Jan 2006

Hi all,

A very eventful week has passed and I haven´t found the time or the clearness of mind to write all here, but I guess have been digesting things for a little while.
I think the last entry I wrote was about Otavalo.
Since then I worked almost a week in the street children project that now probably has come to an end.
On wednesday we had a discussion with Ecuador Volunteer the organization that sent me to the project. They have been working together with a human rights organization considering the bad treatment of the kids in the project.
We were asked to keep our eyes open for any sort of proof for further maltreatment. On wednesday one of the volonteers experienced a nun hitting a child with a stick and we examined his body and found a very bruised mark on his leg which we photographed after which we immediately called the organization, who then phoned the police to pick up the child the next morning. One of the volonteers that lived in the project made the mistake of preparing the nuns not thinking that they had time to act, but they sent the child away in the night (very mafia style). Apparently he was sent to some aunt, but as he has lived in the project for 2 years without any of the family being interested in receiving him back ( the adoption laws here are crazy, you have to contact family to the 4th degree before being able to give a child for adoption, obviously this will take aaaagesss.)so they probably just sat him in a bus to go somewhere in direction to Cuenca close to his home, in the night.. a boy of 11.
In the morning we arrived in the project and were told this as well as told to leave immediately because apparently we hit the children.
The nuns entered the childrens rooms at 5 in the morning telling them to lie that we hit them.
On friday we went to the project to visit the children and they all apologized and cried because they had lied.
It was heartbreaking to leave as although we are just one of many volonteers that come and go, I did have some special relationships with the children.
Now we don´t know how things are as there is a carpinteria in the project as well, the man we spent christmas with with his family and who arranged for a truthful goodbye for us, giving us as a present one of the games that the children make. We realize in retrospect how naiive we were towards the project, putting emphasis on education when the children need to learn the basics of organized living, and will never ever end up going to university. Of course it is important to learn to read and write etc. but the idealistic dream of happy children with all opportunities open is just not possible.
The man in the carpinteria, Alejandro is talking to the nuns today and I will find out soon whether we can continue working there. I have just over 2 weeks left until I will travel and it is useless starting another project.
Today I started working with Deaf and Blind children which is really interesting and intriguing, but there is little possibility of making something out of that in mere 2 weeks, especially as most blind children are integrated into schools here and the majority are deaf, as I don´t know anything of spanish sign language, it is nearly impossible to communicate with the children and to learn this in two weeks is hard. Its another language ontop of Spanish.
I might work in a project for old people, if it is not possible to continue with the street children project, as this is much easier to integrate into as they are adults, obviously able to communicate, it would interest me alot.

Well.. my life outside volontary work.
I have moved finally out of my expensive, deserted hostel into one full of life, outside of the horrid, touristic, non-atmospheric district in Quito, Mariscal. I live in Casa Bambu right now, it is packed with German speakers, but very cozy up a hill near a park, with a view of the whole of Quito etc. I live in a dorm with 4 other people, today I woke up to a chinese man sleeping in the bed next to mine, people come and go, but it is extremely cozy and cheap (4 dollars a night). I feel more integrated into the city here, the only downside being that it is more dangerous at night (although in Mariscal because of being a tourist district there is alot of theft and also 2 people were killed.. for political reasons, in a hostel which is owned by a woman involved in politics.. right infront of mine..) so we´ll have to take taxis in the night, but..
We went to Papallatka last weekend, hot springs 2 hours outside Quito, the nature was stunning, mountains and lots of cows..
but laying in warm water for hours is not so my thing, but it was nice.
Afterwards to a housewarming party in yet another area of Quito which was interesting, trying to decipher house numbers for an hour in the night.. hmm.
I work in the north now, previously in the south in the historic town so I get to see more of the city.
Otherwise trying to figure out whether to go to Colombia or Peru, Colombia sounds so dangerous, but in reality very beautiful, cheap and not that bad as I´ve met atleast 10 people travelling there alone from Europe who say it is absolutely fine. We´re trying to get some more people to join us as now we are two.
Well, my phone number is 2226-738 now, with the Ecuador, Quito extensions of course. Please do call me, lets say 9-10 at Vienna time again, which is 3-4 here, I leave work at 2 so that is fine.
This weekend probably doing the train ride here as it sounds beautiful or perhaps going to the biggest city here, Guayaquil. Okay.
Take care my loves,
Anja was really nice to hear from you.
Besitos y abrazos
Laura

Rainy evening in quito,

Project turning out very difficult, probably have to change soon, we are trying to get the people running out with the organisation and if that happens as some will remain, it will probably be difficult to stay. I would like to as I like working there, we are starting to finally get things going and the relations with the kids are good.
To anyone doing such a project though I would strongly suggest learning the language first as now that I am able to talk to the kids more it is so much easier and giving.
Some things are just really strange, the children using newspaper in the toilet despite having millions of rolls of toilet paper in the office, there are constantly donations coming in that the children don´t receive, etc. when asked why, the nuns give ridiculous explanations, there are also two children quite sick, one with something very weird in her scalp and hair, and the other with some sort of psychological, neurological motor problem, but these things are treated so weird here.

Yesterday we left to Otavalo a market town here, which proved to be very very touristy, mostly Americans.
But it was very cheap and we bought some nice things. Bargaining is quite funny here, as it always works on the same principle, you say half the price and they add a dollar or 25 cents depending on the thing.
We were only able to leave at about 7 though and as the very bumpy busride took around 3 and a half hours, we arrived really late, and also missed the stop so we ended up on the motorway literally in the smallest village I´ve ever seen trying to catch a bus or cab for 2 hours in the freezing cold. So now quite tired and sick we returned in the afternoon. I also got lice from the children so smell alot like a medicine bottle as I washed my hair with something hopefully toxic enough to kill them..

Otavalo was quite pretty, small and modest, but beautiful for those reasons, quite atmospheric and full of very friendly people. I think the same principle applies that people are more friendly in the countryside, but then again they are more apprehensive towards non-Ecuadorians. There was a man on the bus that literally sat in 3 different seats and disappeared under them very obviously to steal things out of peoples bags..

Well,
tomorrow holding a little dinner party, today quite sick, hopefully I don´t have malaria, as some of the symptoms are a little in that direction, but I think its just fatigue of not sleeping very much, having a bit of the flu etc.

Hi all,

Weekend spent at the beach in Canoa, very spontaneous as we didn´t have the desire to stay in Quito and all bus tickets were gone.. so without hostel and with what we could pack quickly, we headed with an 8 hour night bus to a small village of San antonia, where we arrived at 5 oclock in the morning very tired and had to change to another bus, after waiting for an hour in the village with a shop owner. The little villages however are not really dangerous, it was a fishing village so people get up very very early.
You can not wait alone anywhere with people starting conversation. One of my friends here from Ecuador as well remarked on how strange it feels for Ecuadorians when Europeans answer the questions of how are you, with a simple fine without explanation. Communication is very important here, and rarely can you walk past someone you know without conversing for a while. But its nice, something to get used to, but its a bit of a sacrifice of individuality as even if you don´t feel like talking it is considered very impolite not to do so. The village of San Antonio really contained people that never left and it is strange to imagine staying in such a small place for all your life without knowing anything else.
After a cold and very noisy (very loud music and open door which I think didn´t exist..) we took a small and very bumpy busride to Canoa. The view was beautiful as the sun rose and you could see families in very small beach shacks waking up and roasting breakfast around big open fires outside.

Canoa was very beautiful with a stunning beach, very small and modest. We had the choice of a very old hostel with lots of little animals we couldn´t identify and one which was a little more expensive but a little more reliable. My room however was without a window and I think freshly painted or stained with the mosquito oil in the canopy, extremely stuffy and hot so with the nightbus rides and that I haven´t slept almost at all. We knew a group of other voluntaries who were going as well so we had a nice new-years reunion with sunshine, a warm beach at night, great.
The waves were extremely high, but swimming was still great. We didn´t manage to visit the caves with thousands of bats though as you need a low tide to do that.
We took a jeep ride to the nearest village San Vicente which is a fishing town as well. It is extremely common to hitch here as you pay the drivers a modest amount and you get to sit on the back of a jeep or on our return stand in the back of a wooden truck which drove on gas..
The nightbus back was interesting as well as the bus was packed with people sleeping on the floor and I woke up a few times finding some stranger resting his or her head on my lap.. hmm.
Today, after arriving in Quito at 5 am, I went to work in the morning. We had a big discussion with the nuns as they remarked that they don´t want us to come anymore. I speak almost the same amount of Spanish as Dela, but as she is dark-skinned she gets treated a bit better by the nuns, who show little respect for me and make little comments about me not knowing the language at all etc. which is not true at all. Their problems with us are minute things we can put an effort in to change for them like giving them plans of exactly what we will do etc. our problems are more of the principles of them not communicating with us, their strategies with the children. I had a small dispute about the nuns hitting the children today, and I guess it is the best to get your opinion out there and we feel that there has been a little change both ways, us becoming a little more stern in a good way with the children as they need to be pressured into learning etc. as well and them becoming a little more relaxed with them.

Tomorrow we are getting started with the things we have planned.
I am having a little bit of problems with the food here, as one of the specialities is uncooked seafood soup kind of thing which might be a little hard with the cold water. They eat a lot of seafood here, alot of rice, corn, green bananas cooked, the food is very good.

Very tired and unfortunately a little sunburnt I will go to bead early today for a day of work tomorrow.

hugs,
Laura