Veintiocho

Continuing my theme of posting things well after they've happened, I wanted to share some pictures from Carnaval (yes, way back in early March), and some stories from Veintiocho de Agosto, another neighborhood in Durán where Rostro runs an after school progam.

Like most of Latin America, Carnaval (aka the weekend before Ash Wednesday... same idea as Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday minus the tittie beads and booze) is huge in Ecuador, and I think it's safe to say Carnaval is my favorite Ecua-holiday thusfar. I can't speak for the rest of the country, but for 4 days in Durán, the streets turn into a no-holds barred paint/water fight all day every day. It's one big hot sticky dirty wet mess.

The pictures below are from the Sunday of Carnaval weekend, when we went out to Veintiocho to play with some of the kids my roommate Jessie works with at Manos Abiertas.

click here to see my photo album from Veintiocho!

I think I mentioned Veintiocho way back in one of my first blogs, but I can't say enough how special this community is. It's only a couple miles from where I live, but in those couple miles, the paved roads turn to dirt and mud, the cinderblock houses to cane, and other than intermittent electricity, all signs of infrastructure disappear. I took some pictures on the drive out there, and it's still dramatic for me to see having lived here 9 months.

Because my job sites are elsewhere, I don't spend too much time in Veintiocho; but my roommate Jessie is out there working with these kids every day. Rather than retell her stories, I thought I'd just let you read her blog here: Impressions on the Heart. I also copied some more background about Veintiocho de Agosto below, from the Rostro de Cristo website, explaining the history of the community and the dramatic needs they face there. The realities of Veintiocho are easily some of the hardest I've seen this year.

Also, NPR came down to Guayaquil recently to do a couple stories on different "social entrepreneurs taking on world problems"--whatever that means. They focussed on a couple programs down here, one of which, Chicos de la Calle, is the shelter/trade school for street boys that Jessie teaches English at in the mornings. This article (I think you can listen to the actual radio show, too) follows Maribel, a single mom in Veintiocho, and her two sons, Hamilton and Christian, who are students at Chicos. Through her involvement in Veintiocho and at Chicos, Jessie knows the entire family very well and often spends her weekends visiting them in Veintiocho. If you have time to give it a read, it's pretty interesting to get the NPR perspective of life down here. Sadly, Maribel is just one of countless mothers here who struggle daily with the demands of raising a family of 7 alone amidst this poverty I see every day now, but could not begin to imagine 10 months ago.

NPR: Ecuadoran Family Finds Refuge With Salesians

Veintiocho de Agosto

Founded on August 28, 1997, this growing community is based around what used to be an active trash dump. Eleven full trucks each made two trips a day, seven days a week, providing a recycling industry for members of the community brave enough to search for plastics and glass products underneath and within heaps of household waste. Herds of cattle and pigs would feed on the trash and, unsurprisingly, various health problems accompany the ever-present insects. To keep their neighborhood from literally turning into a mountain of trash, the people burned all that is non-recyclable; there are horrendous consequences for general respiratory health. For these and other reasons, many childern living in Veintiocho de Agosto are, on average, three years behind developmentally in terms of normal height and weight for healthy Ecuadorian children.

The 28 community was able to build a two room elementary school ("Escuela Particular Alan Lynch") and medical dispensary in April of 2003 with funds raised by Rostro de Cristo and activists in Durán. What started as a small cane structure with less than 20 students has now grown into a school that can educate 150 children, grades kindergarden through sixth. Whereas three years ago most children in Veintiocho finished going to school after elementary school, the majority of graduates from Escuela Particular Alan Lynch continue on with middle school and high school education. The last year alone has seen numerous improvements structurally, as well as more involvement from parents and local citizens. Brick walls replaced the former tarp and metal clad boundaries of the school, and all classrooms now have cement floors in place of former rock and dirt floors. Many of these long-term projects have happened with the help of former volunteers as well as retreat group participants.

Because of the overwhelming health concerns, people working in Veintiocho have realized that many school children who attend Escuela Particular Alan Lynch are malnourished and not able to perform up to their full potential during the school day. In the summer of 2005, a lunch program began to provide nutritious meals for the children attending school. Everyday, a group of mothers volunteer their time to prepare and cook nutritious lunches for about 150 children. This has in turn created more parental involvement within the school and community.

The people of Veintiocho are in great need of medical and educational aid. Once a week a doctor voluntarily visits the school to check children as well as other members of the community. This service is focused on the Alan Lynch school but is open to all residents. Escuela Particular Alan Lynch also houses the after school program Manos Abiertas, where kids can work on their homework and projects in a safe and spacious environment under the supervision and guidance of Rostro de Cristo and Ecuadorian volunteers.

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?!?