The group I came to Ecuador with, the notorious Omnibus 99, has passed its first year of service. Peace Corps organized a little get together to mark this event, known as the “midservice conference”, in the PC office in Quito. It was great to see everybody again, we are all scattered throughout the country and I only get to see a few on a regular basis, the group known as the “north squad”. Naturally the entire group with which I arrived here wasn’t complete as a few had to return home either for health & emotional reasons or simply because they figured out this PC thing was not for them. I see it as natural selection; the ones that stay are the most committed and serious about their work as PC volunteers. I must say I was impressed by all the amazing work all my buddies are doing in field, especially those who came with very limited Spanish and who know not only speak fluently but also have a bit of a local accent going. I was really proud of this gang of gringos going native. I feel like a fraud coming in the country already knowing the language, my efforts to integrate must have been a joke compared to most.
So we were all given 10 minutes to talk about our first year of service. Not enough time to really do justice to all the amazing projects we are all involved in but good enough to give us all an idea where we are at. I prepared a PowerPoint mostly to share pictures of where I live and the work I do with the Awá. I got caught up with time and had to speed through the last slides but I still got a chance to share my frustrations with the miscommunication with the PC office; a point that I also stressed in my work report I just submitted. I was surprised to be the only one to have observations about how the office is being managed; I thought perhaps that I was an isolated case. So many key emails such as the personalized work report format, a request for a needs assessment and details about the midservice presentations never got through to me. That’s quite amazing considering that other, much less important, emails do come through from the same source (ie. they do have my correct email address but continue keeping me out of the loop). I also mentioned the fact that we never received any feedback from our last work report which many of my peers seemed to appreciate. Nevertheless, no explanation of why this happened was provided.
The rest of the conference was filled with different sessions about a variety of topics & issues. A security report was naturally provided informing us that this year the “Tuesdays” are the days when we are most likely to get mugged! We were wondering with other volunteers if they actually take these stats seriously. If so, it explains quite a lot. Tech sessions on group participation, food security, value chain and other ongoing projects that could be of interest to us were given. I thought that the conference was great overall especially getting to see everyone and share experiences. I also got a chance to sell a few Awá crafts that always attract great interest as soon as I display different masks of animals and large wooden armadillo. They are quite stunning I must say, too bad they are so expensive! The Awá fix their price based on time spent on each piece. I let them know repeatedly that most tourists would be turned off by these prices but they insist on keeping them as they are.
Right before leaving for Quito, me and my PCV buddy gave third module of ecotourism English in Lita. We have a steady group of 12 students, most of them quite young. But everyone seems to enjoy the classes, which for me is essential. I am also giving environmental education classes at the school in Baboso thanks to the Awá teacher there who I befriended. He is giving me at least an hour each week with his students so that I can try out one of the activities in the Awá facilitator’s guide I am putting together. They are kind of my guinea pigs but I feel that we are all learning a lot from this experience. Like all Awá, the kids are very timid and were almost mute during the first class but now I feel that they are more relaxed around me as I don’t hesitate to make a fool of myself with strange faces and sounds.
Back in the office I was informed that the women leadership project profile had been approved and that we have until next Thursday to submit the full proposal. I helped put the profile together even though the program coordinator made several changes to the final draft, taking out the entire “strategic alliance” section. I am glad it came through and will be helping out putting the full proposal together. On a sadder note, my great Sicilian friend who has taken on the planning and monitoring piece of the Awá federation is reaching his limits and now tells me everyday that he wants to leave and that he looking for another job. They put a lot of pressure on him in the office and due to his lack of diplomacy he managed to put the entire administration staff against him. He claims that the accountant is running the show and is only looking out for himself. The accountant who has been working there for 4 years certainly has a lot of influence on Awá leaders and decision-makers, further isolating Mauro. I would be sad to see him leave; he is probably the best friend I have here. We have this European connection that bonds us naturally (that said I don’t necessarily get along with the german “volunteer” guy in the office that well). As for the FCAE, it would be thrown into an abysmal fall if he leaves suddenly as he plans, just to give them a lesson. Let’s just hope for the best.
