Mis Amigos de los Estados Unidos!

Had my first visitors last weekend! My two good friends Pat and Ken stopped by Durán for a day and a half at the end of their two week adventure in Peru. After some sort of rebel blockade delayed their 8 hour bus ride by another 4 hours (luckily they were able to email me ahead of time so I wasn't waiting too long), I met them at the McDonalds in the Terminal Terrestre (Guayaquil's main bus station) a little after 9pm on Friday 8/27. Our Director let me use the Rostro van to pick them up, and when we got back to Durán (the bus station and airport are both a quick 20 minute drive from our house), my roommates had an awesome meal of rice, lentils, fried plantains, pineapples, water melon, and fried mashed potato balls with cheese in the middle (an Ecuadorian treat... I forget the name haha).

We took our time Saturday morning, walked around the neighborhood, bought some bread, eggs, and veggies for breakfast, hit the cyber (internet cafe) for a bit, and then around noon we stopped by my neighbor Gabriel's to say hi. I hadn't formally met Gabriel yet, but he's been friends with the Rostro volunteers all 16 years we've been in the AJS neighborhood, so I had been meaning to stop by. Gabriel immediately invited us all in and offered us coke and crackers. This happens at almost every house I visit, and I'm still not totally used to it, but no matter how little they have, everyone here always offers us at least a drink and/or snack (if not a whole meal). Most of them know our stomachs can't handle the same food and drink, which is why they'll often offer cola or something prepackaged. It's already awkward accepting a glass of coke knowing how much it costs and how little they have, but on top of that, the Ecuadorians rarely eat or drink any of the food they offer their guests. It is what it is, and they wouldn't have it any other way, but it's definitely an awkward and kind of guilty feeling sitting in these humble homes eating crackers and drinking coke when our hosts aren't having any for themselves.

Gabriel is a character though, and we were there for about an hour and a half just talking about life and taking in his pearls of wisdom--everything from mosquitos and the weather to the changes in Durán over the past 30 years to internet dating. He's just one of those awesome old guys who loves to drop knowledge on young whippersnappers. Especially gringos. Here's a picture of everyone in Gabriel's living room with his wife Teresa.

Gabriel, Pat, Teresa, me, Tasha, & Ken

Gabriel makes a living by doing leather work, so he also showed us around his workshop, where he makes belts, keychains, leather journals, etc (we often take retreat groups by his place to meet him and they like to buy souveniers to take home to the states). He let me try my hand at some engravings... I was terrible.

leather working with Gabriel... sleeves optional in the workshop

After Gabriel's, we stopped back home for a few minutes, then had to run out again to a birthday party at the Palma's. Javier and Nancy Palma have three daughters, Marta, Maria, and Rosita, and their family is another one that has been friends with Rostro volunteers for many years. I know Maria and Rosita from Valdevia, and Saturday was Rosita's 7th birthday. I had planned on stopping by the party for an hour or so then taking Pat and Ken to see Arbolito (the other neighborhood where Rostro volunteers live and work), but little miss Rosita had different plans. No more than 10 minutes after we got there, Rosita and her 7 year old girlfriends dragged all the gringos into the center of the room to dance. They let us take a couple breaks for food and cake, but we pretty much danced for 2 hours straight. There were several sing-along dance songs in Spanish that we learned, but by far their favorite song was Waka Waka by Shakira. We probably played it at least 6 times, and by the end of the party even I knew the choreograhed dance moves. Oh, and it was well into the 90s all afternoon, so I was DRIPPING with sweat the entrire time. It was great though, and I'm glad I got to share that experience with Pat and Ken. We also had some DELICIOUS chicken, rice, and potato salad that Nancy made, washed it down with some BIG COLA (aka the pride of Ecuador... it's officially my favorite drink here), and of course a birthday cake.

Here's a few pics Ken took at the party:

me and the birthday girl!

BAILAMOS!!

Rosita and the gringos!

We finally got out of there around 4:30, then we had to stop by Freddy's to play some checkers. Freddy is another neighbor, and he is the KING of Ecuadorian rules checkers. I like to think I'm good at games of skill, but Freddy basically pantsed me and stole my lunch money. I'm new to Ecuadorian rules though, so I think with some practice I can probably take him.

That was a long post, so I'll keep my daily dose of Ecuadorian reality short and sweet. My name is Mark Perlite, and I am addicted to Big Cola. I can't describe how good this stuff is. I've had it for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack time, late night, and it's delicious any time of day with any meal. I've always been a coke man, but I think BC wins this contest hands down, pants off.

After School Programs

So in addition to the work sites I described in my last entry, Rostro volunteers run three after school programs (ASPs) Monday - Friday afternoons. These were started by Rostro volunteers a few years ago as a more organized way of working with the community. Almost 40% of the population is under the age of 18, and since school is only half the day, there are always kids everywhere. The after school programs provide a safe space for the neighborhood kids (with such a young population, gangs are very popular and dangerous here) to have fun, get homework help, and learn positive values such as respect and responsibility.

The basic structure of all three ASPs is the same--homework help from 2:30 - 3:10, roll call, an educational activity from 3:15 - 4pm (broken up by age groups), then recreo (free time) from 4 - 4:45pm. At 4:45 we call tiempo (time), and everyone sits down for a charla (chat) during which we talk about the theme of the week (i.e. respect, responsibility, justice, citizenship, etc.). After the charla, we end with a prayer, and each kid (as long as they behaved that day) gets a bread roll, a banana, and a vitamin.

Two of the ASPs are in the communities we live in--Valdevia in the AJS neighborhood and Semillas in the Arbolito neighborhood. Volunteers typically work at the after school programs in the communities they live in; so Beth and Tasha will be running the Valdevia program, and Christina, Jon, and Kipp, will be running Semillas. Caitlin and I will also help at Semillas and Valdevia, but since Nuevo Mundo is an afternoon school, we can only help during holidays and semester breaks.

The third program, Manos Abiertas, is located in a newer invasion community called Veintiocho de Agosto. I spent a couple of days in Veintiocho during those first two weeks of in country orientation, and it is by far the neediest community I've seen down here. In a hot, desolate area outside of Guayaquil, Veintiocho is a landfill that people started migrating to from rural Ecuador a few years ago to find work in Guayaquil. Now buses run out here and there is a school and some stores, but there are no paved roads, and the houses are all simple 1 - 2 bedroom buildings made from cane (the cheapest building material you can get here--it's essentially bamboo wood).

The only downside to working at Mundo is not getting to do an after school program every day. I would have loved to have gotten to work at Manos. My housemate Jessie works there with Tierney and Brendan, and almost every day she comes home with heartbreaking stories. Kids here are visibly malnurished, and many of them can't go to school, so they really NEED the Manos program. The Semillas and Valdevia kids aren't much better off, but most of them at least go to school and get fed every day.

It's tough to compare the different programs and the different neighborhoods, but Veintiocho tears at my heart moreso than anything else I've seen here. I don't know... after living in AJS the past month, I've almost gotten so used to the poverty here that it doesn't really faze me anymore. In comparison to Veintiocho, the people here have more, but it's not easy living by any means. It's just the way it is, and although it's a struggle every day, our friends and neighbors in AJS make the most of it and live very happy lives. As great as it feels to share in the simple happiness people enjoy here, the good times and the hospitality almost mask the injustices and constant struggles these people face. Again, it's tough to compare because I don't live in Veintiocho, but in the time I have spent out there, I don't think I could ever get used to that kind of poverty--no matter how happy and hospitable people are there.

Okay, I don't want to end on a downer, so here's some more Ecuadorian realness. To recap thusfar, dogs have balls, don't drink the water, and yes, third world countries do have strip malls, track homes, SUV's, coffee shops, and all the joys of the 'burbs. Along the same lines, American pro wrestling is HUGE here with the Ecuadorian boys. My 11 year old neighbor, Bryan, fooled me into going to the cyber (internet cafe) last weekend to play WWE Smackdown on the Playstation. Owning a Playstation would be way too expensive for anyone here, but most of the cybers have TV's set up with Playstations that you can play for 50 cents an hour. Bryan told me he needed help with a science project, so we went to the cyber, spent 5 minutes printing some article on volcanos, and then he convinced me to play Smackdown for an hour. It just so happens I went through a little WWF phase of my own back in the late 90's, so I didn't complain too much. Whatcha gonna do?!?

so what are you actually DOING down there??

#1 question I got before leaving... oh cool, you're moving to Ecuador for a year... what are you going to DO?? Kind of a tough question to answer since one of the primary missions of the program I'm volunteering with, Rostro de Cristo, is to be with the Ecuadorian people and not to do things for them. When I was looking at different volunteer programs last year, this was one of the aspects of the Rostro de Cristo program that I was really attracted to. There are a lot of great programs out there that provide amazing services to developing countries, but when the focus is on doing something for a community, it can be more difficult to really know the people and understand their struggles. Instead of centering the program around the services we provide to the Ecuadorian people, Rostro focuses on being with the Ecuadorians--living and working side by side in their communities. We are guests in their country, and no matter how many answers we think we have, North American solutions to South American problems are not always the best ideas. So Rostro's mission is to live and work with the Ecuadorian people--living simply in their communities, really getting to know the people on a personal level and experiencing their struggles firsthand.

That being said, we can't just hang out and BE for an entire year. So Rostro gets us down here and sets us up with a place to live (we have 16 volunteers this year living in 3 distinct communities), then works with local non-profits to set volunteers up with work placements for the year. Most volunteers have two placements--a morning placement with a partner Ecuadorian non-profit, and an afternoon placement with one of the 3 after school programs that Rostro runs. We spent our first week and a half here visiting each of the placements and after school programs, then at the end of the 2nd week here, we spent a whole day hashing out who would be best fit at each placement. It was a really interesting process because we had to consider more than what felt best for us; we also had to think about what was best for all the volunteer community as a whole.

Most of our placements only need 2 volunteers, so there had to be some compromise in who gets what placement. For the most part, though, everyone this year got placements that they're excited about. I ended up getting my first choice, a school called Nuevo Mundo, so I'll tell you a little bit about that, then I'll talk a little bit about some of the other placements we have volunteers at.

Nuevo Mundo! I´m really excited about working here. There's a great description of the school on the Rostro website, so I encourage you to read that and check out the school's English website. Basically, Nuevo Mundo provides completely free K - 9 education to students from some of the poorest neighborhoods in Durán/Guayaquil. They're able to do this by running a private K - 12 school in the mornings for the wealthier children of Guayaquil, then using the same facilities to provide free education to the kids who can't afford it in the afternoon. Essentially, the tuition the morning school collects subsidizes the afternoon school. Not surpisingly, a free education at one of the best private schools in the country is very popular, so students must apply to the afternoon school, demonstrating both need and merit.

Just this year, Nuevo Mundo started offering scholarships to the top 10 students graduating from the 9th grade afternoon school program (high school here is only 3 years--10th - 12th grade) to finish up 10th - 12th grade with the morning school IB (International Baccalaureate) program. Getting into the morning IB program essentially guarantees that these kids will make it to college, often with scholarships to universities in the United States and Europe. Even though not all the 9th graders get into the IB program, most of them end up going on to other high schools and getting into college, thanks to the education they received at Nuevo Mundo. I've just been shadowing classes and working on lesson plans up until now (the academic year here is from April - January, and the students just got back from a 2 week break between the 1st and 2nd semesters), but I start teaching this Monday, so I'll let you know how it goes! I'm starting to get a little nervous since I've never taught before, but I'm more excited than anything because of how inspiring the school's mission is. More to come this year!

Each of the placements is inspiring in it's own way, and I honestly would have been happy at any of them. Here's a little more info about a couple of the other sites I looked at and the volunteers who will be working there this year. I've also provided links to the Rostro website which has great descriptions of all the program (if you haven't noticed, I like to add hyperlinks... often I'll reference wikipedia or another site with more info, but sometimes I just throw something random in there).

Chicos de la Calle - This is an amazing program run by the Salesians that offers Ecuadorian boys who live and/or work on the streets (chicos de la calle literaly translates to "boys of the street," or "street boys") shelter, food, education, and job training. Where Nuevo Mundo works with the poorest kids from Durán & Guayaquil who have the most potential academically, Chicos de la Calle works with kids on the comletely other end of the spectrum, many of whom have no families or grew up in abusive homes, have been involved in gangs, have little to no formal education, and would be falling through the cracks of society if they weren't in the Chicos program. Two of the girls I'll be living with in the Antonio Jose de Sucre (AJS) house, Beth (from Baltimore via Villanova) and Jessie (from New Jersey via DePaul) will be working here, formally as English teachers and social workers, and informally as friends and positive role models for these kids.

Damien House - Named after Father Damien, the Belgian priest who spent 16 years living with and caring for patients with Hansen's disease (formerly known as leprosy), Damien House has 4 simple goals that really sum up it's mission: 1) To provide complete medical care for patients of Hansen’s Disease, 2) To help patients live a life of dignity and love, no matter what their situation may be, 3) To help patients return to living full lives, and 4) To provide public education, to dispel the myths regarding leprosy, to allow earlier treatment and minimize complications. Damien house was founded by Sr. Annie, a complete firecracker from Brooklyn who has been living and working with Ecuadorians suffering with Hanson's disease since the late 1980's. Sr. Annie pours her heart and soul into Damien House every day, and talking to the patients (many have been there over 20 or 30 years and are in their 80's and 90's) about how much Damien House has done for them is really inspiring. Two volunteers living in the Arbolito house, Jon (Boston College) and Brendan (Scranton), both from the Scranton, Pennsylvania area, will be working at Damien House this year, spending time with patients and helping Sr. Annie with everything from the website and brochures to wound care in the hospital.

Here's a link to pictures of the rest of the volunteers. I live in the Antonio Jose de Sucre neighborhood (AJS) with Celso, Jessie, Beth, and Tasha. Six other volunteers, Caitlin, Jon, Brendan, Tierney, Christina, and Kipp live about a mile and a half away in the Arbolito community. As I mentioned above, Jessie and Beth are working at Chicos, and Jon and Brendan are working at Damien. Celso (originally from the Dominican Republic, via Boston College), Caitlin (from the Boston area and also went to Boston College), and I will be teaching English to 7th, 8th, and 9th graders at Nuevo Mundo. Tasha (Long Island via Villanova) and Tierney (New Jersey via McGill) are teaching English and tutoring at a school for working kids; and Christina (Boston area via Villanova) is working at a local parish teaching English to kids and helping out part time at the health clinic and soup kitchen. Kipp (Seattle via Seattle U) is in charge of coordinating the 25 retreat groups from the States we host throughout the year (our first retreat group is from Santa Clara and they just got in last night!). In the Monte Sinai community, Jeff (Jersey via St. John's) and Jenn (Fairfield) are doing similar work at other Chicos de la Calle sites, Aaron (Wisconsin via Notre Dame) and Becky (South Dakota via Creighton) are doing medical work at free health clinics, and Marita (Minnesota via St. Benedicts) is teaching primary education.

Daily dose of Ecuadorian reality... SUBURBS! My archnemesis from the good old US of A followed me down here... As I mentioned above, the Nuevo Mundo afternoon school functions by operating an expensive private school in the mornings. Because of that, the school is located in one of the nicest areas of Guayaquil, the Puntilla. If it wasn't for all the people speaking Spanish, you'd think this little penninsula between downtown Guayaquil (left of the river on the map) and Durán (right of the river) was in the middle of Orange County. There are gated communities, SUV's, malls, and of course, trendy coffee shops. 3rd world to 1st world in a 20 minute bus ride.

orientation, Orientation, and MORE ORIENTATION

After a NyQuil induced red-eye from San Francisco, I arrived in Boston the morning of Monday, July 19th. The program I'm volunteering with, Rostro de Cristo, partners with JVC International every year for a two week domestic orientation at Boston College before volunteers leave the country. So in addition to the 15 other volunteers I'll be with in Ecuador this year, I got to meet 33 JVC volunteers who will be living and working for 2 years in Peru, Belize, Tanzania, Micronesia, Nicaragua, and Chile. Leaving home and saying goodbyes was pretty heavy emotionally, so it was really comforting to meet a bunch of other people all going through the same thing. It was also nice to still be in the US for a couple weeks before completely leaving the country for a year--I think it made the transition from home to Ecuador a lot easier. Orientation was packed full of useful information--everything from health and safety in developing countries to workshops on teaching (which most of us will do at least in some capacity), to living in commuity (both JVC and Rostro de Cristo emphasize the importance of living in a commuity of fellow volunteers and supporting each other throughout the year) to workshops on social justice and spirituality.

We left for Ecuador the morning of Sunday, August 1st. After a 4 hour flight from Boston to Miami, a 5 hour layover in Miami, a 3 hour flight from Miami to Guayaquil, and over an hour in customs, we didn't get to bed until almost 2am on our first night in Ecuador. With only 5 days of overlap with last year's volunteers (Rostro brings in a completely new group of volunteers to Durán each year), we were up at 8am the next day, Monday, August 2nd to start our in country orientation. The first couple weeks here FLEW by, and I'm still trying to prcess it all, but here are a few highlights and first impressions of life Ecuador:

• surprise, surprise... it's HOT! Most days are in the high 80s this time of year, with nights in the 70s. Coming from San Francisco, this is at least 20 degrees warmer than what I'm used to. The funny thing is this is the coldest time of year in Ecuador, so all the Ecuadorians think it's freezing out. It will be in the low 70's at night and I'll be wearing shorts, sandals, and a t-shirt, and our Ecuadorian friends are wearing long pants and heavy jackets. Apparently the rainy season from late January - early May is the hottest time of year, when it's raining, humid, and temperatures average in the 100s every day. So I guess compared to THAT it's cold right now...

• there are animals EVERYWHERE--dogs, cats, chickens, and roosters are common pets, and some people have guinea pigs and/or ducks. There are also stray dogs and cats all over the place, and as I mentioned in my first blog they are FERTILE. Geckos frequently make it in the house, but they help take care of the mosquitos so we let them be. We haven't found any mice in our house, but the volunteers in the Arbolito house have already caught 4 over there. The dogs, cats, and roosters make noise at all hours of the day/night (I thought roosters only crowed at dawn, but aparently they like to cock-a-doodle-do ALL NIGHT LONG). This was pretty annoying at first, but I guess I'm used to it now because I don't really use my ear plugs anymore. Oh and last week there was a bull walking down the middle of the main road by my house. Completely alone, casually strolling down the road. No aparent owner, and I was the only one who thought anything of it because everyone else--cars, buses, bikes, people--just drove/walked around it like it was no big deal.

• They speak Spanish here! Weird, huh?? This is probably going to be the toughest part of my transition since I haven't taken a Spanish class in 10 years. The more I practice, though, the more it comes back to me. In addition to conversations with neighbors (which are pretty simple at this point--I can usually understand at least half of what they say), I'm trying to do at least 15 minutes a day of vocab or grammar practice on my own. Luckily there's a few volunteers with really good Spanish (including my housemate Celso who's a native speaker from the Dominican Republic!), and they've been great about helping when I don't understand things.

mmmmmmm!

Lots more differences--and similarities--with the US, but I don't want to write a book here. I'll end with one more quick dose of Ecuadorian reality: DON'T DRINK THE WATER! We don't have plumbing in Durán (aparently they put pipes in a few years ago, but they haven't started using them), so water trucks come around every few days to fill up our cistern. We use this water for showers, sinks, and toilets, NOT drinking. We get separate deliveries of drinking water (think Alhambra jugs), which we use for drinking, cooking, brushing our teeth, etc. I haven't gotten any yet, but apparently parasites are pretty common. It could come from eating food at a neighbor's place or a restaurant that cooks with the cistern water, or even just from the little bit of water that inevitably gets in your mouth when you shower. Nothing yet, but I'm keeping a close eye on my bowels, so I will keep you posted!