Tech Trip & The Big Event in La Chimba

This past week has been super crazy. From traveling, giving charlas, celebrations, extremely crowded and even seeing the buses President of Ecuador, this week has been one I will never forget.
On the tech trip there were ten trainees including myself, two language facilitators and one of the co-trainers that went on the trip to the province of Manabi. We arrived in Portoviejo early Sunday morning and luckily were able to rest at the hostel for a few hours before our first activity. Each day we spent visiting a different volunteer at their site, learning about the activities they were doing, and giving presentations (charlas) to various groups depending on the day. With at least four hours of bus rides each day and then having to prepare our charlas each night for the following day, our days were jammed packed. Not to mention we had to take advantage of being out of our host families houses and needed to participate in some Omnibus 102 training group bonding.
Monday and Tuesday our group went to two different colegios (high-schools) to give charlas on HIV/AIDS prevention and recycling. Monday we gave the same charla three different times and we able to see the progress we were making each time. I did not feel nervous at all and think that having other trainees there with me helped a lot. Not to mention the jovenes were very animated and excited for us to be there and were very easy to work with. By the third charla we had improved so much that we had an extra ten minutes at the end. They wanted to learn some English so we taught them the importance of ‘thumbs up.’ I think it’s going to be the cool thing at that colegio from now on.
Wednesday our group traveled to visit Aaliyah, a volunteer who has already been at her site for a year now. We participated in the open house that she had put together for the women in her community. I was very impressed to see what one volunteer can accomplish in just a year. About 70 women showed up to the event where they were given information on different types of cancers, the maternal health laws in Ecuador, the importance of having a healthy heart and being physically active/eating well, breast self-exams and the resources available to them at their local health center as well as each receiving a free pap smear. Along with four other girls, I gave information on the importance of self-breast exams, how to do it, and what to do if something is wrong. Out of all 70 women that attended, only one woman reported to ever have given herself a self-exam. If they have another open house next year, I would be curious to see how many women have adapted this behavior.
Wednesday night we stayed at “La Finca,” a hostel tourism spot owned by one of Aaliyah’s friends. The property was beautiful, situated on a river with amazing trees and scenery. There was a main house with rooms and a bathroom and also a cabana with room for seven along with a restaurant, bar and gazebo set up for dancing and karaoke. Before our amazing dinner and a night filled with salsa dancing and drinks, we were taken in the back of some trucks and headed to see one of the waterfalls in the area. Although it wasn’t much of a waterfall because of the dry season, the truck ride and walk were beautiful. The diversity within Ecuador is so amazing. We were able to have all the mandarins we wanted when we stopped at the farm and were also able to try a fruit called Noni. It’s a dull red color outside with a mushy white flesh on the inside. It had a nice taste but the consistency was a little weird and reminded me of baby food.
After three days of great charlas, our group was ready for our last assignment. I’m not sure why, but we traveled six hours to a community that didn’t have a PC volunteer, to give a charla on family planning. We showed up sweaty from the first four hours of the trip on a hot bus and covered in dust from the last two hours of travel spent on a dirt road on the top of some sort of truck/bus thing. The ride was super fun and I would definitely do it again, but not before I’m supposed to stand in front of a group and talk to them about the positives and negatives of getting pregnant. The charla was planned to be very interactive and worked only with the participation of the audience. We figured the group would be like every other group we had worked with so far but surprisingly enough, this group did not want to talk. It was extremely difficult to get the group to participate, part of the reason I think being because we just showed up, didn’t know anybody, and started talking about a touchy subject. By the end, we had two girls talking and sharing their stories of having kids. I was happy they were talking but they were saying how great having children is and that in their community, there really isn’t any negatives.
After talking to the girls along with the other group I realize how different life is in this small community from what we think of back in the states. We asked positives and negatives within social aspects. Response: We usually just hang out with our family so having a baby will not be a problem. It will also be positive in that it will discourage us from going to the bar as much. We asked positives and negatives with school/career. Response: We can still go to school because we have parents that watch our sibling’s kids and wouldn’t mind watching ours if we had any. We asked positives and negatives in terms of finance. Response: Our family has clothes they are willing to give my baby. We also get free formula and baby food from the sub-centro de salud as well as all the free vaccines and medical care. There was also a big emphasis on how bringing a baby into the home also brings the family closer. I don’t think we changed anybody’s mind on having children and I’m fine with that because I don’t think that was our place at all. I don’t know why we thought it was be okay for ten gringos to go into a small Ecuadorian community where we know nobody and start lecturing about the bad things that would happen if you got knocked up. The only thing they probably learned is that we were ignorant people from the U.S. with poor Spanish. By the time I left, the people in the community convinced me that having a baby was a good decision. I don’t think I will ever attempt this charla again unless I know the audience very well and we are comfortable with each other. It’s also important to know the social norms of a group before putting yourself in certain situation. Cultural differences lesson: check.
Although the last charla pretty much sucked, the experience as a whole was amazing. The good parts were great and the bad parts were educational at the least. I couldn’t have done it without the other trainees on our trip. They’re all great, fun and super supportive. The whole week there was no drama, only good times and laughter, even when we were super stressed and felt like we made the people listening to our charlas more stupid just by being there.
Now for a complete change topics: The Ecuadorian President coming to my community. I heard on Saturday that President Correa was coming to La Chimba along with the president from Bolivia and the president from Venezuela. Here is a little reminder about La Chimba: It’a a very small indigenous community of about 700 people about an hour on bus from Cayambe in the mountains. The only people that ever come to La Chimba are those that live here. At 5am and 5pm everybody in town would be found in the fields milking their cows. It’s a pain to get here and is always super windy and cold. I thought it must be a joke so I asked my host mom about it. She told me it was true and that the helicopters were arriving at 7:30am the next day. They were coming to celebrate the life of Transito Amaguana, the indigenous leader of Ecuador who died three months ago. She is the Ecuadorian equivalent of Martin Luther King Jr and lived in La Chimba her whole life. I’m not sure but I think it also had something to do with the Ecuadorian Independence Day, which is tomorrow. 200 years.
After breakfast on Sunday morning, my host mom and I walked down to the community center and the newly opened cultural center in town. It was crazy seeing all the security cars and armed men along the streets in our small community. This was definitely a huge deal with news broadcasters everywhere and police all over the place. I was surprised when we got there and were able to get a good place to watch the ceremony. There were a lot of people there but I had envisioned about five times as many. I was able to see the whole ceremony including speeches made by President Correa, Bolivian President Morales and Rigoberta Menchu. I didn’t know she was going to be there but was super excited when I found out. Like Transito Amaguana, she is an indigenous leader and activist, but from Guatemala. I read her book and studied her struggles in one of my classes in college and always thought she was super badass. It was amazing to see a Nobel Peace Prize winner speak, especially in this situation where I was surrounded by Indigenous people who I’ve really gotten to know and become integrated into their lives. Jessica’s host mom, the president of La Chimba, also gave a speech on behalf of the community. It was crazy to see her up there with Rigoberta Menchu; it reminded me where I was and how special this is to be here and witness this. I have only been in Ecuador for less than two months and was able to take part in this great piece of La Chimba history. I’m very appreciative to everybody in the community who has accepted me and the other four girls living here, who are very different from the indigenous Ecuadorian lifestyle. I’m happy the PC allowed those of us who lived here to go to the ceremony. Unfortunately, all the other trainees were told they could not come because they didn’t want to have 44 white Americans here, especially with the President of Bolivia there, where PC just evacuated last winter. I understand why the PC wouldn’t want everybody there but I know I would be really upset if I missed out on this amazing experience.