Second chances are the best. We learned from our mistakes and are determined not to get fooled twice. Exactly a year to the day after a failed attempt to create an organic school garden in Baboso, we gave it another shot and this time it really looks good. It’s amazing how a simple project like this can get so complicated. Last year we were rushed into it by the Health Ministry that had to spend their budget before the end of October 2008. We didn’t have the opportunity to do a proper participatory analysis of the project beforehand with the community. I only had two hours to gather primary data from the students who would participate in the building of a greenhouse and make a list of tools and seeds they needed. The community president single-handedly chose the location, 15 minute walk away from the school grounds and up a steep hill, far from any permanent vigilance. It was doomed to fail but went ahead with it. The structure did not survive that winter.

When the Awá Federation’s agronomist told me that we could get fresh funding from the MIES Carchi project to build a greenhouse and develop the Baboso school garden I immediately got to work. Baboso teacher and close friend, Manuel Taicuz, arranged meetings with the parents, students and community leaders and got an enthusiastic response to start a tomato growing pilot project on the school grounds. A sturdy bridge is about to be inaugurated over the Mira river which will pave the way for a road that should eventually reach the community in a year or so. They got to be ready before it gets there and have products they can sell to nearby markets. I helped purchase all the tools and equipment for the greenhouse and secured funding for the food necessary for at least one long day of labour for 50 people. I even had enough to buy a pig from the community that thrilled everybody.

When an Awá is well fed like they were this past Saturday, they are happy and hard working. Nobody complained about a thing and everybody participated to get the work done. We received the help from an agronomist (half Awá) specialized in tomato growing and greenhouse building. He did a brilliant job organizing us and we managed to finish the tough part before lunch. The fact that the agronomist was well known and respected by the community naturally helped a lot. The location of the greenhouse and the enclosed school garden is perfect: right at the entrance of the community for everyone to see. We want this to be demonstrative garden for the families of Baboso to learn, practice and replicate on their own land. The river flows just ten meters down hill for students to fetch irrigation water. It was a great day even though we all worked hard in the sun. I brought Bolivar, the teacher at the Awá high school in Lita along as well as Monica who both helped a lot. Monica helped prepare the pig and collect all the names on the registration form while Bolivar helped get Baboso youth get organized for a celebration for life and sobriety the following day in Lita.

Indeed, Manuel invited me two weeks back to take part in a meeting with the Lita priest and another Liteño to help organize an event against alcoholism. I worked with the Baboso teacher designing flyers that I printed at the Awá Federation that were then distributed by the priest to the nearby communities. Every Saturday and Sunday, Lita turns into a drunken festival with people past out on the pavement at every corner. It’s a sad reality that reveals the hardship of many families whose fathers spend the little money they earn in their self-destruction. The day after the minga (community work) in Baboso, I woke up early again to set up the stage and participate in this historical event. It began with a march from the Lita gas station all the way down to the football pitch where the stage was set. The priest took the protagonist role which aggravated Manuel and other Liteños who felt used by a religious agenda. Nevertheless it was a resounding success with about 300 people including all Lita students, teachers, and members of the Baboso and Pambilar communities who all marched in peace asking for a healthy and tranquil life. On stage there were testimonies, drama, clown shows, dance and music under a blasting sun. I filmed the entire event and will share it with the Awá Federation as the Awá are some of the main victims of alcoholism. As soon as the event was over, Lita went back to its old self with drunken men roaming around, seeking another sip. Behavioural change is an extremely slow process. This is just the first step of a campaign that must keep on strong to fight this threat.

In the meantime, Awá teachers still haven’t got paid. It will soon be three months. The Awá education network director finally signed a contract positioning Monica as the new accountant after a month and a half of low blows and calumnious attacks. Many teachers signed a letter asking for the director’s immediate removal and for the former accountant, who assumingly played a central role in this scandal, never to come back to his original position. Justice after all might prevail. This week I am scheduled to facilitate a workshop in Ibarra with 31 Awá teachers on the environmental education facilitator’s guide I’ve been working on. This is part of my primary project and I am exited to get this new opportunity. This month everything somehow seems to come together. I even received the first package a goodies from my mom since I live here: good old French paté and rillette! Absolutely divine!

I guess I must be doing something right.

The situation is not getting any better. Corruption is rampant and any efforts to stop or at least control it seem useless. Has the world around me become completely cynical? How can one avoid so much negativity and bad deed? It’s been over a month now and the Awá education network still hasn’t contracted a new accountant. Awá teachers haven’t been paid since august and they can’t afford to save a penny. The indifference of the director makes me sick. Beyond indifference he is actually mocking them, lying in their faces. My dream is to see cops come in one day to his office and take him where he belongs. I feel personally affected by this situation as I see how bad the teachers have it when working with them in the communities or talking to them in the office. They signed petitions and private letters demanding that the appointed accountant gets to sign her contract and get to work. All in vain. The director is determined not to allow her in, so much so that he wrote a calumnious letter to the ministry about rumors of an affair between the top candidate for the accountant job and another corrupt buddy of his in the office. Disgrace sounds like a euphimism to me.

This dire atmosphere at work was worsened by the terrible treatment a fellow volunteer from my omnibus received by the PC office executives. He was given 48 hours to leave the country and only 30 minutes!!!! to say goodbye to his host family and community he had been living with for almost two years. What I heard about his “misconduct” is really based on the most silly mistake regarding a text message and him panicking for making it. The response from the decision makers in the office are totally disproportionate and ignited a collective indignation, particularly among my omnibus who know the victim well and can testify about how great a volunteer he was. Many fellow volunteers called the office directly, others like me sent letters for the PC office staff and all volunteers to reflect upon. It was dispached yesterday and I am already getting several responses. I am not particularly proud to put myself in this situation but passivity would have been unaccpectable. I’m at a point in my service where I will speak my mind about matters I care about. A more horizontal communication channel between volunteers and the office staff would certainly smoothen the tense atmosphere that dominates these days and I will do my part to make this happen.

Despite all of this I still keep a positive attitude as I start contemplating the future, my post-peace corps life. As always I will keep all windows open and seek the most exciting new endeavour the world has to offer for me,  except perhaps anyhthing making me return to the States. Finding a job with an NGO operating in Latin America, Africa or Asia will be my priority. The only developed country I wouldn’t mind moving back to is Spain. Once I’m done with this massive Awá educational reform proposal I am working on, I will start working on my CV and check out the market. Working with the Awá schools has provided much comfort to me, and working out also helped release some stress. Staying healthy will always remain our best strategy to cope with all the challenges we face.

As development workers in foreign lands, how do we measure the difference that we make? Each development agency or NGO has their own well cut out goals and objectives from which they attempt to monitor & evaluate results or products. Mixed with these are the personal expectations or hopes from each individual worker based on their own sets of values and principles. Everybody has their own standards. In my case, I don’t expect any miracles from my work and only hope for the acceptance of the Awá people. Aiming small is the wise thing to do in this industry as the failures are easier to identify and readjust. Once your target population opens up to you and to the proposals you bring along, you have already achieved something of great significance. You managed to inspire trust and respect from another people and can now aspire to build something together. Now just to get to this point, if one wants to build a genuine relationship with the people you’re trying to help, it could take a long time. This is one of the main reasons I signed up for the 27 month service, to at least achieve integration.

The level of intervention is another factor worth analyzing. We all come with our organizational and personal agendas but how do we make sure we are not interfering unwisely in local affairs and traditions. My approach has always been to be patient, not forcing things to happen but letting events shape up naturally simply by being there, listening and intervening in a modest way. I think that it has been rewarding thus far as I have gained the acceptance from local teachers and students in the Awá communities of Baboso and Río Verde Bajo both located only an hour away from Lita. In Ibarra I feel fully integrated in the FCAE and DEIBNAE offices as they frequently ask for my assistance on proposal writing and elaborating training modules. After almost a year and a half working with the Awá, I feel at the right place. Their main project that was funded by USAID via the WCS is officially complete. I submitted all the work I contributed for this project which includes the Environmental Education facilitator’s guide for the Awá teachers. It now contains 46 activities divided in 8 chapters or modules forming a book of 118 pages. It took me 8 months to compile, adapt and create environmental education modules that are culturally relevant for the Awá students and teachers. I also helped put together a 25 page work report of all the work done by and for the Awá artisan group.

I know that those are small contributions but I am satisfied with these results at this point in the game. My role during meetings and assemblies has been subtle but nevertheless notable. Simply by sharing my concerns or ideas with Awá leaders of trust, many managed to be expressed without me having to speak up. A recent development at the Awá education offices has particularly surprised the depth in which I can find myself involved without intentionally provoking it. The episode of the last two weeks has been exciting, frustrating and many times demoralizing. It all began when the accountant (a mestizo) resigned suddenly to take a hot job in Quito while positioning his daughter to tale over the Awá office. His plans were frustrated by the application of my friend Monica who holds a doctorate in accounting making her the strongest candidate. This triggered an unbelievable series of deceit and manipulation from above to block Monica from getting the position. She has worked with the Awá people for several years making many friends in the leadership and managed to get a written recommendation from the FCAE president himself. That only helped to reveal the level of corruption and ignorance in the administration of the Awá education office. The director of this office called me regularly giving me a report of what he has done to make this right. This fascinated me. Why would he tell me these things?

I have been helping him more and more these last months as he’s been requesting for my technical assistance. Is he worried that, if Monica does not get the job after all, I would stop collaborating with them? The level of greed and corruption in his office certainly disgusts me but letting them down is not going to make anything better. As I am writing this, the last news I heard is that Monica was indeed selected as the new accountant but I will not believe it (neither will she) until she signs the contract. Having an honest accountant naturally inspires discomfort for a few people, especially the former accountant who will have to submit all the documents and give access to his system. I can’t wait for Monica to get busy and clean it all up. The 1030 students and 54 teachers are the first victims of this bad management that has lasted for years. The Awá people deserve a change.

Other than that I’ve been doing my thing; going to Baboso on Fridays and Río Verde Bajo on Mondays. The Awá students have helped me so much with the environmental education piece. I love going to the communities, working with the schools. It’s by far the best part of my job. They had another community meeting in Baboso so I joined them and made sure that they set a date for the construction of the greenhouse for the school garden. They want to grow tomatoes and see if the production is be good enough to be marketable. We have a date and I will now coordinate with all the supporting cast to make sure this project starts off from the right foot. My dream is to bring Edwin to Baboso so that he could give them a charla on organic agriculture. This might very well come true.

Getting back to work wasn’t easy after the amazing vacation I just had. I had the blues during a good part of my first week especially when I was in the Ibarra office. I couldn’t concentrate on anything and felt like I was simply wasting my time. My only comfort came from working with the kids in Baboso andalso by the surprising invitation by the teacher of the Río Verde Bajo school to join the community for a meeting. I showed up and found out that the meeting had taken place a couple days earlier and that the parents decided that I could help out with english, computer and environmental education classes. The Monday I got there happened to be the first day of class so it was a great way to introduce myself and get to know the kids. The large majority of them speak Awapit mostly and some seem to barely understand Spanish making my classes a bit tricky. In Baboso it is quite te opposite with most kids only speaking Spanish.

I came to an agreement with the students and the teacher that every mondays I will come up to their community and help out. I’m excited about this new project as the school has a lot of potential and we could easlily set up a school garden there. I’ve been there twice so far and I feel that most of the students are responding well. I struggle a bit with participation as the Awá are generallly shy to strangers, especially children. Those who only speak awapit obviously don’t care much about what I have to say. Another challenge is to work with kids from first all the way to seventh grade in the same classroom. So far I’ve mainly done drawing activities and games but I hope to be able to get into deeper topics with them.

The community is fairly easy to reach from Lita. I grab the 6am bus that takes me all the way to the Río Verde bridge. There is a new bridge under construction that is to be inaugurated on October 3rd, in the meantime we have to use a very dodgy wired bridge which is quite unstable to be honest. Probably the worst bride I’ve used in Awá territory.  Anyways it’s about an hour bus ride then once you pass the shaky bridge it’s less than 30 minute walk up to the community. The road that they’re building is supposed to get all the way to the Palmira community (the first one I’ve been to, my feet still remember). Once cars get inside everything is going to change.

In the meantime I am also helpi9ng out the Awá highschool in Litathat just received new funding from a Norwegian NGO. I just had a great session with them about the building of roads into Awá territory. We did a SWOT analisis and they did an amazing job analyzing all the angles of this critical situation. It feels as a relief to work with adaults for a change and get a chance to try out different, higher level activities from the facilitator’s guide I’m working on. This is teh last month of the biggest project the FCAE has been working on since I started my service with them so we are busy preparing final reports. I’m mostly helping out putting together the artisanry and of course the environmental education piece. Little by little I’m getting back into my usual groove. I’m still waiting for the Baboso community to set a date for the minga to set up the green house in which we are going to grow tomatoes and other veggies. It will be exciting for the students to get involved and learn about organic agriculture first hand. I’m a bit worried about the tomatoes because of the multitude of threats from fungi, worms and other insects it is vulnerable from. I will make sure no chemicals are ever applied but at the end of the day the parents and students of Baboso will decide.

Since I’ve been back at work I’ve felt the need to change things in my life, anything. However for lack of inspiration I simply decided to go to the gym. Haven’t been there in about two years and I must say it feels great. I will try to go at least once a week from now on. Walking the Awá territory is definitely a great workout and I don’t think I’m doing it get fit. It helps me release some unused energy or stress I’ve been accumulating. It helps, that’s all I know.

It’s been 7 months and no break. When my friend Elisa came to visit from Madrid I decided it was the right time to get away from it all. No better destination in Ecuador to disconnect than the Galapagos Islands so just after a first day in Quito to check the historical center with its magnificent churches and for Elisa to get over her long flight, we hopped on a plane to this ecological paradise. I had been debating whether going or not ever since I moved to Ecuador, torn between taking part in the depletion of this fragile ecosystem along with the hundreds of thousands of tourist that travel there each year and the desire to discover this unique place on earth. I figured that living two years in the country without going to Galapagos would’ve been a bit absurd especially considering that I would be treated as a resident with travel discounts. Besides Elisa really wanted to go and helped me make the decision to be yet another tourist there.

The place is a stunning natural wonder with innumerable amounts of bird species and aquatic life, not to mention all the iguanas and giant tortoise that we encounter during excursions. We didn’t stay too long, just 4 nights, so we only had time to visit 4 of the archipelago’s islands (not counting the airport island of Baltra). We stayed the four nights in a hostel in Puerto Ayora on the most developed island, Santa Cruz, with its 25000 inhabitants. It is very tourist oriented with nice bars, restaurants and plenty of souvenir stores. Travelling independently worked out nicely for us thanks to a friend of Elisa who connected us with a local guide. The guy was super helpful and took us on an excursion on Santa Cruz right when we arrived (Bahia Tortugas and Darwin center), wasting no time at all. He didn’t charge us for anything so we only could invite him for dinner and beers, a delicious encocada de wahu. Elisa had booked only one day tour from Spain to Bartolome so our guide helped us get a spot on a day tour to Seymour making sure the boat taking us was good to go. We then booked a tour to Floreana for our last full day with the same agency he took us to. Elisa really wanted to scuba dive as she had recently passed her PADI but we didn’t manage to find a scuba spot to the island she was coveting.

Day tours cost fluctuate from $120 to $75 so visiting Galapagos is certainly not a cheap ordeal but when you get there, money is the last thing on your mind. Each island we visited was another world. Seymour was a land of birds like the blue-footed booby and the magnificent frigatebird. The boat that took us there and to Bartolome, la Española, was very comfy and the crew members cool with a brilliant chef pulling amazing meals out of his tiny kitchen. We snorkelled on each day-tour we did. The Seymour snorkelling experience wasn’t great (no sea lions or turtles), just a bunch of fish (some really funky ones). In Bartolome we swam with the sea lions and in Floreana Elisa had a chance to swim with sea turtles. I missed them due to technical problems with my snorkelling gear that forced me to return to the boat to get a new set. By the time I was back at the spot, the turtles were gone. I still got to see a bunch of marine life like a sting ray and the Galapagos penguins. Floreana has a bunch of giant turtles and interesting stories about the first colons there, mainly German families that ended up killing one another.

As for the local Galapageños, they are mostly descendents of prisoners who were sent there a hundred years back. There are now around 35000 people living in Galapagos with five times as many tourists visiting each year. There is no doubt that the landscape and wildlife has changed a lot since Darwin did his research some 200 years back. Many species of giant turtles have gone extinct because of pirates and habitat loss. The emblematic Lonesome George is the last of kind, hanging out at the Darwin Research Center with three females that he has no interest in. We also learned that the sharks are harder to see these days. The best would be for the local population to relocate to continental Ecuador and conserve the archipelago as a biological research center. Greed however will never allow that to happen.

Elisa and I had planned on going to the jungle next but shortly after popping a malarone pill, she fell ill and feverish. She visited a doctor and started a treatment that helped her recover quickly but we decided it would be more prudent to stay in the Sierra in case symptoms persist. I took her to my Ecuadorian family in Puruhuantag and she absolutely loved them. Edwin took us to the Lagunas de Mojanda via Otavalo the day we arrived to the farm. We had been talking about going there for some time and the visit didn’t disappoint me, we even spotted a condor there. We had an accident on the way out when one of the front wheels got stuck in a hole but under Edwin’s leadership everything was quickly under control and in only 30 minutes we were back on the road.

I then took Elisa to the Cuicocha crater, Cotacachi and the Otavalo market. She did her shopping and got a chance to meet a few of my fellow volunteers on the way. On our last day on the farm Edwin took us to the archaeological site of Cochasqui. The best part of our stay was naturally the time spent with the family, playing with the kids and listening to Edwin’s stories. Elisa fell in love with the family instantly and will probably keep in touch with them.

The end of our journey took us back to Quito were she met my Sicilian friend Mauro who recently moved there. It was nice to be three Europeans dinning in Quito, a refreshing experience for me as I haven’t been to Europe in years. Our last excursion before heading to the airport was the Center of the World monument marking the equatorial line. In fact, it is 200 meters off the mark and modern GPS identified the true line which led to the creation of the Inti Ñan museum where you can do all kinds of experiments to demonstrate that their line is the true equatorial division. I can testify.

Elisa is now back in Madrid and I am back at work with the Awá. It was a good break, I felt completely disconnected from work and my usual daily life. I was delighted to travel with my old friend from Edinburgh and catch up on so many years that have gone by. We are two very different individuals with very different lifestyles but I feel we built a solid friendship based on respect and tolerance. I’ll make sure another 4 years don’t pass before the next time we see each other. I am planning on doing a European tour when I finish my service to visit so many friends and family I haven’t seen or spoken to in so long. Inch Allah…

It certainly isn’t easy to integrate with communities you work with. It is definitely my biggest challenge so far as a volunteer. First I decided to move out of Ibarra to get closer to the Awá territory and aquire a better understanding of their culture and life-style. That was a huge leap and at first I must say I spent many long lonely nights in Lita wondering what to do with myself. Never in my life had I had to adapt to such a different way of living, in the campo. Sure I had a cool volunteer nearby who had already made key contacts in town but my objective was to feel integrated within an Awá community. Baboso was the logical community with which I could creat a special bond. Many of its members also have a house in Lita so I interact with them on a daily basis. Then Baboso is the education center of the Awá territory with two high schools and a college program.

Making friends with the teachers of Baboso, Manuel and Amilcar, was the key. It took time, almost a year, but I was determined not to impose myself. I wanted it to come naturally. Sure I exchanged ideas with them constantly about giving envirnmental education charlas and creating a school garden, but I was so solicited by the FCAE office in other projects that it ony materialized three months back. I started giving environmental education classes, then a bit of english. This week Manuel gave me one full school day with the kids where I gave them a little evaluation on everything we’ve learned so far. For english I gave them a short dialogue they had to repeat in pairs. I had a great time and felt a much closer connection with the kids.

That day I was invited to return to participate in their monthly community meeting by the president and local teachers. I gladly accepted. It is really an honor for me that they invite me in their internal organizational process. I participated a bit about the school garden and the english classes I’m giving mostly. Just being there, sharing this space is very special for me. It was the second community meeting in a row that I participated in and a most definite sign of integration.

In the two offices I work with (FCAE and DEIBNAE) I am fully integrated and respected. They always solicit my assitance in different instances, mostly proposal writing and I gladly cooperate. I appreciate that they respect my will to d more direct community work or get things done from Lita. Overall I truly feel a breakthrough in the relationships that have been growing since I first started working with the Awá. I even got a little emotional one night and wrote a poem about love, inspired by these people that have shared so much with me, opening their heart to me. I normally never do this.

It might just be a sign that I also need a breal from it all. I’ve been fully invested in my work, so much so that I am forgeting other imprtant aspects of life. As of right now I am officially on vacation!!! My first in 7 months. I’m burned out but I’m sure that the Galapagos and a bit of Amazon vibe will fix that. A great friend of mine is landing tomorrow from Madrid and will be travelling with me in this wonderful country. I am truly blessed.

The Awá artisans seem to finally get a breakthrough in their neverending quest for markets. There has been a drought in sales this year, pushing crafts only during fairs and conferences. The store in San Antonio de Ibarra yielded disappointing results with only a couple of pieces sold. Early this month the group got together for a workshop in La Unión community and doña Filomena reported that the morale was low. I felt we really needed to change this momentum and invited her along a one day market research trip to Quito. This time we received good omens as we managed to get a bunch of strategic contacts from the municipality and the luxuary store Olga Fisch loved several of the pieces we brought along making a significant order for October and buying all the pita shigras right on the spot. On the ride back to Ibarra, Filomena received a call from another NGO that ordered another 50 masks, the cherry on the cake. I don’t believe in coincidences, we went to Quito on a mission to bring some good news back to the artisans who have worked hard and are not feeling rewarded. It feels like that NGO felt our presence in Quito that day through these misterious waves of comunication.

The environmental education material is coming together as well. I only have 10 more activities to prepare and have a complete review and editing  to do with the Awá teachers of Baboso. I already handed them a hard copy of the draft so that they can scribble ideas and comments on it and prepare activities of their own using the same format. It has to be fully completed by September as the project funding this is coming to a close. I should be able to facilitate one major workshop with all 53 Awá teachers on how to use this facilitator’s guide in their communities and hopefully get their approval to publish and distribute it to the 22 Awá centers.

The Baboso school garden project has also taken a turn for the better lately as I just got approved a $350 fund to purchase more tools and material to build a new green house closer to the school this time. We have full support from the students ‘parents, the teachers and of course the students themselves who will be responsible to care for it. We are planning on growing tomatoes mostly as there is a profitable market in Lita for the crop and it grows well under green house conditions. They are currently buidling a bridge over the Mira river which will lead to the construction of a road. Cars are to be seen in Baboso as soon as a year time and the community must prepare itself. Will it become a consumer or a producer? We all hope for the latter.

Although work has absorbed most of my time lately I still took time to visit my Ecuadorian family farm in Puruhuantag. I spent three days with them and I had a great time as always. It hasn’t rained at all lately so they haven’t been doing much work with their organic crops but they have 6 new little pigs that were the cleanest ones I’ve ever seen in this country. We had our usual long conversations, goofed around with the kids, ate great food and watched a few flicks. A very relaxing long weekend as the 10th of august marked Ecuador’s 200th anniversary of their independance from Spain.

It is a season of change and transition. The office is going through yet another staff changeup and I fear that it won’t be for the best. The sicilian planification and monitoring man gave his farewell and is moving on from the Federation. It is a huge loss for the team, I consider him as the best element the Federation has had since I started working there. Sure he was a controversial type of guy, speaking his mind out on every occasion and pointing out to the elements that are not fulfilling their jobs. He demanded results and it seems that the people around him did respond well to this tight discipline and work ethics. It is sad to say this but since I’ve been living and working here it is pretty clear that mediocrity is celebrated everywhere. Coming from Europe or the States it is naturally a little shocking at first but most end up accepting it as a cultural trait. Mauro did not and I highly respect him for that. I am not sure how the Awá leadership is going to patch this up. They might even solicit me to fill in some gaps. I will help as much as I can in these difficult times but I must recognize that I am also burned out. I need break very badly.

Usually I’m a pretty laid back person and cope with a lot of silly inconveniences caused by others but lately I’ve allowed myself to release some of of that accumulated frustration on some of my volunteer colleagues. I think I would be much better off if I simply mention things that bother me as they happen rather than take it in until it blows off. Anyways I sooke my mind and although the message was clear it did not come out very smoothly. I lacked tact and diplomacy which resulted in and awkward bitter situation. I realize that I really need to disconnect from my reality, put thing in perspectives which I won’t be able to do for another 20 days. I can’t wait to be on vacation at last.

In addition to my best friend’s departure from the FCAE we also had a goodbye party for a fellow volunteer last night, a guy I lived with for a couple months in Ibarra last summer before moving to Lita. He’s a good buddy and although we had our share of arguments we get along fine. He not being 100% gringo plays in his favour, I can’t lie. A bunch of us came together had a nice Italian dinner before going to a hilarious Michael Jackson tribute concert. I am glad I was there to say goodbye and that we leave on a good note. I’ll probably see him again in LA while visiting my sister some day.

Last weekend we finally wrapped up our ecotourism english classes in Lita with the volunteer in el Cristal. The 8 modules system went well and I feel every student made a lot of progress over the last two months. We gave them certificates of completion which Ecuadorians take very seriously. They keep every one of these certificates no matter how silly some of them are and use them in their quest for jobs. I might start a new course in September with the same group it will mainly depend on my availablity and their level of motivation. The idea is that they start putting this ecotourim project together by making flyers, websites and other promotional material in english to attract tourist our way. I guess I will be pretty busy the next 20 days before my Spanish friend comes to visit. I’ll make sure I fulfill my part and will be anxiously looking at how things turn out in the office.

Here’s Mauro Giuseppe Ciriminna goodbye letter to me:

Estimado Fred

Te escribo para despedirme de la FCAE, ya no hay mucho que decir y lo sabes todo.

Eres una gran persona, un amigo con el cual lo pasé muy bien. Unos de mis mejores panas en Ecuador y, obviamente, un pana para siempre (a pesar de ser gringo, jajaja).

Te respeto mucho como amigo y como profesional. Eres una persona comprometida y quieres ayudar (a pesar de un sueldo ridículo) y por eso te mereces todo mi respeto y estima.

Intenta no hacerte explotar demasiado por la organización, porqué cuando yo me vaya te van a cargar todo a ti.

No sé donde ni cuando pero estoy seguro que nos veremos en otro lado, considerando que los dos queremos seguir trabajando en el desarrollo (o hacer daños jajaja).

Un abrazo mi pana

The best part of working with an indigenous group in Ecuador is to have the priviledge of witnessing what few gringos ever witness. The Awá are particularly not widely reknown not even in the countries they live in, even less so abroad. The gringos who are “interested” in them are mainly looking for their natural resources and the riches of their land. That includes most of the NGOs working with the federation right now. Few of them care about the people, their culture and traditions. If I had stayed in Ibarra I would consider myself just another one of these gringos working in “development”: helping these vulnerable, marginalized (and all these  OVC type buzz words to get out grant money from rich white people that make me sick) population. Living in Lita I got a chance to get closer to the Awá community of Baboso and get to learn first hand their way of life, their social behaviour and a few of their customs.

I visit the community every week to give environmental education classes to the kids and just started a bit of english classes as well. The teacher Manuel asked me to start giving these classes and the kids are really getting into it. The Awá are shy, quiet people and I remember my first class on “habitat” a few months back and they all a bunch of mutes starring at the strange white man who speaks funny. Now they are much more open and active, every single activity I’ve done with them have gone super well. This week was no different, in fact a new staff member of the ministry of the environment’s officfe in Lita came along. I also hooked them up with my buddy volunteer in Cristal as they want to get involved with the local communities and we are good agents to give them work to do. Unfortunately they usually come in and take credit for our work but whatever.

Manuel told me that the community had their monthly meeting the next day and that it would be good for me to come so I did. The students parents were present so I introduced myself formally and explained my work with their kids and managed to get their formal approval to continue. We also talked about the school garden we’d like to revitalize and the community decided to dicsuss it in greater depth in a couple weeks. Later that day I found out that there would be Chutún ceremony at the house of Baboso’s president’s parents an hour up in the mountains. I’ve always wanted to see one as this is one of the most traditional and ancient Awá ritual. Chutún means the devil in awapit. The sick are pocessed and must be cleansed following a three day ritual. I only witnessed the first part where they paint the feet on the sick with achiote and plantain leaves where they the “curandero” also paints animals, trees, animals and houses. There were also a strange collection of small live animals like river crabs, escarabajos, worms, chicken feathers all tied up together. The shaman then killed a chicken by dislocating its neck then letting it loose so that it could twist itself like crazy around the room before the cook took it away. Later they burned romero leaves and blew the smoke over the sick.

We were then served food: boiled camote, yuca, papachina, palmito, eggs that we had to eat to avoid that the evil spirit pocessed our own bodies. To wash this very dry food down we were served guarapo (fermented sugar cane juice) and puntas (very concentrated sugar cane liquor). This opened the way to the dance and party. It is important to be cheerful to scare away the chutún so I danced a little. The problem was that I had to give a bloody english class in Lita the next morning and I was far away from home, deep in the Awá jungle. Around midnight I decided to go. It was so damn dark and I only had my cell phone lamp to help me find my way. The hike back was obviously hell and I made it home at 3 a.m. completely knackered. Every part of my body ached. I still took a shower and the contact with the cold water provoked painful shivers. Needless to say I was pretty sick myself the next day.

I still gave the class, it was by no means a great one but so be it, I was on my own. As soon as I got back home I passed out in my bed for 18 hours straight, popping a pill to get rid of the fever and obviously with diarrea. I’m just starting to feel better. I even got some work done on monday afternoon. All in all it was worth it. I wish I didn’t have this bloody class that spoiled the experience. There was a bathing schedule at 5 in the morning with medicinal plants that I didn’t get to see. Maybe next time.

This week I had the chance to participate in my third Awá general assembly that took place in the community of Pailón in the province of Carchi. It is probably my most significant experience working for the Awá federation of Ecuador as I had tangible results to present and felt I had a meaningful impact without having to mobilize the microphone. There were between 250 and 300 participants including all the Awá leaders from the 22 centers of Ecuador as well as representatives from the three sister Awá organizations from Colombia. The Colombian organization CAMAWARI came along with 50 of its “guardia indigena” all carrying their symbolic wooden stick representing Awá resistance against all the violence they are dealing with on their side of the border. Many national and international organizations were also invited but many did not show up for security concerns. In fact as far as foreigners go we were only one italian, two french,  and one french – american (myself). I feel very fortunate that I was granted a permission to go to Pailón and contribute in the critical organizational process the Awá federation is going through. This border community is reached by hiking three hours from Chical along the San Juan river that seperates the two countries. It is a stunning part of the country and despite all the hype, extremely peaceful.

Everything went according to plan: two rented buses left from San Lorenzo and Lita and took us to Chical where we were we had a quick snack before starting our hike. I walked with a group from the community of Mataje and made it to Pailón in a little less than three hours. My back was killing me as I was overloaded with my tent, sleeping bag and other western comforts. Stuff I ended up not using at all since Silvio, the FCAE social development coordinator who is from there, invited a bunch of us to stay at his parents house. It was luxurious jungle hostel by all Awá means with abundant and immediate clean water to bathe, real beds with sheets and covers and delicious breakfast. I was amazed and never had such a comfortable stay in any Awá community I have visited. We naturally paid our host for the food but it was little compared to the great service they were proving all of us. I lent my tent and sleeping bag to friends of mine from Baboso who made good use of it squeezing three souls in there during the four nights of the assembly. I was glad that they carried it back for me making my hike back to Chical, where the rented buses were waiting for us, a piece of cake.

My only direct intervention was simply introducing myself to the assembly as a Peace Corps volunteer and briefly explaining what projects I have been working on with the FCAE and the DEIBNAE (the Awá education department). I had printed out a copy of the environmental education facilitator’s guide that both Olindo (president of the FCAE) and Pedro (director of the DEIBNAE) presented formally and submitted it for review to the assembly. It circulated around and I got some positive feedback from teachers, students and colleagues from the office. My most significant contribution however was much more subtle. Working with Manuel, teacher of Baboso, I had a chance to share several of concerns with the way things are run at the federation and he used many of my arguments to ask the tough questions to the Awá governmental counsel. The Awá leaders are mostly passive during the bi-yearly work and financial report and stay quiet after all the gargantuous numbers speed in front of their eyes apparently demonstrating transparency from all the money spent on the various projects in operation. The numbers were all rounded up and showed minimal details (a round number for all salaries and for each workshop). Considering that most of the Awá community leaders are illiterate it is quite simple to get by without any questions asked for the FCAE financial department. This time around was no different from the last three financial reports I’ve witnessed. Manuel asked how come these incredible amounts of money dazzling in front of their eyes materialize in such little tangible result. Olindo deviated the question by focusing his response on the health situation and throwing the blame on the health ministry.

As for the education report and the presentation on the new model of educational managment that the Ecuatorian government is pushing I helped as much as I can. Firstly by making the presentations as clear as possible with minimal words and mostly using pictures, table and charts. Unfortunately I think that Pedro who was actually giving the presentation didn’t have a full understaning of what he was trying to explain and most participants were quite confused. During lunch break we put together a new chart to help disipate the confusion and I think it was relatively effective and the proposal the FCAE and DEIBNAE presented was approved by the assembly. I am part of the team that will have to write it for its submission to the ministry of education. As far as any tangible results from the assembly goes there isn’t too much to say. The Awá “Plan de Vida” process was further encouraged, claims to improve the health service within the territory revendicated and the need to tackle the internal conflict with illegal mining activity once again addressed. In terms of leadership two members of the governmental counsel had been formally seperated as a disciplinary measure and two young women were selected to fill these empty seets of the board: a new vice president and organizational strengthening leader.

Overall I felt that my work was more recognized than any time beforeas it was directly or indirectly mentioned of several occasions. My most satsifying experience however was to discover a new Awá community, my tenth since I started working with the FCAE. Pailón is a beautiful community in the midst of a pristine cloud forest. I always get very emotional when I am in an Awá community, they are very special places and I feel blessed every time I walk further into their territory. I should be able to participate in one more assembly before the end of my service hopefully culminating in the presentation of my overall contribution to the Awá people of Ecuador no matter how small it may seem.