La biblioteca activa y virtual

As I've spoken with friends and family recently, I've been reminded about my lack of blogging lately. Thankfully, yes I can assure you all I'm still here, still alive, and still working. Ever since arriving back in Ecuador in January, however, the Manna house has been a whirlwind of activity. With just over five weeks between re-vamping the site for the new year and the arrival of spring breakers, everyone was continuously busy with updating and improving programs while preparing for over 30 short-term volunteers in a three-week period in March from five different US universities.

For me personally, all this was compounded by my work on our newest and most exciting (well alright I'm probably biased) project, MPI-Ecuador's public lending library (otherwise known as la biblioteca activa y virtual). Such a library is still a new concept in many developing nations, Ecuador included. While public libraries do exist in large cities like Quito, they rarely check-out books and almost never had a children's section. Our library, the first of its kind in Quito county, would do both. Since the end of 2008, we've collected donations (the financial, hardback and paperback varieties) from NGOs, MPI campus chapters, individuals, businesses, and other organizations in the US and Ecuador.

Duke students helping organize

Beginning in January, I started figuring out logistics for the library. I scoured used book stores, met with Ecuadorian publishers, found furniture, bookcases, and other library materials. Working closely with Seth and Mark, I also helped devise rules and administrative procedures for the project and in crafting the new teen center adjacent to the library. The whole time, we worked hand-in-hand with local community leaders, asking for their advice and guidance at weekly meetings, and utilizing their help in selecting books, advertising, and making connections with local business and individuals.

The day of the inauguration was an exciting one. We had spent the previous week alongside the enormously helpful Duke University spring break group painting the space, organizing books, and situating furniture to make sure everything was in place for the big day. As the festivities began that afternoon with the concert that Seth tirelessly organized, we started to get a bit worried about the paltry attendance. However, we soon realized cultural issues were to blame as locals started pouring in for the concert and subsequently up to the library (only 1.5 hours after the show began, actually pretty prompt by Ecuadorian standards!).

Locals relaxing at the concert and watching from library space (3rd floor)

Teens and adults alike starting teeming through the library stacks, asking for help looking for books on Neruda poetry, self-help guides, Harry Potter, and American history. The history buff, in fact, ran back up to me a few minutes later asking if I could help him blow up the book's picture of his idol Sitting Bull. Meanwhile, toddlers were piecing together puzzles with their young parent s as the older children paged through Dr. Seuss (Juevos verdes con jamón, no me gustan Juan Ramón!), Aesop's Fables, Where the Wild Things Are (o sea Donde viven los monstruos), and other less famous kids' favorites.

Puzzles, books, and computers, oh my!

One of the other highlights of the afternoon was the new friends and acquaintances we made. I talked with the VP of a nearby neighborhood, where we've never worked, about potentially forming a partnership while our summer volunteers are in town. Similarly, I spoke with a teacher from a small village 100 KM away who had some sound advice and plenty of encouraging words. The only trouble came when our our friend Lance, an American-born doctor, stopped by, and I switched to give the library tour in English, forgetting how to say "rompecabeza" in my native tongue (turns out it means puzzle, oops).

Library Stacks

At 6 PM, as I looked around the library space, I was stunned to see over 50 people reading, playing puzzles, relaxing in the teen center, or just standing on the balcony to watch the concert. An hour later, we finally descended from the library to enjoy the end of the concert with the rest of the community. Upon seeing over several hundred people down below, we suddenly realized what a success the day had been.

As Americans who have grown up with lending libraries readily available in our communities and schools, it can be hard to make the transition to the Ecuadorian mentality and realize how lucky we've all been. While the best Ecuadorian private schools certainly lend books from the extensive libraries, it is a completely different story in most communities around the country. On the one hand, its eye-opening for us to think about how to make this model fit in a place where its so uncommon. From brainstorming about how to placate concerns from community leaders that books will to be stolen (a problem we have yet to run into almost a month after opening) to emphasizing that of course, children are not only welcome, but encouraged to come in, there are a multitude of differences. I think nine-year old Dennis summed it up nicely when he stopped by on his bike one day before the opening. As I explained the library's structure he exclaimed, "You mean I can check out a book and take it home with me?!".

Dennis

Thanks again to all our library donors!
Books For Life International
Campus Chapters at Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, and Vanderbilt
Claudia Diaz
Lance Evans
The Geller Family
Alejandra Gomez
The Hand Family
HealtheChildren and Jens Haerter
Highland Park United Methodist Church
MoneyGram International
The Robertson Program at Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill
Linda Smith
The United States Embassy to Ecuador
The Ward Family
Jordan Wolf

If you would like to make a donation to the library project, please click here!
And to see our Amazon wishlist, click here.

Quito, Ecuador; Lima, Peru...

Tobin, Me, Seth, and Dana

Having just arrived back in Conocoto after my 3-week vacation from Manna Project, I feel refreshed and ready to get back to work. That being said, I fully enjoyed my time away, first by traveling back to Dallas for the holidays, filling my time with family, friends, and food (and plenty of it, especially tex-mex). Just after New Years, I headed south again with Tobin to meet up with a couple of friends in Lima, Peru to made our way back to Quito via bus. Tobin, Seth, Dana, and I had a great (but exhausting) week that included an enormous amount of bus traveling and great Peruvian ceviche. Since our travels included little random stories, I thought I'd once again recount our adventures in a list-worthy fashion. Enjoy and look out for many more entries in the New Year as MPI-Ecuador revs up our programs once again!

Highlights...

- Seeing the largest pre-Columbian ruins in the Americas, some dating back some 1200 years
- Riding 4 overnight buses in 7 nights (not including an additional overnight flight)
- Watching Tobin eat his still-moving crab ceviche
- Visiting "mudbaths," which ended up consisting of one 10 by 10 foot mudhole filled by 9 Peruvians
- Making friends with 3 old Peruvian fisherman, one of whom would talk only about how much he loved to smoke eucalyptus leaves
- Touring mangrove forests, a crocodile reserve, and bird island by boat
- Discovering that Peruvian cabs drivers honk when angry, lonely, passenger-less, passenger-filled, worried, or maybe even just because
- Learning that Peruvians lose their right to vote at age 60
- Seeing not a single street dogs in the Miraflores sector of Lima (I'm convinced there's no such neighborhood in all of Ecuador)
- Staying in a $10 a night bamboo bungalow on the beach
- Magically being handed a first-class seat on our flight from Guayaquil to Quito
- Getting off the bus 3 separate times in the middle of the night at the Peru-Ecuador border
- Scornfully realizing aspects of Peruvian culture than are far superior than their Ecuadorian counterparts (food, buses, hot sauce, beer, cheap cabs, THEY SELL REESES PEANUT BUTTER CUPS HERE!)
- Nostalgically thinking about those things which are better in Ecuador (green landscapes, proximity of travel destinations, price of almost everything, having a firm grasp on local slang, QUITO)

Wilcawain ruins outside of the mountain town of Huaraz

Beach town of Huanchaco

Dana's newfound fisherman friends

Bibliotecas, Cooperativas, y Fiestas

Although things are starting to slow down a bit in December before the impending holiday break, the past month has been an interesting mixture of the usual busy schedule along with some unique developments. Several weeks ago, I finally completed one of our big micro-finance goals for the first half of my year here. In that time, we've been working with our community partner, the Cooperativa Esperanza y Progreso del Valle (EPV), on their application to the Red Financiera Rural (RFR). The RFR is a network of Ecuadorian micro-finance institutions that helps its member institutions obtain funding for their micro-credit operations. Additionally, the RFR offers a consulting service to its members seeking to improve their operations and institute industry best practices. Because RFR membership would greatly enhance EPV's micro-credit component, I have been actively pushing them to apply for months and helping them acquire all necessary materials. My efforts finally culminated when I accompanied EPV's manager, Fabián Gualotuña, into to Quito to formally submit the complete application. We should hear back soon from the RFR, so hopefully it will be good news!

Our library project has been the other big area to which I've been devoting a large amount of my time lately. Starting in early November, I began background research on logistics and general library operations in developing countries, searched for funds, and completed a formal project proposal to keep us on track and outline our plan to donors and community partners. After the first stage was completed, Mark and I began discussing our ideas with community leaders. The response so far has been promising; the leaders of EPV immediately jumped on board with the project and have been very supportive ever since.

Future Home of the Chillos Valley Public Library

This past Thursday evening, we finally had a meeting with 15 interested citizens who are a part of EPV's Committee on Education. The locals present included EPV's president and manager, lenders and partners of the cooperative, neighborhood presidents and vice-presidents, concerned parents, and other community leaders. Honestly, I was slightly shocked as we walked into the meeting to see over a dozen such community members in attendance. After Fabián introduced us, we discussed our ideas for the project and answered their questions, most of which were thought-provoking and practical. In the end though, they were all behind the project and really seemed to like the idea.

In the next two weeks, we are all going to continue searching for locals willing to take an active role in the project and will hold the first meeting of the Library Committe in mid-December. After our holiday break ends in early January, we will collect books and other materials. Assuming everything stays on schedule, the Chillos Valley's first public lending library will open in March 2009 just in time for the arrival of spring break volunteer groups.

And as if this excitement hasn't been enough to keep us energized, the last few weeks have also been full of many chévere (cool) cultural outings around Quito. From relaxing in high-altitude hot springs, eating my inaugural coconut-encrusted Ecuadorian trout, soaking up the excitement of my first Latin American soccer match, and witnessing bullfights south of the equator for the first time, I've been lucky to be a part of many new cultural events recently. And more is still to come, as the week is the annual Fiestas de Quito, celebrating Quito's independence from Spain, with festivals all over the city. As the local cry says, Viva Quito!

If you would like to consider donating to the library project, please email me at dunc@mannaproject.org for more information.

Fiesta Fiesta

In lieu of a brand-new entry this time around, I decided to provide the link to MPI-Ecuador's daily life blog. For those of you who haven't read it, I guest-blogged this week about a party we had on Wednesday for families of the students in our Apoyo Escolar class.

In other news, I hope to write an update soon about all the progress we've been making recently with plans to open the Chillos Valley's first public lending library. We're all very excited about the project and have received some encouraging support recently from the community about the library idea. More to come on that soon!

Uniquely Ecuador

Considering it's been over 3 weeks since my last entry, I thought it was due time to write another one. Although the small business class is now finished, the last few weeks have been anything but calm. I've started doing research and planning into our Library Project, which aims to create the first public lending library in the Valle de los Chillos. Additional house and administrative duties have recently been divided up after last week's departure of the final PD from the first year's group. Also, we have started up two new classes: Beginner's English for young adults, and Women's Exercise, headed by Jocelyn and all the girls respectively. The English class contains 15 students at the moment and filled with joys such as trying to explain how to properly pronounce the word purple. No, it's not said, "perpel" and unfortunately, there are no similar sounds in Spanish. And although, the Women's Exercise class is strictly "no boys allowed," the girls assure it's off to a great start. With over 20 women ages 15 to 68, there is wide variety and apparently a plentiful amount of laughter present as these women attempt work-out videos and yoga for the first time in their lives. On that note, I decided the best way to end this entry would be to provide everyone with a list of strange things I've seen and lived in the past 3 and a half months of being in Ecuador. Enjoy.



Things Uniquely Ecuadorian

- Eating $1.50 almuerzos (lunch) at a typical restaurant. Oh and you don't get any choice about what the serve you.
- Seeing a cow give birth outside of the Casa Barrial where we teach classes.
- Walking out of our not-so rural house to see a herd of cows grazing in our front yard.
- Surviving the now daily torrential downpours.
- Skinning cow legs destined for soup at our community partner, la Fundación Aliñambi.
- Surfing "high-speed internet" that, although it costs fully 1/3 of the monthly rent for our house, completely shuts down if someone is using Skype or watching videos on Youtube.
- Getting used to 10-hour Ecuadorian night buses (even longer during the day) between cities that are only 200 miles apart. Which cost $8.
- Summiting a mountain a month on average.
- Living in mountains twice as high as Denver while being less than 100 miles from both the beach and the Amazonian rain forest.
- Finding electricity-free activities during the weekly power outages.
- Watching Ecuadorians' awe-struck reactions to our house vegetarian as he explains what that actually means. "But you eat chicken though, right? Well, what about fish?"
- Trying to overcome our awe-struck reactions as we continually are baffled as to where all the tasty cuts of beef are sent in this country. They must be either exported or thrown out because they're clearly not sold to the public.
- Viewing stubborn Ecuadorian country maps that still dispute the location of the Peruvian border which was re-drawn after losing its war with Peru. Which ended in in 1942.
- Coming to the slow realization that dinner preparation takes 3 hours on average since everything must be made from scratch here. Meaning it's impossible to find delicacies such as canned soup, tomato juice, pie crust, tomato sauce, blueberries, dried fruit, pumpkins, and most spices.
- There are no jalapeños in this Latin American country. Period. (Which of course correspondingly affects Ecuadorian "Tex-Mex.")
- Living without seasons (besides dry and wet.)
- Trying a new fruit weekly.
- Discovering that the yellow South American spiky fruit known as pitahaya (dragonfruit) is the world's best fruit. Ever.
- Forgetting how to say things in English. Like the confusing phrase "ring a doorbell."
- Loving the 4 different kinds of bananas coming in 3 different colors and 2 different sizes, all of which are far tasty than their US counterparts.
- Realizing it is impossible to buy a movie or CD that isn't pirated and doesn't cost more than $3 to purchase.
- Feeling a strange mix of pride and jealously when I walk by the Ecuadorian-based fast food response to KFC: "Texas Chicken."

Fotos Empresariales

To add to my last entry, I thought I'd add some pictures I just uploaded from the small business class. Enjoy!

Brainstorming business ideas


Team-building exercise


Presentation Day with all of MPI present to watch (side note: Ignore Mark's sleepy appearance; he actually asked several insightful questions during the presentations)


Presenatation of business plan for a real estate agency


Participants with their diplomas

The Entrepreneurial Challenge

I've be meaning to write this entry for a week or two now, but as so often happens down here, things kept coming up. I hope in the meantime, you enjoyed my guest blog entry on MPI-Ecuador's daily life blog, although admittedly it was much more light-hearted than most of my blogging. My last two or three weeks have been very busy to say the least and almost completely occupied with our microfinance program.

It all started several weeks ago when Mark and I met with the Center for Innovation and Business Development at the local university, ESPE. The center focuses on aiding entrepreneurs and teaches a class about basic business planning, which seemed perfectly aligned with the goals of our microfinance program. In cooperation with our community financial cooperative, COAC Esperanza y Progreso del Valle (Hope and Progress of the Valley), we agreed to organize the 40-hour class to start mid-September, continuing over a 2-week period.

As evidenced by MPI's community surveys this spring, our community contains literally hundreds of people wanting to start small businesses. The two biggest obstacles facing these potential entrepreneurs were found to be start-up capital and a need for reinforcement of their entrepreneurial skills. Fortunately, this small business class were overcome both of these issues. First, it would cover entrepreneurial characteristics, formulation of business ideas, marketing, production, administration, and the creation of a business plan. Secondy, we convinced Esperanza y Progreso del Valle to give micro-loans to successful participants of the class. As such, class "graduates" would attain all the necessary skills and capital required to create a small business.

Over the course of the next week and a half, I worked in conjunction with the co-op, recruiting participants for the class. After fighting the heat of the afternoon Ecuadorian sun (which I now miss since the rainy appears to have begun), walking countless miles around the community, and even battling several mean dogs whose teeth luckily were stopped by my shoes and jeans, I finally helped secure about 20 people for the class.

The first day of class was last Monday and ran smoothly. The President and manager of the co-op came for an opening ceremony along with Mark, the MPI-Ecuador Director. The professors were engaging and professional, driving the students to actively participate and demonstrate their creativity, both of which are rare in the Ecuadorian education system. The class participants were diverse in a variety of ways: men and women, ages 19-47, college graduates to those who hadn't completed primary education. My hope were high from the beginning that they would intermingle well and learn from each as well.

However, set-backs appeared the second day. Three of our participants in particular seemed very nervous the first day. All three of them hadn't made it to high school and seemed to have trouble reading and writing. Even after spending the first day trying to encourage them, understandably they all seemed intimidated by the class. Sure enough, the second day two of them didn't show. After having my phone calls repeatedly ignored by them, I disappointedly got the message.

Even so, all in all the remaining participants are very dedicated, eager to learn, and optimistic. The third participant I mentioned above has remained in the class and has, in fact, progressed greatly. Oscar in now confident speaking in front the class, takes detailed notes, and seems comfortable interacting with even the most educated of the participants.

The biggest strength of the class is how much it engaging it is for the participants. Every day the participants partake in at least one hands on-activity to practice what they have learned. This has varied from brainstorming sessions of business ideas, a production simulation of three envelope companies to a fruit salad seminar teaching about costs, depreciation, and investment choices. With only a few days to go in the class, I am confident that many of the participants will at least leave strengthened by what they have learned. Several will likely start up a small business quickly. One couple, Alfredo and Jenny Caiza, has already formulated a detailed version of the business they want to open, which has changed as they have learned from the course. Although their success after the culmination of the class will depend almost entirely on themselves, I know they will be successful based on their achievement in these two weeks.