Dec 2005

shortly, as there is not all too much to report upon.
am starting to get to know some people much better here, michael the german boy in the project is turning out to be a good friend, am generally starting to feel much more at home here.

the contamination in the city is incredible, I can hardly breathe, there is literally a dark cloud of smoke whenever a bus passes buy.

one of the boys had a bit of a psychotic attack in the project, some others cry once in a while, and am finding myself trying to practice my psychology studies in diagnosing a bit of the childrens needs.. michael and I have some good ideas about what to do in the project with the money and time. Today a new volunteer came who is interested in doing a bit of arts with the children.
A ct scan costs 30 dollars here, hmm..

the ecuadorians are a bit puzzled over Europeans and their lack of communication and short answers.
today worked a full day, quite tiring, but got much more involved. had a lecture and a bit of a dispute with one of the main sisters.
well.

am trying to decide where to travel to in my two or three weeks of travelling, Peru, or do another project in a community in the woods. hmm..

this weekend hopefully heading to Canoa to a bit more of a quiet beach to celebrate new-years.

take care all.

Another rainy day in Quito, January is pretty much rain season.
Going hopefully to the beach for new years though.
Christmas went well, we were invited to a family christmas last minute, very hospitable. A very spicy grandmother, a very bad bottle of wine bought by us, first hour spent sipping it very slowly and everyone praising it to heavens..
it was very casual, something quite different from what I´m use to, the food was quite normal, no real rules and set times for things, really comfortable. the family has an adorable golden-retriever puppy, 2 months who stole everyones attention.

The project is rolling on, we´ve organised a few things, like a theater and singing group, set times for some sports, fruit days, lesson times etc. so I think we´ll start moving forward now.
alot of the children have huge lice which we spent ages picking out today, hmm.

I don´t know what we´ll do with the money yet. perhaps the best would be to try and send some children to a real school as it is more than difficult to teach them in the centre.. then the question ofcourse arises who, and then even less children will spend the morning alone and working, so. .have to check out prices for schools, atleast for a year.
We´ll also try and buy some socks and clothes for the children, giving the money to the nuns will be absolutely no good, unless there is a clear plan for what they need to do with it.

Alone at the hostel, as Dela moved to the project for a week,
vamos a ver..
when I can move out..
Take care all,
Laura

Hey all,
Merry christmas to you all.
The feeling here in Quito has not been christmasy at all. Its probably the mixture of a bit of summery rainy weather and just the fact that christmas is not so apparent here in the city. There are not decorations everywhere etc.

This week has been a little bit of ups and downs for me. I felt quite lonely this week as me and Dela weren´t working together, she was working later, and I didn´t have so many people that I really got along to talk to. Work was quite tiring this week as well, because me and Michael were alone in the project, the weather has been quite bad, I didn´t sleep well, was quite sick two days, one of which really spent in bed alone while it was the only sunny day out..its a bit of a rain-season here now.

But things are really good now again. I have been meeting up with an Austrian girl Helene and her friend from Germany Leoni and they are people that I really get along with. Leonis hostel is full of really nice people that I´ve also gotten to know, so I feel like my friendship circle is starting to expand a little. I also have started to feel more at home here, the city seems a little clearer to me now and thus I find myself taking small excursions here and there alone after work etc. It helps knowing where things are. The boy Eduardo who lives in my hostel and has studied classical music (piano) in Moscow and Stockholm is an absolute prodigy in piano, composes and plays so absolutely well. It is good to have these contacts as you would never find an isolated free classical music students concert here due to the lack of programmes..

I started taking salsa lessons this week too. It is really alot of fun, challenging, but really relaxing too after work. My teacher is called Patricio and is the stereotype of an energetic, good-natured, Latino man. Yesterday we went dancing with a group of people and it was great fun. Dancing alone as a girl just doesn´t exist here, even if you are in a group.. its just a different culture.
Whenever you are out, in the bus, in a taxi etc. people mostly start talking to. The prospect of getting to know "strangers" is just so much more likely here. I like that openness in this culture, as it is also not superficial, but quite sincere, you´ll probably not meet them again, but it is interesting to hear about different peoples lives and views.

Finland is perceived as the country of technology, flowers (?), and lonely independent strong women..

Yesterday I did get robbed with a knife. We were selling these origami games that the children make in a shoppingcentre and me not really knowing how to get home, took the wrong bus, ended up in an isolated end-stop with groceries and got robbed with a knife.. quite creepy, but the best thing to do is just to give your money straight away. Afterwards I had no idea how to get home, but a really nice taxi-driver took me home for much less than the trip cost.

Work has been pleasant as well though, I am starting to get to know the children better, the boys are much more open to me as well, I understand what they say better etc. Yesterday we organized a little christmas thing for them. It was a great improvement from the chicken claws dipped in soup with "brei" that they get sometimes..
Some of the children are quite aggressive sometimes, and as they are disciplined a little with slaps in the school too they take that example and practice it onwards.
Hm.
Okay this has been a very pragmatic overview of things I have done, as I haven´t written for a while. Today we are celebrating christmas with the big family of a man we work with.. should be interesting.

Hope you all enjoy your snowy(?) chirstmasy christmas.
Laura

Hi,

Work is starting to roll and the conflicts with the sisters are actually quite helpful as they give an opportunity to complain about a lot more.
I´m trying to find out more about the children and why they are at the home etc. its difficult to ask them straight as some of them speak a little unclearly and also the topics are obviously quite difficult to address. There are two mentally retarded children that just haven´t been diagnosed at all, whilst they obviously need some help, when they leave the project they will be left with nothing as they can not learn, work etc.
Another child which I adore is given the diagnosis of "down syndrome" although I´m sure he has nothing of the kind, I think in the project people just want to put the children into quick neat boxes, but this child is smart, is only just a little hyperactive, but if anything has a little bit of ADD.
I don´t think the sisters know much about each child and the teacher is sick who I would ask about them. It is so important to know such things as each child is an individual with its own needs. If the children are aggressive, they are just disciplined, maybe we suspect also with hitting, and often their behaviour has very good reasons. A little girl for instance told me today that she was on the streets because her father murdered her mother and is in the prison now, and obviously that child has its own individual needs.
Maria, a child that always cries and is really quiet opened up a little to me today and is starting to play with the other children and approach me, today it was impossible to leave the project as all the children were hanging on my neck again, I think I took about an hour, they really don´t have any adults around them that give them true affection, listen to them and let them be children.
We are a bit in a vacuum of where to start, and that will probably just be practical assertive demands of clear lesson times, groups etc. as some children are discriminated and always forced to work and we always have to search for them in the beginning of lesson times and that takes time. Afterwards we will try to change more of the fundamental things. Dela is going to live in the project for a week, I might join her as well, so we can see how things really work all the time.
theres a little boy called Wagner, quite a grandiose name for a child that always cries as well and it is just obvious that they don´t feel well in the home which is such a shame.
I think the best way to donate money is to put a little bit on my mastercard account, and I will buy school supplies and underwear and shoes which are in horrible conditions or nonexistent and meanwhile I will talk to the organisation and discuss where the money is best sent and donated as surely not to the project directly.
Today a group of nuns came to the project and sang and played with the children, it is a shame that we don´t have those kinds in the project.
Today I am going out with two Austrian girls, who work in another project. I know a bit of individual people here in quito, but not so many that I really get along with and can spend time with.
Most people in Quito don´t earn very well, not enough to afford insurance etc. then there is the very poor class which is big, but much bigger outside the city, outside the city you see shacks in the middle of nowhere, we haven´t really seen the rich people here, only buisness men in the modern city, but their residential area is outside the main city, there are private fenced schools around, but I think the middle low class is the biggest here.

I finally remembered to get my phone number,
00593(Ec.)2(Quito)2547737
There is a six hour time difference, behind, it´s 4 here now, 10 in Vienna or Berlin too.
The best time to call me is I guess between 3-5 my time, as I usually get home at around 3 or 4, Monday to Friday,
Saturday I won´t be in Quito , but Sunday yes.

Besitos
Laura

Hola,

A weekend spent in Quito this time. The first week of working was quite exhausting for us, so we decided to stay here this weekend, and its not like there isn´t anything to see here either. Most locals seem to find Quito quite unimpressive, but a saturday morning in the old town impressed me alot. It is beautiful with historical buildings, lots of hidden plazas and statues. We just walked around for a few hours, the buildings are quite magnificent, not always in good shape, lots of the buildings are really colourful and generally the feel is a little like in the centre of Vienna, but of course different, with lots of little allies etc.
We also visited two big churches which were very, very decorative, lots of Gold, icons, a bit more sombre paintings of Jesus and his life, lots of people praying and lighting candles. There is something very distant and glorifying in the catholic religion with ritual and much more feeling of respectful bowing, religion here is very strong, but there is also a big movement of reformatist churches so the statistics of pure catholicism are not quite correct.
There are always street children around churches wanting to polish your shoes, sell you gum. Usually if anything we buy them food. Giving them money just isn´t productive, although not doing it is also not encouraging for them to go to school, its difficult.

The best way in Quito as there is a lack of programmes in the city about events, is just to venture around and ask alot of questions. Today we encountered a free ballet of the nutcracker in the house of culture here, which was a really nice experience. Yesterday we went to a Chaplin movie, today to a small market in a park in Quito. The weather has been very rainy here so I think the city is a bit more quiet and more restricted in what you can do. Usually there are alot of street artists in the park. Some things are really hard to find here cheap, books and there just seem to be no postcards of Quito.

You don´t sense the perfectionism that people strive for more in Europe. Nothing really is punctual or scheduled, in a way there is some carelesness, but in another things are just alot more relaxed.
I don´t use a clock, only in the mornings to know when to get up for work.
We are thinking of moving from the hostel as its just quite expensive and a little empty.

The work is progressing and with more time spent in a place comes more awareness of details. I don´t even know where to start by what needs to be changed. We are going to meet with people to discuss to what extent things like children working etc. are really necessary, just more information about how the project really works. At the moment the children hardly have class and the idealistic picture of the project painted by the organization just is false. It said the main task of the volonteers is to help with homework, but the project hasn´t even progressed to the point of having homework for the children. We are also going to do a fundraising to buy the children things like underwear and shoes which are in horrible conditions. There is little organization in when and what the children are taught and the excuse that we often encounter is that the children are present for too little and unspecified time, but I think more than a reason not to teach the children it is the opposite, to give them a chance to enter routine a little and visit a "school" when it is possible.

Everyone seems to be getting robbed and me and Dela are kind of wondering when its our turn..
I will ask about the donation money for christmas, probably best sent to Ecuador Volunteer, I´ll ask for the number of the account.

okay,
take care you all,