The beginning and the end
I can´t believe it´s already over. It feels like my time here is still just beginning! Mainly, what I´m left with is a lot of questions: Am I going to lose my ability to speak Spanish? Will I be a different person when I arrive home? Will I like who I am? Will I be able to keep in touch with the people I know here? Too many questions.
Some things I miss about the US:
-my family!
-ice cream
-high speed internet in our house
-ice and drinks with ice in them
-drinkable tap water
Some things I will miss about Ecuador:
-my program friends
-my host family
-mountains, coast and rainforest
-10 cent ice creams
-fruit smoothies with every meal
-Salsa dancing
-Spanish
By no means an exhaustive list. I just feel like everything is going to be so different when I come back. But at least I have a week in the Galapagos to start the transition!
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Friday, May 8, 2009
The country life
After nearly a month without writing, I have a shocking and moving story to share. It´s actually not mine, it belongs to an indigenous woman named Maria. We sat on a reed mat, me in jeans and a T-shirt, and she in a long skirt, embroidered shirt, and a many-stranded golden necklace. We spent nearly the entire day plucking kernals of corn off the cob by hand (and since it´s organic, a fair number of worms as well) as she shared her life story.
The youngest of five children, her father died before she was born. Soon after she was born, her mother went to work in the city, leaving her on the farm with two of her older siblings to care for the goats. They ate goat´s milk and toasted corn, and rarely could afford to buy anything else. Maria only went to school for one year, in part because she couldn´t stand the kids teasing her for being fatherless and wearing traditional indigenous clothing, and in part because she only spoke Quichua and the teachers only spoke Spanish.
When she was 15, Maria left home to work in Quito as a domestic servant. She cooked, cleaned, did laundry, and cared for the children, and for her work she was given a cup of water in the morning, soup for lunch, and a cup of water in the evening. After a year of this treatment, she began to work for an elderly woman with many health problems, who treated her like a daughter and taught her to speak Spanish. Unfortunatly, she had to leave to care for her older brother, who was dying of cancer. In the next few years, her three oldest siblings died of cancer, all before the age of 40. Maria is 38.
At 18, Maria didn´t understand how babies came about, and so she accidentally got pregnant. Two years later, she married the man. They were happy for about a year, and then he began to beat her. Off an on throughout the years, especially when he drank, he would beat her. He also had multiple affairs, and even had another entire house and family in another valley at one point. In Maria´s community, it´s a fairly common situation; both her sisters were hit by their husbands, and both of her brothers hit their wives. Of course, she is still with him, because it is better to have a bad husband than none at all, though she says the situation is better now that he doesn´t drink.
Maria lives on $200 a month, all earned by her abusive husband. He works in construction in a valley during the week, two of her oldest daughters are in college, and the 15 year old is already out of the house working as a domestic servant. The two youngest, ages 6 and 4, are in school, so she spends most of her days alone, caring for the farm. Alone, she does all the planting, harvesting, and caring for animals. In fact, her labor provides about half the food her family eats. The $200 is spent in the following manner: $80 a month on food, $50 on education for her two youngest children, and $20 on water, gas and electricity. The remaining $50 goes towards travel to and from the nearby towns, clothing, and health care.
As part of a community tourism program, I had the priviledge of staying with her and her family for three days, to experience a small part of her life and hear her story. She shared it all with a cheerful smile, taught us a few Quichua words, and then cooked us a delicious lunch.
The youngest of five children, her father died before she was born. Soon after she was born, her mother went to work in the city, leaving her on the farm with two of her older siblings to care for the goats. They ate goat´s milk and toasted corn, and rarely could afford to buy anything else. Maria only went to school for one year, in part because she couldn´t stand the kids teasing her for being fatherless and wearing traditional indigenous clothing, and in part because she only spoke Quichua and the teachers only spoke Spanish.
When she was 15, Maria left home to work in Quito as a domestic servant. She cooked, cleaned, did laundry, and cared for the children, and for her work she was given a cup of water in the morning, soup for lunch, and a cup of water in the evening. After a year of this treatment, she began to work for an elderly woman with many health problems, who treated her like a daughter and taught her to speak Spanish. Unfortunatly, she had to leave to care for her older brother, who was dying of cancer. In the next few years, her three oldest siblings died of cancer, all before the age of 40. Maria is 38.
At 18, Maria didn´t understand how babies came about, and so she accidentally got pregnant. Two years later, she married the man. They were happy for about a year, and then he began to beat her. Off an on throughout the years, especially when he drank, he would beat her. He also had multiple affairs, and even had another entire house and family in another valley at one point. In Maria´s community, it´s a fairly common situation; both her sisters were hit by their husbands, and both of her brothers hit their wives. Of course, she is still with him, because it is better to have a bad husband than none at all, though she says the situation is better now that he doesn´t drink.
Maria lives on $200 a month, all earned by her abusive husband. He works in construction in a valley during the week, two of her oldest daughters are in college, and the 15 year old is already out of the house working as a domestic servant. The two youngest, ages 6 and 4, are in school, so she spends most of her days alone, caring for the farm. Alone, she does all the planting, harvesting, and caring for animals. In fact, her labor provides about half the food her family eats. The $200 is spent in the following manner: $80 a month on food, $50 on education for her two youngest children, and $20 on water, gas and electricity. The remaining $50 goes towards travel to and from the nearby towns, clothing, and health care.
As part of a community tourism program, I had the priviledge of staying with her and her family for three days, to experience a small part of her life and hear her story. She shared it all with a cheerful smile, taught us a few Quichua words, and then cooked us a delicious lunch.
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