Thank you

Over the past month or so, thanks to all of your extremely generous donations, we were able to raise $5,170 for Rostro de Cristo and Nuevo Mundo!!! Small change to some, but I promise that every single dollar you gave will make a daily impact in Ecuador.

I've mentioned Rostro's retreat program in my blog where it all began; but the programs that really feel the impact of your donations are the three after school programs Rostro runs in Durán--Manos Abiertas, Semillas de Mostaza, and Valdivia. The retreat program pays for itself (through fees Rostro charges the schools), and the surplus from the retreat program goes toward covering most of the US overhead. So that means that 91 cents of every dollar you gave goes straight to Ecuador and running the day to day work of Manos, Semilla, and Valdivia.

Every day, all three after school programs provide pan, guineos, vitaminas y agua (bread, bananas, vitamins and clean water) to anywhere from 100 - 200 kids aged 5 - 15. The vitamins get donated, pan costs 5 - 10 cents/roll, agua is $1.50 per 5 gallon jug, and guineos are $3.50 per crate of 150 or so bananas. So if you donated $15, you paid for enough bread, clean water, and bananas for 30 - 50 kids at Valdivia for a week.

I've blogged about the ASP's a couple of times--I gave some background on all three when I first got down there, posted some pictures from my summer vacation working at Valdivia, and mentioned Manos Abiertas when I spent some time in Ventiocho de Agosto. Unlike Mundo, Chicos, Santiago, Damien, and the other partner organizations that volunteers work at, all of our ASP's were founded by and continue to be run completely by Rostro volunteers and Rostro's Ecuadorian staff.

First with Valdivia in 2000, then Semillas in 2001, and Manos in 2005, each of these programs was started by my predecessors who saw needs in their communities and took actions to make a change. Kids who live in a one bedroom house with their parents and five siblings--Valdivia gives them a peaceful place to do their homework. Kids whose education is rarely more than copying notes from a blackboard during class, then recopying them in their notebooks for homework--Semillas teaches them to think critically. Mothers who wake up before dawn to ready their oldest kids for school, then take care of the youngest kids all day--Manos gives those mothers a couple hours to themselves every afternoon.

A little bit of babysitting, a little bit of education, a little bit of needed nutrition, and a whole lot of FUN; all of the after school programs reach out to those essential needs of families in Durán and show them that we care. All the parents of these kids know that there are hundreds of North Americans--whom they probably will never meet--who give generously to ensure that their kids get that little extra help they need.

All these faces, all the children in these pictures--these are the people I think about every day now that I'm home. These are my friends whom you are now connected to through your generosity. These are the people I think of when I find myself on the verge of tears, alone on an airplane, trying to make sense of it all.

I wish I could say your donations were going to change the fate of these kids. I wish I could say that $5,170 can change the cycle of poverty and guarantee a better life for my friends in Durán. But these issues are systematic--deep seeded in history, politics, imperialism, oppression, unjust economics--they go so much deeper than three little after school programs can ever hope to solve. What I can tell you, though, is that these after school programs bring hope to their communities every day. A hope that comes with knowing that there are people in the United States, who may not have perfect lives themselves, but still care enough to help kids in Durán who they've never met. A hope that healthy, educated kids who learn to think critically can someday break that cycle themselves and create lasting change.

And for that hope, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

where it all began

As I mentioned in my appeal, I'm raising money for the two foundations I worked with last year in Ecuador-- la Fundación Rostro de Cristo y la Fundación Nuevo Mundo. So far, you've heard a lot about Nuevo Mundo--from my first few weeks teaching there over a year ago, to witnessing the 14 seniors I taught graduate last January, to Pat McTeague's talk with visiting retreat groups. Today I'd like to tell you a little more about Rostro de Cristo, specifically the retreat program we run with high schools, colleges, and parish groups from the States.


Rostro de Cristo was founded in 1988 by Fr. Jim Ronan, a parish priest from the Boston area. Fr. Jim joined the St. James Society, which meant volunteering to serve as a priest for 5 years in Peru, Bolivia, or Ecuador. Fr. Jim was assigned to a parish in the oldest part of Durán, which was beginning to see a huge influx (or invasion) of Ecuadorians moving from the countryside to Durán, where they could squat or buy cheap land and work in the big city--Guayaquil. Durán quickly balooned to a city of over 500,000 people, most living in cane houses built over the swamps of the Guayas River. With such sprawling poverty unlike anything in the States, Fr. Jim began inviting high schools, college, and parish groups down to Ecuador to see Durán for themselves and meet some of the people who live in this reality every day.

Fr. Jim with Pat McTeague and Sonya Rendón, founders of Nuevo Mundo
outside the newest Rostro de Cristo house in Mount Sinai, Guayaquil

Before Fr. Jim's 5 years were up, he began recruiting volunteers to live in Durán and help continue the program--to receive the retreat groups, show them around, keep them safe, translate, and introduce them to their friends and neighbors in Durán. Over the years, the program grew, working with partner organizations like Nuevo Mundo to build volunteer and retreat houses in the Antonio Jose de Sucre neighborhood in 1994; the Arbolito neighborhood in 2003; and the newest invasion community, Mt. Sinai in western Guayaquil, in 2010. From one volunteer living with Fr. Jim to now sixteen volunteers living in three different communities in Duran and Guayaquil.

visiting Damien House with Cabrini College

The retreat program now hosts 26 groups a year--mainly Catholic high schools and colleges who stay anywhere from 6 - 12 days. One volunteer is responsible for leading each retreat, so with sixteen volunteers, most volunteers lead about two groups per year. The primary function of the retreat program is education--to expose and educate North Americans on the realities of the developing world, to meet and get to know real people who live these realities, and to witness firsthand some of the work being done by Ecuadorian partner foundations to change these realities.


Before a group even gets to Ecuador, Rostro provides them with extensive background information on Ecuador and the developing world; so the first day in country, retreatants dive right into neighbor visits. Volunteers and retreatants live in houses in the hearts of these developing communities, so we often literally walk just next door to talk to neighbors. Most neighbors have known the Rostro community for years, and are more than happy to share their homes for an hour or two with retreat groups.

visiting friends with my Dad

These conversations can be anywhere from terribly uncomfortable (imagine a dozen gringos crammed in a one bedroom cane house when it's 100 degrees out trying to make conversation with Ecuadorians through a translator while the pet dogs, cats, ducks, chickens, rabbits, and geese are all making noise in the back of the house); to hilarious (some of the neighbors love to push the retreatants for all the juicy details on their boyfriends, girlfriends, or "amigos especiales"); to heartbreaking (when a neighbor opens up about deaths that didn't need to happen because healthcare is non-existent; or husbands, sons, sisters, brothers they haven't seen in years because they work three jobs and live illegally in the States or Europe).


Whether it's a lighthearted chat or a visit that leaves everyone in tears, what retreatants most often realize is how close we really are to people who on the surface would seem so very different. Through the language barriers, economic barriers, geographic barriers, we all laugh, we all cry, we all love.

sharing a birthday with neighbors

And as simple as that may sound, that is an integral part of the retreat program. Compared with other 3rd world "service trips," retreat groups don't actually do any work in Ecuador; they don't build houses, paint buildings, or give handouts. Rather, retreatants come to Ecuador to be with the Ecuadorian people, to listen to them, to learn from them, to share their time with them. Instead of leaving with a sense of accomplishment--"I built a house"--retreatants leave with relationships, memories of the people they took the time to be with. The hope being that that memory, that person you connected with will be a constant reminder of not only how much we have, but moreso how much we owe to those who don't.


And so, again, I ask for your help. Rostro has very little overhead in the States--from every dollar you give to Rostro, 91 cents goes straight to Ecuador, ensuring that the retreat program, the volunteer program, and our partner organizations in Ecuador can continue to do work where it is needed the most.


Below is a link to Rostro de Cristo's giving page, where you can donate with a credit card, debit card, or PayPal. Since Nuevo Mundo doesn't have a US 501(c)3 (it's an Ecuadorian Foundation with no US presence), Rostro has agreed to receive all donations, then pass on half to Nuevo Mundo. All donations are fully tax deductible.

http://www.rostrodecristo.org/give/index.html

On the "Review Your Donation Screen" (after you enter your card info or sign into PayPal), please enter "Mark Perlite" in the "Add special instructions to the seller" field so Rostro can tell me how much we raise at the end of the month.

Or, if you would prefer to make your donation via mail please send a check (with "Mark Perlite" written in the memo) made payable to:

Rostro de Cristo

P.O. Box 920433

Needham, MA 02492

As I mentioned before, my goal for this month is to raise $5,000: $2,500 for Rostro de Cristo and $2,500 for Nuevo Mundo. A lofty goal, but I email these blogs out to about 100 people, and at $50/person, I think that should get us there (someone check my math, I'm terrible with numbers). Obviously not everyone can give $50, but hopefully some people give more, some people give less, and we can get to that $5,000 goal. If you could at least give $10, it would mean a lot to me--not to mention all the Ecuadorians each of these incredible foundations serve.


Thanks again!

Mark




another birthday with neighbors... MY birthday!
(and Jessie and Henry, too)



My Appeal

Today I am asking my family and friends to help support the two foundations that will forever be a part of my life: Fundación Rostro de Cristo and Fundación Nuevo Mundo.

Before we left for Ecuador last year, each volunteer was asked to raise $2,500 to help Rostro de Cristo cover the costs of our programs--food and stipends for volunteers; salaries for our guards and program staff; and, most importantly, daily bread, bananas, and water for the kids at our three After School Programs. I didn't ask for money back then a) because I was already planning a fundraiser for St. Anthony's, and b) I hadn't yet been to Ecuador, so I couldn't really tell you from personal experience what I was raising money for. Sure I knew Rostro was a great foundation, but I felt weird asking people for money when it wasn't even real for me yet.

So, I paid the $2,500 out of my savings, and told myself that after this year, if this is something worth my family and friends' money, then I would ask them for help. And here we are. You've been with me all year. You've seen my pictures. You've read my blogs. I've caught up with a lot of you personally these last two months. I would not be writing you right now if this did not mean something very very special to me.

Rostro de Cristo and Nuevo Mundo are like any other non-profit these days--they badly need money to stay open every day. The seniors I taught last fall were the last seniors to graduate from Nuevo Mundo because the foundation could no longer financially support a full high school--now the school only runs through the 9th grade.

In the past I've held fundraisers--concerts, raffles, t-shirt sales--to support the causes close to my heart. From 2007 - 2010 I worked with dozens of different friends to hold events that raised over $15,000 for St. Anthony's and Doctors Without Borders (after the Haitian Earthquake). Today, though, instead of appealing to your love of raffle prizes, sweet t-shirts, live rock 'n roll, and cheap drinks, I want to appeal to your heart. Yeah, I know that sounds a little corny--and don't worry, I'm not done partying for a good cause--but this time, I just want to focus on the act of giving--nothing in return, just knowing that your small sacrifice will make a huge difference in the lives of my new friends, my new family, in Ecuador.

So I come to you, my friends, my family, and ask you to help support something very personal, very important to me. This month we celebrate Thanksgiving (believe it or not, they know about it in Ecuador too, and call it Acción de Gracias), and it's in this spirit of gratitude that I ask for your help. I will forever be thankful for the experiences these two foundations gave me this past year--I could never repay them for the impact they have had on my life, but I'd like to try.

My goal for this month is to raise $5,000: $2,500 for Rostro de Cristo and $2,500 for Nuevo Mundo. A lofty goal, but I email these blogs out to about 100 people, and at $50/person, I think that should get us there (someone check my math, I'm terrible with numbers). Obviously not everyone can give $50, but hopefully some people give more, some people give less, and we can get to that $5,000 goal. If you could at least give $10, it would mean a lot to me--not to mention all the Ecuadorians each of these incredible foundations serve.

Below is a link to Rostro de Cristo's giving page, where you can donate with a credit card, debit card, or PayPal. Since Nuevo Mundo doesn't have a US 501(c)3 (it's an Ecuadorian Foundation with no US presence), Rostro has agreed to receive all donations, then pass on half to Nuevo Mundo. All donations are fully tax deductible.

http://www.rostrodecristo.org/give/index.html

On the "Review Your Donation Screen" (after you enter your card info or sign into PayPal), please enter "Mark Perlite" in the "Add special instructions to the seller" field so Rostro can tell me how much we raise at the end of the month.

Or, if you would prefer to make your donation via mail please send a check (with "Mark Perlite" written in the memo) made payable to:

Rostro de Cristo

P.O. Box 920433

Needham, MA 02492

Thanks!

Mark

What's Next?

Alright, I know I'm back in the States and Rostro no longer lists me as a current volunteer, but my ass is still unemployed, so I'm gonna keep writing. Deal with it. Through all this transition time, one thing I keep coming back to is this little thing we call the "What's Next?" talk. I'm sure I've mentioned this in previous posts, but in addition to our works sites, a big responsibility of being a Rostro de Cristo volunteer is hosting the 26 high school and college retreat groups who come down every year from the States. The retreats usually last anywhere from 7-10 days, and on the last day, we give this talk/guided reflection we call "What's Next?"

Now that I'm back, I've been doing a lot of the same kind of reflecting on my year in Ecuador, and what I'm going to do with that going forward. One thing I keep coming back to--one of the most powerful parts of the retreats, in my opinion--is taking the retreatants to Nuevo Mundo to meet Patricia McTeague. Pat first came to Ecuador as a nun in the late 60s, and she saw education as the tool to empower Ecuadorians to lift themselves out of poverty. In the early 80s, after a whole lot of "now's not the time" answers from the church/nunnery, Pat quit the sisterhood, partnered up with Sonya Rendón, and with $4,000 started the Fundación Nuevo Mundo in Sonya's parents' house. Today, the morning school offers the best education money can buy to Guayaquil's elite, all while subsidizing the education of hundreds (thousands over the past 30 years) of kids from the poorest areas of Guayaquil.

Seeing the impact this school has had on countless families, students, alumni, etc. is enough to inspire anyone, but talking to the founder herself can literally be a life changing experience. In not so many words, Pat is a bad ass bitch, and she does not pussyfoot around what she expects out of people. Her favorite statistic to throw at retreatants (most of whom come from expensive private Catholic high schools and universities) is that only 1% of the world's population gets a college education. Pat asks each student individually "What are you studying?" "What do you want to do when you graduate?" and "How are you going to change the world?" Heavy shit. Coming from someone who actually is changing the world, these questions carry weight.

Being in this 1% is a gift, a privilege--without a doubt--but for Pat, it's so much more than something to be thankful for. It's a goddamn obligation to use that gift, that privilege, that power to do what that other 99% can't do to make the world a better place. 99% of the world--maybe more--will never have the opportunities we have. That is the status quo--the nature of the unjust world we live in. Being in that 1%, though, we have the opportunity, the power to speak and act for those who can't. To work for a more just society, where maybe one day 2% or--God forbid--3% can get a college education.

And then Pat gets all serious and tells them something like "I'm old. I'll be long gone before you start doing something with your life. But I know I'm going to heaven. So when you get there, and you didn't do anything to make the world a better place, and you say 'I didn't know what I was supposed to do,' I'll be there, and I'll tell you. Yes you did. On this day in 2011, in Ecuador, the crazy bitch with the white hair told you what you had to do."

I've heard Pat bring down the wrath of God on at least 1/2 a dozen retreat groups, and every time I get a little lump in my throat when she gets to the "I'm telling you today what you have to do" part. You don't have to be Catholic or even believe in heaven and hell to get the point. We are that 1% who have the education, who have the power. Whether it feels like we can make a change or not, the fact is we can--if we choose to. Pat listened to her heart and did what she knew was right--not what the nuns or everyone else expected of her.

So, just as the retreatants reflect on their 7-10 days in Ecuador, here I am reflecting on my 365 days. Thinking about what Pat McTeague said--what am I gonna do to change the world? Thinking about working at Nuevo Mundo--the kids I taught who work way harder than I ever did, but don't have anywhere near the number of opportunities that I had. Thinking about the struggles of poverty--abusive husbands/fathers, teenage moms, non-existent healthcare, kids who can't go to school because they have to work, and kids who can go to school but are in a classroom with eighty other kids. But mostly I'm thinking about all the friends I made--the people who opened their homes, opened their lives to me this year. Shared their joys, struggles, laughter, and tears with me. Faces I will never forget. Thinking about going back to visit these friends, and what I'm going to have to say to them. What did I learn from this year I spent with them, and what am I going to do about it?

Don't worry, I don't have any answers yet. Not even close. Right now I'm just trying to get settled back in San Francisco (ask any of my former students, and they'll tell you where the best city in the world is). But these questions aren't going anywhere. And I'm never going to forget this year.

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.

La Última Graduación

I told you I'd be back on the blog soon! I want to tell you about one of the highlights of my year so far. If you can remember back to October--you know, when I was blogging somewhat regularly--I told you about the 14 seniors I taught English to in the Fall (see previous blog here). Well, not only did they all pass my class (come on, could you really see me failing a 2nd semester senior??), but they also all graduated this past January! Now I've been to a few graduations in my day, but nothing will ever compare to this one. I don't even know how to describe it other than that it was a really really special day for everyone there--even the gringo English teacher who had only been in country six months.

First of all, there's all the emotions of any high school graduation--from the high of accomplishing something you've strived toward for years, to the bittersweet goodbyes and realizing you won't be seeing your best friends every day anymore. Then you consider that this isn't just any high school, this is a K-12 full scholarship foundation whose students have to show a dramatic family need just to attend, and they have to maintain a B+ average every year in order to stay,--all while still living in that dramatic family need. Starting with 60 - 70 kids in Kindergarden, then seeing only 14 students graduate, you start to realize how significant of an accomplishment this really is. Most of these kids grew up in cane houses, were lucky to have one parent with a steady income, and shared that 1 bedroom cane house with 4 or 5 brothers and sisters. That's a big generalization and not necessarily true for all my students, but I'd say it's the par for the course--some had better situations, some worse.

On top of all that, Nuevo Mundo is phasing out the last 3 years of high school, so this was the last class high school graduation ever from the Foundation. Two years ago, the Fundación Nuevo Mundo decided to offer scholarships to the top 10 students from the 9th grade to finish 10th - 12th grade in the IB program of the Colegio Nuevo Mundo (the expensive private school that essentially subsidizes the entire foundation school). So while this is a very exciting transition for Nuevo Mundo--especially for those students who get the scholarships--it was also sad realizing that this would be the last group of students to ever graduate high school from the Foundation. So the entire Nuevo Mundo family--faculty, staff, students, alumni, family, and friends--was there to celebrate the impact Nuevo Mundo has had on these 14 graduates and the hundreds of other students over the past 25+ years.

Like I said before, I don't know how to describe it, but it was an emotional day. I'm not a crier, but I was fighting back the waterworks all afternoon. Pat McTeague and Sonia Rendón--the two women who founded Nuevo Mundo over 25 years ago, literally live at the school, and still run the day to day--both spoke, and I can't begin to tell you how inspiring they are. One of my former students, Saira, gave a beautiful Valedictorian speech, and the sincerity with which she thanked her parents and Nuevo Mundo for the opportunities she had been given is something I will never forget. Even the commencement speaker who I had never met before, an alumnus from the class of 2001 (coincidentally the same year I graduated high school), got me feeling all awkward and emotional inside. The impact Nuevo Mundo has on all its students--from the opportunities it offers to the incredible maturity the students develop over the years there--is unlike anything I've ever experienced.

OK, I'm starting to feel kinda like that A-hole friend who just saw a stand up comedian and is failing miserably at retelling the jokes... I don't know what else to say other than I guess you just had to be there. I did record a little video from the graduation, though, so maybe if you watch this you can kinda see what I'm talking about. At the very end of the graduation, all the alumni came to the front of the stage to join the 14 graduates in signing the official Nuevo Mundo theme song...

Yes, that was the sensual voice of Mama Cass singing her 1970 hit "New World Coming" (fun fact this song was also featured several times in Seasons 2 and 3 of the hit ABC drama "LOST"). I also posted a bunch of pictures from the graduation on my Picasa site (where you can also see all the other pictures I've posted from this year). Enjoy!

click here to see my pics of the Class of 2011!!

The New World!

Pocahontas had no chance

No, not the shitty Colin Farrell movie... I'm talking about the school I teach at, Fundación Nuevo Mundo! Thusfar I've blogged about a bingo and my secret love affair with mayo, an attempted coup, a weekend in paradise,  a 7 year old's birthday party, and more info than I'm sure anyone cares to read about Rostro orientation, potential work sites, and after school programs... how about a normal day in the life of a 27 year old accountant teaching English in Ecuador??

Most mornings start around 7am with a community prayer. We have a pretty liberal interpretation of prayer (gracias a Dios), so it can be anything from a traditional prayer to a song, poem, or excerpt from a book or speech (like for example when Celso enlightened us all with the Emancipation Proclamation one morning... nothing like a little Honest Abe to start the day!). After prayer I usually take Oso (our dog) for a walk, say hi to some neighbors, and finish up any lesson planning or grading before heading in to work.

At 12:15 every day I teach English to the 14 graduating seniors at Nuevo Mundo. The school year here is from March - December, so these guys are deep into 2nd semester senioritus. I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a challenge trying to keep their interest, but I just keep reminding myself of how much fun I had senior year in high school (and how little I remember from the actual "school" part of it). They're all great though, and I admire the hell out of all 14 of them. Just to graduate high school is a huge accomplishment here, and all of these guys are going to college next year, and I know they're all gonna do great things with their lives. I gave them a writing assignment a few weeks back to talk about what they want to do after graduating (I billed it as practice speaking in the future tense, but it was more for my own curiosity than anything else), and they talked about wanting to be doctors, dentists, engineers, business people, and teachers. A couple of them are hoping to get scholarships to study in the States, and literally all 14 of them mentioned something about wanting to start a foundation or give back to the Ecuadorian people in some way.

It's a great testament to the type of education they get at Nuevo Mundo. A lot of schools in the States value community service and teaching social justice (probably the main reason I'm here now is what I learned in high school and college), but it just rings so much truer here because poverty and injustice are part of everyone's daily life. There are plenty of historical/societal factors to blame for the injustices here, but instead of focusing on the blame, Nuevo Mundo empowers these kids to make positive changes in their world. It not only provides them with the tools, the education they would not otherwise have, but the mission of Nuevo Mundo is also to inspire the heart to use these tools to create change.

Bieber fever is rampant here

So after the seniors, I teach 2 classes of 7th grade English. No matter where you are in the world, pretty much every teenage year is hilariously awkward, but 7th grade has to be up there as one of the funniest. You're definitely not a kid anymore, you kind of think you know everything, but you're still trying to figure out the whole social dynamic and how you fit in, and to top it all off, hormones are going crazy! Haha it's definitely a challenge to teach this age, and just as the seniors give me a hard time with senioritus, the 7th graders give me a hard time with whatever you want to call being 13 years old. They've been learning English since Kindergarden, but they are definitely beginners compared to the seniors. They constantly try to talk to me in Spanish, which is pretty hilarious because my Spanish is barely better than their English. They're all awesome though, and we usually have a great time in class.

The 7th grade classes are at different times every afternoon, so in between and after classes I usually work on lesson plans, grading, etc. (aka my least favorite part of teaching). Also, Celso, Caitlin, (the other 2 Rostro volunteers who teach at Mundo) and I each spend a couple afternoons a week tutoring the sophomores and juniors who have scholarships to attend the morning school. A couple years back, the afternoon school decided to phase out the high school (the seniors I teach are the last class left), and instead offer scholarships to the top 10 students from the 9th grade to finish 10th - 12th grade in the morning school's IB program. I talked a little bit about this in my earlier blog about the different work sites, but the morning school, known as Centro Educativo, instructs the wealthier students of Ecuador, while the afternoon school, Fundación, allows the poorer children to utilize the same facilities as the morning school. Half of the classes in the morning school's IB program are taught in English, so we help the becados (scholarship kids, from beca, which means scholarship... not to be confused with pecados, which means sins!) to make sure they're understanding everything in their classes (History is a big one because there's so much vocab they've never heard before).

The becados probably have the most interesting social dynamic because they all come from poor neighborhoods like Durán and now have scholarships to attend high school side by side with the wealthy elite of the Puntilla. Cliques and normal high school social dynamics are tough enough as it is, but this adds a whole different challenge to everything. They taught me a word the other day, pelucón, which is a common word for the Ecuadorian bourgeoisie. The literal translation is hairy, and refers to the old wigs French aristocrats used to wear in the 17th and 18th centuries (think George Washington, etc.). Ecuador's liberal president, Rafael Correa, has popularized the term often using it to refer to people with money who represent the old political practices/parties of the country.

The last class gets out at 6:10pm (remember, the pelucones use the school in the mornings, so the foundation school doesn't start until the afternoon), then I take the yellow school bus with the foundation kids back to Durán. I usually get home around 7pm, have a lovely dinner with my roommates, then wrap the night up with some more planning/grading, hanging out with the neighborhood kids, reading, and/or journalling. Oh and random Ecuador fact while I'm on the topic of daily routines... the sun sets and rises at the same time all year on the equator. Sunrise around 5:30 - 6am and sunset around 6 - 6:30pm... 12 hour days all year.

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.

I´m not a blogger I just type a lot

Hello world! This is my first time blogging, so let me preface this all by saying I don't really know what I'm doing or who is going to read this... two weeks ago I got off a plane in Guayaquil, Ecuador, where I'll be volunteering for the next year. This blog is my attempt to share as much of this experience as I can with YOU--family, friends, and I guess the whole internet. I think you can comment, so if at any point in my rants you feel like saying something, asking a question, whatever--feel free to chime in.

I guess the best place to start is to explain who I am and why I'm here. My name is Mark Perlite, I'm 27 years old, and I am a recovering Accountant. I graduated from Santa Clara University in 2005 with a degree in Accounting and a job with PricewaterhouseCoopers. I worked there for 3 years, learned more than I wanted to know about business, got my CPA license, met some awesome people and had a great time living in San Francisco. After 3 years with PwC, I needed a change and joined the Corporate Accounting team at PG&E. I worked at PG&E for the past two years, and again, I met some great people, learned a ton, and had a great time doing it.

pants optional

After 5 years in the accounting game, though, I decided to hang up my 10 key and try something new. I can't put my finger on exactly where it came from, but at some point in the past 10 years or so, someone or something planted a little seed of idealism in me that I couldn't ignore any longer. It could have been growing up around all those former hippies in San Francisco, or maybe those damn Jesuits and their social justice rhetoric, but something was itching at me to try to make the world a better place.

Ever since college--maybe even high school, I'm not exactly sure--I had wanted to spend time volunteering in the developing world. All through my education I read about developing countries, and it always tore at my heart. The day I was born, I was richer than billions of people all over the world. I hadn't accomplished anything, earned anything for myself, and just by being born in America I had more resources at my disposal than the majority of the world's population. I've studied economics, history, politics, etc., and logically I understand why things are the way they are, but it still doesn't make sense to me. As much as I read and try to be aware of all the injustices and inequalities in the world, it is always just words and images on paper, T.V. or the internet--distant concepts, both physically and emotionally. I didn't really KNOW what it meant to live on the margins of society. Poverty is an every day reality to billions of people, and for me it was maybe a 60 second clip before the sports and weather on the nightly news. Maybe living and working side by side with these people could help me understand things better. I've always seen the world from the eyes of a white middle/upper class American male. I can't change who I am, but maybe if I change my perspective a little, I can see things in a different light.

alas, no tacos in this cyber =(

So here I am, 27 years old, sweating my ass off in a "cyber"cafe in Durán, Ecuador. I've been here for 2 weeks and I don't know what the year ahead of me will hold. I want to make a difference, but the reality is Durán will still be here in a year. I hope to make some impact, but odds are I will be the one most changed by this year--not the people of Durán. There's a bit of selfishness in that reality, but I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

So there I went and rambled on for way too long about who I am and why I'm here. There's obviously way involved in my decision to come to Durán, but hopefully that will come out over the course of this year. Since I tend to ramble, I've decided to end each blog with some cheap Ecuadorian reality. So if the rest of my blog is crap, at least this might be interesting:

DOGS HAVE BALLS--I'm not sure what's more sad, the fact that there are stray dogs EVERYWHERE, or the fact that I'm so used to emasculated male dogs that dogs with balls look weird to me. Bob Barker, PLEASE COME TO ECUADOR!