dishwashing experiences.

We dove straight into the tour and projects the next day, the same ones that the groups previous to us had done: coffee bean picking, rebar, reforestation, and construction for a family with ten children. The people we worked with at construction made it one of the most rewarding and challenging projects, as we struggled to figure out how to lay bricks and create a new home for this wonderful family. However, everyone enjoyed rebar, as we each found our own niche, whether it was bending metal, cutting metal, tying the wires together, or the infamous job of....splitting rocks! We had children constantly yelling "Hola!" and we played more games of "pato, pato, ganzo" (I can't spell...but that translates to duck, duck, goose) than we can count. Sarah had her nails painted, Alecia brought crying children back to their mother, and Kelly's video camera was the spotlight of attention.

We went on an amazing boat ride and visited Chichicastenango to shop at the market. We set off fireworks on New Years' Eve (or rather, I should say, the group did...I was sleeping...)...and some people ventured up the volcano in record time (6 hours woohoo.....you guys are AMAAAZZINNGG). We went to mass in various communities, attended lectures from Father Greg, and got to know so many of the others there. Ryan and Bailey (from Wisc- La Crosse) and Laura and Jessica (from Indiana who go to Murray State in KY) became integral parts of our group, played pool with us, shared pizza with us, became addicted to Spanish telanovellas with us, participated in our reflections, and made the trip so meaningful for us. Laura is an amazing pianist and singer who played a song on their last night there that touched all of our hearts. Jessica's spirit and drive added an element of sweetness and dedication. Bailey's strength helped us all persevere when times got tough, and Ryan always had an insightful comment or added an element of laughter to our trip. All the people we met made our experience even more amazing, and I think we really will keep in touch with many of them.

As another source of inspiration.....Ruth's father joined us at the San Lucas mission for the entire trip pretty much and worked in the clinic there, where he was very loved by everyone. He saved us through sprained ankles and the amoeba epidemic that ravaged through our group, saw us through fainting spells and colds and sore throats.... The work that he has done for Central America truly inspired us and we loved having his kind spirit around us. Her family also allowed us to visit their beach house on New Years' Eve, where we had an amazing time and ended the night with a perfect sunset and produced the most amazing pictures ever.

We had many deep conversations on our trip- some one on one, some with small groups, some with everyone as a whole. There were times of questions, of doubt, of rediscovery as we all sought to gain different perspectives from the trip, coming in with varied experiences and goals. We had an amazing group, with diversity in thought, in personality, in interests, and learned from each other; we constantly challenged each other with ideas and perspectives. Overall, we persevered through illness, long car rides, life decisions, frustration, and questioning, and we ended on a perfect note: a talk with Father Greg that helped clarify our understanding and purpose. In I-i, we've constantly discussed whether the $500 we use to pay our plane tickets to be better used as a straight donation, of whether we're actually helping when our layers of bricks have to be scrapped over and over again, of whether we're earning our stay by doing only a few hours of work in exchange for beds, three meals a day, and showers (a luxury we were NOT expecting...). Father Greg helped us realize that we were giving the people confidence and self esteem with our presence, and the impact it had on us was just as important as we spread our experiences and knowledge to others. It helped begin a new way of thinking and helped us all leave feeling like we made at least a small impact.

And yes, that's what I call I-i magic.

Best Blog EVER!!!

Dear Diary,

meghan´s blog sucked absolutly no info was given. Fumi and Meghan, we and the rest of Ii want alot more info.

So for a very describtive tale about E-dor... We live in the second grade classroom in a little school next to an amazingly beautiful lake. I personly felt alittle bad about kicking the second graders out but we are hoping they found another place. We cuddle together for warmth on two mats. We are woken by Maria and her emergency siren at 7 every morning to the lovely sight of fasinated kids piring in our window.

We spent the newyears weekend in Quito doing all the touristy stuff. We went up a huge mountain and stood above the clouds and looked at all of Quito. We hung out with Carolena´s family and they were awasome and showed us all the good places in Quito. On newyears night we drove around and were stoped by crossdressers who seemed to keep hiting on Kevin. After that we went around and saw huge dolls that were built just so they could burn them. Newyears was wicked!!!!!!!11

So we have been working hard on this amazing playground. We just cemented the swing set and the casita (little house). Next week we should be finished up with the best playground in the world!!!!

We live next to the most excelent family. They have about 5 kids living there. Maria, German, Estafania, Fernando and Marisol. They are soooo cute Fernando and Marisol are little and still kind of avoid us. But they rest play with us every night. Estefania is 7 and has a little crush on Kevin but only when Escott isn´t around. Maria is 12 and owns a store and runs a school and watches all the other kids. Basically amazing.

There´s also this tall swiss guy that is in loveeee with ami. she doesn´t think so, but we know it is. his name is rolf and is the reason why our playground has worked out at all.

Well we will tell you all more later

-the cool kids of the E-dor group ie Annie Kevin and Carolena

International Impact

International Impact

Gmala, Gmala!

So we´ve tried to write entries numerous times, but in the end, they all got erased or the internet went out....poor excuses but unfortunately, true.

What´s happened?
We visited El Salvador for longer than you can imagine.
We´re staying at one of the most beautiful places on earth.
Each person has transformed into a Star Wars characters.
We´ve ravaged through all types of medicine and first aid kits.
We had reflections upon the roof with flashlights.
We´ve played duck duck goose with the kids.
We´ve been sassy with Tono.
We´ve built up our muscles and used up our febreeze.
We´ve crushed rocks, built walls, beaned coffee, and bent metal.
We rode a boat, surfed a truck...

In other words, the experience is beyond words.