An Update Seven Months Delayed

Hola mis amigos!!

Well I haven't updated this in a very long time. I could give all kinds of excuses and reasons, some of them decent, but most of them less than decent. Anyways upon suggestion from some friends and family who actually read this while I was away I thought I would update it, and let you all know how things turned out for me in Ecuador.

When I last wrote it was January, I was working at Manduriacos in the beautiful community of Magdalena. My placement lasted until April, and it was a wonderful experience. I spent my days visiting mico credit farmers, visting the various workshops, making lufas, doing paper work in the office and hanging out with some adorable children.

When visiting micro credit farmers, I would take a tour of their crops and talk to them about their participation in the cooperative. I'm going to share with you an experience I had while visiting one family in a community an hour or so away in San Roque. The family that I visited grew lufas through the micro credit program, they also had a very lush vegetable and fruit garden (as most families do in the area since they are sustinence farmers). After I was given a tour of their house- a two room cement structure with a tin and wood roof-, garden and lufa crops I was invited to talk with the woman of the household, and her 21 year old daughter. Her daughter was about nine months pregnant, and when I asked her when she was due she said, "ahora, ahorita" which basically means right now. She told me that she wasn't going to make the four hour drive on the back of a motorcycle into the city to go to the hospital, nor would the doctor ( who travels between thirteen different communities in the region) be available for the delivery, she was planning to give birth in her home with her mother and younger sister there to help her. The whole time that she and I were alone in the yard, I was praying that she would not go into labor right then and there, as I was not, nor am I now, ready to help deliver a baby!

Luckily her mother soon returned and brought in one large plate of sliced watermelons, and sat the plate down on my lap. At first I thought this was for all of us to share, but then I noticed that she had brought a smaller plate in for her and her two daughters to share. The watermelon was very fresh and really good, but I was unsure if I would be able to eat the two kilograms that were just placed on my lap. I managed to eat most of it, and then I fed the rest to the chickens who seemed to enjoy it as well. When visiting families and micro credit farmers they would be so kind and welcoming to me, they seemed indeed to genuinely appreciate my visit that they would offer me all kinds of fresh food from their gardens and crops, wanting me to sample everything, and would send me home with a few bundles of bananas or mangoes for the next week.

The youngest daughter also took me on a little hike through the woods, at first I thought we were going to look at some more crops but I soon discovered that we were actually standing just outside a little cave in the middle of a stream. I heard the sound of a gentle waterfall, as we slowly walked through the stream, and into the cave, the water was up to my knees, but it was clear and unpolluted by the nearby mines as some of the other rivers were. After walking for about twenty feet when we were in the middle of the waterfall, she stoped and began to whisper, pointing to the corner of the cave where there was a slight opening. There was a nest with a mother condor, and a few babies in it. The sound of the little baby birds echoed through the narrow walls, and the cool refreshing water from the waterfall drenched us.

That was one of my favorite days in Maduriacos, and definity a great memory to hold onto.

Leaving Ecuador in May was really difficult as I found myself even more attatched to the beautiful country, and its kind people then I had been on my two previous visits. Eventhough I got robbed nine times throughout the experience, and had various run ins with food poisioning, parasites, and spider butes, it was still incredible.

My host family that I lived with there are wonderful people who I still talk to once a week or so through email, and I look forward to returning and visiting them again, hopefully sooner rather than later. It alsowas really nice to spend time with the friends I had made from Universidad Catolica two years before.

I am incredibly inspired by the men and women of Manduriacos Solidario, and their dedication to their cause, their communities, and their families. Eventhough I am thousands of miles away I am still going to help them any way that I can to ensure that their struggle to preserve their families, communities, and beautiful lush cloud forest is not done in vain.

There are millions of worthy causes in the world, and I would like to encourage people to become more actively involved in them. We might not be able to change the world over night, but that doesn't mean that we should just walk away and pretend that poverty and inequality don't exist.

This year for my thesis I am going to be focusing on grassroots community cooperatives such as Manduriacos Solidario. I strongly believe that supporting just commercial practices, such as fair trade products. I have seen first hand how they can actually make a substantial positive differnce in people's lives. Please support your local community cooperatives- farmers markets- and buy fair trade products- coffee- whenever you can. Sometimes all the small things can really add up.

Thank you for reading,
En Solidaridad,

Lisa

If anyone that reads this is interested in getting involved in the cause, or has any connections that could be useful please contact me.